Literature Review : The United States Essay

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

Women continue to face disadvantages in the workplace in regards to not receiving equal pay as well. There are many instances where women have the same or more qualifications to do a job than their male counterparts but do not receive the same pay. This difference in pay is not only related to gender differences but also racial differences. Women employees of different racial backgrounds tend to earn less money than their white female and male counterparts. Many women of color often face discrimination when applying to jobs and are overlooked for a position despite having the qualifications to do the work. When they are hired to these occupations they are not receiving the same pay as their white female counterparts. This double bind that minority women face within the work place continues to lead to economic hardships. Regarding women in the workplace in general, due to society’s high regard for men they are often not promoted to positions of authority or receive equal pay because people assume that women are inferior workers. (Buchanan, p205-207)

This paper explores three published articles that report on how many women lack job security when working while pregnant. Many are either denied the special accommodations or forced to quit their job. The Pregnant Worker Fairness Act (PWFA) is a bill currently pending in Congress, that would help to end any type of discrimination towards pregnant workers and ensure that they would be able to continue working to support their families. The articles all agree that the PWFA would put in place rules and guidelines for employers to follow that would help protect the job of the pregnant employee. Brown (2016) states that much has changed for women in the workforce during the last half-century, but treatment of pregnant workers remains frustratingly

Women have been entering the workforce since the 1970’s at an increasing rate. Statistics show that 39% of the workforce during the 1970’s were women. In 2010 that percentage increased to 47% (Gender, Web). As more women enter the workforce, even with the possibility of increased fraternization and sexual harassment, there should be equality in pay and positions.

In modern america sexism is slowly diteriating, but it has not complitly disappeared. Women have worked hard to become astronaut, Ceos, presidentsdoctors and more, but even with these accomplishments women are still discriminated against. Women face a variety of stereotypes in the work place that prevent them from progress, some company's really think that women don't need equal pay because they are not the head of the house hold and their husbands paycheck should do the job. Other business corporations believe that women can not committed to a job because they are the primary caregiver of their children which causes companies to lose money every time there is an emergency. "The paradox is that the world of rigid and hierarchical sex roles

Pregnancy discrimination in the work place is alive and well in the 21st Century. There has been an increase in the need for laws protecting the rights of pregnant women. Due to disparate treatment of pregnant women, laws have been established to protect their employment rights. Although laws are in place to prevent such discrimination, it has not eliminated the problem of employers discriminating against pregnant women.

Women have experienced discrimination since the beginning of time and in some countries women still do not have certain rights. In America, companies still tend to discriminate against women. The discrimination can be shown in different forms such as unequal opportunities to be hired, unequal pay, making it harder for women to get a promotion, women getting scrutinized more harshly than men, and even basing all these other aspects on the fact that women can get pregnant or already have children. Women also may face the “glass ceiling” in the workplace. These continuous discriminations are a leading factor as to why women do not reach for their full potential or believe they cannot speak up.

Since the 1920’s women have worked hard to be considered as equal citizens in our country. The book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck shows the gender discrimination back in the 1930’s ; and the Houston Chronicle article “The Effects of Gender Discrimination in the Workplace” by Samantha Gluck shows gender discrimination today. Gender discrimination has been dealt with for decades; despite the legislation for equality, many women to this day still feel gender based discrimination exists. Victims of gender discrimination experience offensive judgment. In Of Mice and Men the workers on the ranch constantly made jokes about curley’s wife.

For many years in the United States, women have been faced with equality issues. Men were regarded as superior, which made women feel inferior and insignificant. One place this has occurred is the workplace. This type of inequality dates backs centuries and comes from the common belief that since men were the breadwinners, women should take care of the home and children. As a result, men were believed to be more efficient in their careers. This is also known as systemic discrimination (Kennedy et al., 2008). When women were given the right to vote, they began to progress and take their place in the workforce. As they increased in numbers, there became a need to for fair

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.

Inequality has been a dilemma for several years in countless different ways. A persistent problem with disproportion of income between women and men has been lingering within many companies in the United States. It has been said that women earn less money than men in the workplace for many different reasons. Some of these reasons are that women have not spent enough time in the office to be rewarded with raises and bonuses because they are busy with their home lives and taking care of their children, they, unlike men, have been taught to be timid and unaggressive which ultimately steers them away from requesting higher pay, or they do not meet the qualifications to receive promotions (Hymowitz, 2008). This essay is in response to On

For my research question I will be asking: “How is America making progress on gender equity?” Fundamentally, I believe that women are still misrepresented, and are still facing many challenges in the workplace, especially in the business world. The gender stereotypes play a considerable role in the way the society sees women as leaders. However, it will be judicious to consider the small but noticeable changes that have been made over the past years concerning gender equality in the American workplace.

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.

Throughout the years women have made great effort to become equal to men. This effort has led to great advances in the movement, but not all of the problems are solved yet. One of the main problems as of right now is the unequal treatment of men and women in the work place. Women are not equal to men in the workplace because of unequal pay, a lack of women in managerial positions, and sexual harassment in the work place.

Discrimination may not always be direct, in fact, most of the time women are indirectly discriminated in the workplace. It’s not as simple as witnessing a female worker being verbally harassed for doing the same exact job as a male worker. It can merely be a promotion overlooked. Statistics have recently shown that out of 710 companies, “only five reported having a board comprised of 50 percent (or more) women” (Racco, 2017). Factors that play into this statistic may also be the fact that women are primarily looked to as being the one who takes care of the children in the family, resulting in fewer hours within the office and less recognition. Furthermore, when women bear a child, maternity leave comes into play, whereas for males, there is less pressure for them to take time off for parental leave. Many families must decide who is going to work and who is going to look after the newly born child. In most cases, it ends up that the mother of the family stays home rather than the father.