Gender And Gender Inequality In The Workplace

Over the past few decades, great strides have been made by women in the workplace. This increased number in women in the workplace does not mean equality however. Even with equal qualifications and achievements, women are still not given all the opportunities that men have. The chapter in the textbook, “Gender at Work”, shows us more of these inequalities in the workplace. Such inequalities cause gender segregation of jobs and can be linked with the pay inequality in the labor force. Even in jobs that are predominantly filled by women, men earn more than women. Women are often stereotyped as being family focused and not as able to travel, therefore they tend to get passed up for promotions (Garson p.353). This invisible barrier that keeps women from moving up the executive ladder is referred to as the “glass ceiling” (Baxter and Wright p. 346). Women also tend to do more domestic work, or unpaid labor and caregiving. This extra unpaid work is referred to as “the third shift” and is largely rested on the shoulders of women (Gersel p. 352). Consequently, this seems to be one of the biggest things holding women back from taking on jobs that are normally considered male

The roles and characteristics related to males and females vary according to time and culture (Keating 2003). A concept of male breadwinner model gave important impacts on the Australian economic, politics, culture and social field in early twentieth century (Broomhill and Sharp 2005). However, in the past few decades, there has been gradual changes occurred in the Australian gender order (ibid.). Even though men are the dominant gender in the workforce, due to globalization, women gained more opportunity to have jobs in the workforce (Jones 1983). In addition, there are increasing number of women in Australian workforce after World War 2 (Broomhill and Sharp 2005). But still gender inequality has been ongoing debate in the workforce for

In addition to defining gender, Padavic and Reskin coin the term “gendering” to describes circumstances or outcomes that, like gender, are socially constructed and tend to give males certain advantages over females. Three key components—the assignment of tasks based on workers’ sex, a higher value placed on men’s work than on women’s work, and employers’ and workers’ social constructions of gender on the job—make up gendering. (Padavic and Reskin, 6). It allows males to maintains certain advantages over females, thus maintaining the force and coercion dimension of inequality. Sex and gender differentiation have existed since the beginning of the labor force, and have paved the way for the assignment of different tasks to men and women throughout the years. When the labor force first emerged following the Industrial Revolution, it was comprised of people who either worked for pay or were actively seeking paid work. The labor force split working people into three different groups—wage workers, unemployed, and nonemployed. This distinction between paid work in the labor market and unpaid domestic work by the “nonemployed” has had important consequences for gender inequality. Since then, men have been more likely than women to belong to the labor force, and women have been more likely than

What is the root of feminism? There are many things that will anger you in life and getting played less than a man for the same job is one of them. Women are capable of getting a job, but we still fall behind due to unequal wages between women and men for the same duties. Gender inequalities are a huge factor in the workplace. There is a lot of tension when it comes to women being over worked. The amount of responsibilities that women have, from work to home and everything in between, is ridiculous and it is all based on the gender roles that society has developed. Lastly, what really triggers feminism is the world expecting all women to portray themselves as sex objects and then to getting criticized for it. Understanding sex, gender, how they link together and the input of society clarifies why women a treated this way.

Unlike racial inequality, females and males are able to get the same education, “in 2012, 57.2 percent of women ages sixteen and older were in the labor force. In contrast to, 38 percent of working age women were in the labor force in 1960” (Giddens et al 268). Although men and women are getting the same education, there is a big gender gap in the workplace. There is an idea that certain jobs belong to a specific gender, for example women should be secretaries and men should be managers, this is called gender typing (Giddens et al. 269). Women make an average of .79 cents to every dollar a white man makes and that price varied based on ones ethnicity and race. Women are getting paid twenty-one percent less than men for doing the same

Gender inequality plays a critical role when it comes to social progress. As a woman,

Men and women. Even the name of the female gender is derived from the male species. For years, women have been discriminated against in an array of areas such as politics, at home, and in the workplace. The most debated area of gender discrimination is the wage gap between men and women. After reviewing the following facts, it is obvious women are essentially just as valuable as men, and therefore should be treated equally in the workplace.

In the United States, the income disparity between men and women is often referred to as the “gender wage gap” (Meng, 2004). The U.S. Census Bureau collects data to compare the median wages of males and females. Generally the gender wage gap is expressed as a percentage of male to female earnings of full-time workers. Historically, “female employees earned significantly less than male employees for similar work” (Pagan, 2008).

Women are almost half of the workforce. They are the equal, if not main, breadwinner in four out of ten families. They receive more college and graduate degrees than men. Yet, on average, women continue to earn considerably less than men. According to the

The movement of promoting gender equality is exponentially growing every year; however, gender inequality is still a persistent problem in today’s workforce. Each year, gender inequality, especially employment equity, the distinct barrier between genders in the workforce, has become a topic of contention as its affecting working individuals worldwide, especially women. Before examining this problem, we must further understand what gender inequality is in the workplace. Gender inequality is an ascriptive factor, in which limits individuals to reach their full potential in their area of expertise by discriminating based on gender (module …). Both genders can have the same qualifications for an occupation, but a specific gender, mainly men, are seen to be more qualified than their female counterparts are. This can result in the refusal to allow the individual to take on leadership roles due to socially constructed views on gender. In addition, they may receive unequal wages compared to the opposing gender due to statistical discrimination which is the idea hiring or promoting individuals based on the average characteristics of their gender group rather than solely focusing on the individual( Textbook, 169). As we strive towards the goal of gender inequality, we must understand it in order to construct a proper solution.

In most societies, women have typically taken job roles involving housework, childcare, and lower level positions.  Being primarily in these low level public sectors and private sectors, women have become less valued compared to men in most careers. As a result, large amounts of gender inequality in the workplace in terms of advancement, sexism, and income has been observed. Recently, however, women have made great strides towards equality, and accounted for about half of the work force in 2014. (Introduction to Sociology, pg 288). Although great improvement is evident, even today, gender inequality is seen.

The generation now has made it easier to equalize men and women but there is still a substantial amount of places where gender inequality is still happening in the workplace and where females still face discrimination. Women are often discriminated in the workplace and are usually not promoted as quickly as men are and they also receive less pay. History shows that women have not always been defined as property and thought of as second class citizens. But in the 21st century many have seen a drastic change in the so called “traditional” family ways where women are suppose to stay home and take care of the household chores, food, and children and men are suppose to work to support their family and provide financial stability. Many assume that in the workplace women are more vulnerable and less competent than men because women 's instincts are to put their family before work or anything else. Whereas men are the ones who will usually stay the late hours to work. People on both sides of the political spectrum and everywhere in between seem to be fearful of what is to come and more fearful of others than they are often willing to admit.

The concept of gender denotes the distinction between culturally driven and created roles of masculinity and femininity. These specific and normalized attitudes and behaviors transcend and effect how differently men and women live their lives. Based on society’s continual re-enforcement of such gender stereotypes, we see an on-going dilemma of gender inequality. Though some may argue that men experience gender inequality, this seems to exist on a much more invasive level for women. As of recently, the awareness of gender inequality in the workplace has increased. With the fight for equal pay and equal respect, society is already making strides towards the equality of women. With that being said, one aspect of gender inequality that seems

“The wage gap has narrowed by more than one-third since 1960”(Hegewisch, 2010) and “the share of companies with female CEOs increased more than six-fold” (Warner, 2014) since 1997. As well as the truth that men and women’s earnings differ for many other reasons besides the presence of sexism. “Discrimination in labor market, in education/retiring programs, unequal societal norms at home and the constrained decisions men and women make about work and home issues” (Hegewisch, 2010) are also factors that can contribute to the unequal treatment of man and women in the workplace. Yet even with most of these variables removed women are still being paid less than men, sexually harassed in the workplace and hold very little managerial positions.

Rapid changes in the global economic market entail transformations affecting not only the external environment of organizations, but also its internal operations and processes (Hall, 2008; Hodgetts, 2002). One important change that has altered the nature of contemporary organization is the “acknowledgement, development and systematic use of the skills and knowledge of employees” (Ramirez et al 2007, p 496). The central role of employees’ participation in the success of the organization involves not only “high performance work systems… [but] they also involve the decentralization of decisions and work enrichment that is providing employees with opportunities for involvement in decision-making and innovation.” (Wood & de