Gender Discrimination in the Workplace

Gender Discrimination in the Workplace

Introduction

The societal rules, roles and norms tend to encourage and instruct men to either devalue or value women even in the US and other developed nations in which a number of anti-discrimination laws have been enacted with regards to discouraging such attitudes and behaviors.  Within the workplace milieu, women have been continuously subjected to various kinds of subtle gender-based discrimination by the two sexes. For instance, qualified women might be surpassed in matters relating to promotion simply as a result of factors such as pregnancy, and such promotions and jobs might also be offered to unqualified male workers simply as a result of their sexes. Women are also increasingly prone to be judged as a result of their looks, as well as the manner in which they tend to dress compared to their male colleagues. On the contrary, it is also worth noting that women are not just discriminated simply for being provocative or pretty but are also likely to face discrimination as a result of not being adequately beautiful, very old, and in given instances, for failing to be extremely sexy with regards to public relations and sales positions. In instances where the male workers are accorded more time offs, improved compensation packages and other advantages compared to their female colleagues on the basis of gender biases, this can be regarded as gender-based discrimination and illegal. Regardless of the protection offered by the anti-discriminatory rules that make the gender discrimination within the workplace illegal, various practices in mid-size, small, and bigger organizations have continue favor workers of certain gender, particularly, men. This paper has, therefore, been written with the objective of reviewing the issue of gender based discrimination within the workplace. To attain this objective, the paper will also strive to offer various solutions to the challenge of gender based discrimination in the workplace.

Discrimination

Why Gender-Based Discrimination is still Prominent in the Workplace

Though the various gains made by women in the last decades with regards to labor participation, access to lucrative job positions and wages have reinforced their positions in the workforce, gender imbalance remains increasingly perceptible, and an increased number of female workers have reported their workplaces as having an increased number of men compared to women. Moreover, the female workers have also reported having divergent experience set compared to their male colleagues in workplace contexts that are female dominated, or those with an equal number of women and men. In this regard, a study carried out by Pew Research Center in the year 2017 disclosed that, nearly four in every ten working women (approximately 42 percent) in the US maintain that they have experienced gender based discrimination within their workplaces as a result of their gender. Further, the research also disclosed that the female workers noted having a wider array of individual experiences that include earning less wages compared to their male counterparts in similar positions, being by-passed in vital assignments as well as promotions. Also, the study which was carried out prior to the latest wave of sexual harassment and misconduct accusations leveled against prominent media personalities, politicians, entertainment sector and other industries, disclosed that, amongst the working adults, women were two times prone as their male counterparts (42 percent against 22 percent) to assert having experienced a minimum of one out of the eight distinct types of gender-based discrimination within their workplace (Vieira, 2018).

Amongst the notable gender gaps within the workplace is mainly found in the income area. According to Melki and Farah (2014), one out of every for female employees (25 percent) tend to earn less compared to their male counterparts doing similar jobs even as one out of every twenty male workers tend to earn less compared to their female colleague. Furthermore, women have also been observed to be nearly four times prone to be perceived and treated as incompetent workers as a result of gender (23 percent of female workers against 6 percent of male workers), in addition to being nearly three times highly prone to experience continuous small slights within the workplace as a result of gender biases (16 percent of female employees against 5 percent of the male employees) (Melki & Farah, 2014). Moreover, considerable gaps have also been noted on other aspects found within the workplace. Thus, even as 15 percent of the employed women are likely to receive less amount of support from the management of the organizations compared to theoir male counterparts in similar positions, approximately 7 percent of the male workers tend to undergo such experiences (Mullins & Prewitt, 2018). Moreover, recent studies have also indicated that one out of every ten employed women are likely to be bypassed with regards to the allocation of vital assignments as a result of gender biases compared to 5 percent of the male workers.

With regards to wages, the employed women who hold a bachelor’s degree or even those who are increasingly prone compared to those who have less education to maintain that they earn less compared to men in similar position. Moreover, women whose family incomes are $100,000 and above, perceive themselves as earning less compared to man in similar positions, in comparison to one out of five women earning low incomes (Mullins & Prewitt, 2018). On the whole, it has been noted that female employees with high family incomes are nearly likely to experience at minimum one out of the eight distinct kinds of gender-based discrimination within the workplace.

Nevertheless, in terms of work-based gender discrimination, it can be noted that there are a number of divergences in terms of ethnicity and race too. While approximately half of the employed African-American women (approximately 53 percent) tend to experience at minimum 1 type of the 8 forms of gender discrimination in the workplace, a few Hispanic and Caucasian women tend to experience the same (40 percent) (Mullins & Prewitt, 2018). Amongst the notable areas in which the African-American women tend to stand apart regards the reports on being by-passed in relation to the allotment of vital assignments as a result of their gender (Triana et al., 2018). Approximately 23 percent of African American women in employment have reported experiencing such discrimination in comparison to 8 percent of their Caucasian counterparts and 9 percent of the employed Hispanic women.

Prevention of Gender-Based Discrimination within the Workplace

Gender discrimination within the workplace extends beyond the reduced number of women with the boardrooms. The women’s disadvantages commences prior to attaining the executive level. For instance, it has been noted that in the corporate America, men are 30 times likely to be promoted in the initial phases of their careers compared to their female counterparts, and also that the entry-level female employees are considerably more prone than their male counterparts to spend over five years performing similar functions (Triana et al., 2018). Though such disparities are changing for the best, the pace of the changes is quite slow and this necessitates the need for the organizations to effectively reassess their processes and policies that are related to inclusion and promotion of confidence amongst the female employees (Melki & Farah, 2014). Still, gender-based discrimination may be challenging to spot within the workplace given its pervasive nature. Nevertheless, there are several means of preventing gender discrimination in the workplace.

Firstly, to prevent gender discrimination at work, it is recommended that the management of organizations should drive skills development equally amongst the male and female employees. The narrative that men tend to advance to high pay grade and tend to sustain the wage gap as a result of their qualification is not always true. This is mainly because female workers often hit the glass ceiling much earlier in their careers that individuals tend to realize. Thus, while male workers are always off to the races, their female counterparts often begin seeing hurdles upon getting employed. In given instances, such disparities result from divergent ambitions and success descriptions. Therefore, in investing in the employee skills development, the management should not limit such training to individuals regarded as performing either the riskiest or the hardest jobs (Triana et al., 2018). Such approaches are likely to broaden the gender gaps within the organization. Rather, the management should ensure that workers at all levels of the organization and all division are accorded the opportunity to advance their skills regardless of their gender.

Secondly, to prevent gender-based discrimination within the workplace, there is a need for the management and leadership to eliminate the gender-based roles. According to Vieira (2018), women tend to have extraordinary strengths in various critical fields seen as vital in the advancement of the business including the adaptability and inclusive management of teams. However, it is worth noting that men may also have such extraordinary attributes. As such, it is to the advantage of the organization to ensure that workers are placed in various positions in which their various strengths are likely to shine as opposed to being given roles on the basis of one’s gender. The management and leadership of the organizations may place more value on the individual female worker’s extraordinary abilities and strengths, and also work towards their development with regards to the need to take up the leadership roles in the firms. According to Tiwari and Awasthi (2018), bridging the gender gap commences with the management looking into the manner in which the organization develops its workers’ skills and abilities, as well as making sure that all workers regardless of the gender are offered comparable opportunity as from the entry level.

Conclusion

Gender-based discrimination has remained rampant in most organization and this can be seen in the limited number of women holding senior positions in organizations. Nevertheless, women remain a vital aspect of any organization’s workforce, and instances where women perform better, the organizations are also likely to registered improved performance. Practices such as provision of equal training opportunities to both men and women in the organization, as well as the recognition of women’s power in the organization is prone to advance the firm’s competitive landscape. The prevention and elimination of gender-based discrimination will not only benefit the organization but also the various stakeholders, over and above improving gender equality globally.

References

Melki, J., & Farah, M. (2014). Educating media professionals with a gender and critical media      literacy perspective: how to battle gender discrimination and sexual harassment in the        media workplace. Media and gender: a scholarly agenda for the global alliance on            media and gender, 74-78.

Mullins, S. D., & Prewitt, J. L. (2018). The Application of Workplace Attrition in a Multiple-        Claimant Gender Discrimination Case: The EEOC v. New Prime Trucking. Journal of            Logistics Management, 7(1), 1-10.

Tiwari, M., & Awasthi, S. (2018). Gender-Based Discrimination Faced by Females at        Workplace: A Perceptual Study of Working Females. Journal of Entrepreneurship      Education, 21(3), 1.

Triana, M. D. C., Jayasinghe, M., Pieper, J. R., Delgado, D. M., & Li, M. (2018). Perceived          Workplace Gender Discrimination and Employee Consequences: A Meta-Analysis and             Complementary Studies Considering Country Context. Journal of Management,    0149206318776772.

Vieira, M. M. (2018). Is gender discrimination in the workplace, is it still a reality? A case study   in a Portuguese hospital.