Nowadays, the role of women in the professional world is a common topic of discussion at an academic level. Likewise, society as a whole is in need of modifying its perception about traditional models under continuous change. In that sense, this paper will address the topic of gender inequality in the workplace, providing a critical analysis on how women have gained an increasing active role in the professional and labor spheres, but facing genre inequalities in turn. We will analyze how these inequalities are grounded in a binary traditional structure that assigned men and women specific roles, and how the assessment of organizations becomes fundamental as they are constituted as places where gender inequality is highly present: “Contemporary stratification scholars are unlikely to deny the claim that organizations are the primary site of the production and allocation of inequality in modern societies” (Stainback, Tomaskovic-Devey & Skaggs, 2010). Finally, this essay will address the possible solutions for this issue, trying to shed light on appropriate ways to achieve equality in labor environments and in the whole society as well.
As was mentioned recently, within this paper we will analyze gender inequality in the workplace, considering organizations as key places where discrimination becomes really visible. Research has shown that the workplace reflects discrimination in several ways, for example, the gender wage gap (meaning that for the same position and with the same
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 issue of gender inequality in the workplace affects many. The issue of discrimination in wages has been an issue since women were allowed to hold a job and has continued, and possibly progressively gotten better, but it has also gotten progressively worse as it is easier to hide this
Imagine this: a society that determines who we must be and how we must act based off of criterion ideals and traditional beliefs. This is a world without feminism. Societal and global issues are an ever growing concern in terms of feminism, and the impression that should, in fact, be enforced not only in our society today but all around the world. These issues, such as gender roles, acceptance of individuality throughout humanity, economics, and progression of the feminist movement are the utmost driving forces in how we can change the world for the better.
There has been a major development in women’s equal rights since the Equality Act 2010 was introduced that includes gender equality as one of the strands which states people under this act cannot discriminate or harass and victimise another individual( Ref). The gender pay gap between men and women has been on debate for many years. This essay will examine whether or not in this modern day society their still remain gender inequalities through the use of relevant theories this essay is determined to establish whether these inequalities still exist in employment by exploring social, biological and cultural explanations and differences between men and women. Why women are more likely to be discriminated and oppressed and how I can use this awareness to challenge and address gender inequalities in employment.
Freedom and equality are ideas this country has had for centuries that have evolved over time. In 1776, what Thomas Jefferson meant by “all men are created equal”, is that white males are dominant in society. Women are treated worse than men and slaves treated worse than women. People that weren’t of the “superior” race/gender of a white male were typically treated as if they were less. Women and African-Americans aren’t being treated as bad today, but they’re still being treated worse than the white males of society. Even today, when white males are typically the leaders of society, it’s not always race and gender that creates inequality; sometimes it’s money that creates the issue. Not just from past evidence, but from present
Gender, ethnicity, and race inequalities and the issues surrounding them in the workplace have been on the forefront of society’s mind for decades. The problem of inequality in the workplace has become one of the most important and vital issues in our society today. In order to understand fully the reasons for these inequalities, one must try to understand the factors that cause gender, ethnicity, and racial issues within the workplace, yet in this case, we will tend to focus mostly towards gender inequality in the workplace. One typically thinks locally
The major issues of Gender Discrimination are seen at the work environments and everyone has to know this particular issue is a serious form of Employment Discrimination. Gender Discrimination is considered as one of the serious illegal and injustice forms with respect to most of the countries worldwide.
Researchers have proposed a variety of explanations for systematic gender inequality in the workplace. Cultural benefits, the actions of male employees, the actions of the female employees, and the actions of the employer can contribute to intentional or unintentional gender discrimination (Ngo, Foley, Wong, & Loi, 2003). It has also been mentioned that women make less money because their work environment is generally safer than the stereotypical male work environment; childcare, cashiers, and secretary positions as opposed to firefighters, truck drivers and construction workers (Parcheta, Kaifi, & Khanfar, 2013). Perhaps the most dominant reasoning for women receiving less pay is the carrying over of biological roles into the workplace. Female employees often take time off to have a family, take care of a family, and are the primary caregiver of said family.
In conclusion it has been proven that inequality still exists within companies. If women want to be paid based off their skills and not their gender, they need to become aware of the fact that this problem is still around and fight to get rid of it. Carol Hymowitz’s article reflects on the need to make a change in businesses around the world to offer diversity and equality. The change has to start with women coming together and taking a stand against discrimination. With constant change and growth within our country, there is no reason
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.
Women have experienced a historic situation of inequality in the social as well as professional aspects. Women were normally the ones that would take care of children, do the chores in the house, and in rural areas; they would work in the field with the rest of the family. However, today’s women have become more self-sufficient and independent from the predominant male figure within every historical family. Gender inequality in the workplace is becoming less common; yet, gender is a factor that affects men and women. Especially women have been subjected to a historical discrimination that has influenced society to decide which job is more suitable for women than men. However women have confronted and tried to break down the barriers that
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
Gender equality in salary is always unfair. Men employees always receive higher wages than women employees had received. Companies would like to hire men employees compared to women employees because they believed women employees are weak and cannot competent in the workplace although they have abilities and skills. As a conclusion, our research has proven that this theory was true.
“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