The Limitations Of Gender Equality In The Workplace

According to Merriam Dictionary Unequal means, "giving more advantages, power etc to some people and less to other people for unfair reasons." (Unequal, 2015)

The presence of social feminism has become increasingly more overt in recent years. Specifically, in more concentrated areas such as the American workplace. From minimum wage jobs to corporate positions, a wage gap between men and women is always present. Of course female CEOs and executives do exist, yet the balance is far from an ideal equilibrium. Breaking this stereotype that women are fit for lesser positions than men is important in expanding the selection of qualified workers, creating a more efficient workplace and establishing a more admirable social reputation for companies. Over the past thirty years, more than half a billion women have entered the workforce and currently account for half of the human capital in any American economy. On page 48 of the publication “ABC of Women Worker’s Rights and Gender Equality” gender equality is defined as the concept that all human beings, both men and women, be free to develop their personal abilities and make choices without the limitations set by stereotypes, rigid gender roles, or prejudice. It also outlines that equal treatment, benefits, obligations and opportunities be given to both genders. Inequality in a workplace brings about social issues such as sexual harassment and a simply wrong moral standing. But the more economic reasons to fight inequality are the ones that will do the convincing. Issues that can be categorized under this topic are inequality of pay, gender bias, and assumed gender roles for positions of

Over the last century, women have been fighting an uphill battle to achieve gender equality in the workplace. History has seldom been kind to their efforts, which puts them at a severe disadvantage in modern day work environments. Society has created certain stereotypes and gender roles in which women are expected to fulfill, and this has been the main source of the problems women face within the workplace. The types of jobs women typically have and their typical roles outside of the workplace both contribute to the difficulties they face in a work environment. Although strides have been made by women to simplify the process of getting a job, they still face adversity entering certain areas of the workforce. Even after they do manage to get a job, their actual work environment and lifestyle remain much different from a man’s. Among other disadvantages, the most notable is the income gap between men and women. Gender inequality has placed many hardships on women that wouldn’t even be thought of if they were thought of as socially equivalent to men. Even though some positive changes have been made, gender inequality in the workplace is still in short supply.

It is easy to make a case to pass legislation for a quota for women on corporate boards. There is statistical data showing a difference in pay between men and women. Women often hit a ‘glass-ceiling’ when it comes to promotions in the workplace; and even when they are able to progress, it is often more difficult than men. Women lack a female mentor in the workplace to sponsor them because women who are in a position of power are afraid of losing that position. According to the text, “women who have achieved positions of power in male-dominated environments may fear competition from other women and actively work to undermine them” (Allard & Harvey, 2015). Lastly, on a global scale, four prominent countries (Norway, Finland, France, and Italy) have already passed legislation involving quotas for women in corporate positions (Allard & Harvey, 2015).

While the significance of gender roles has declined in the past fifty years, they still play an integral part in our perception of others based on their gender. Gender roles create gender stereotypes that influence our view of someone and their aptitude in work and child caring. Gender stereotypes depict women as caring, compassionate, and kind; however, gender stereotypes also imply negative qualities for women such as cranky, overly emotional, and submissive. On the other hand, gender stereotypes classify men not only as dominant, assertive, and powerful, but also as aggressive, violent, and uncaring. Many people apply gender roles in how they view other’s aptitudes and responsibilities in a work or home setting, but by doing so they subconsciously discriminate against a person for his gender. Extreme Feminists focus on the discrimination and harassment women face in everyday life due to traditional gender roles and complain that “men have it so good”. However, extreme feminists fail to realize, due to their blind but justified hatred for traditional gender roles that supposedly benefit men, traditional gender roles disadvantage men as well. Similar to how many women fail to climb up the corporate ladder because their superiors view them as too caring and soft to hold a demanding leadership position, many people look down on men when they care for their own children considering them too tough and insensitive to take care of children properly and label their care as

“According to the Center for American Progress, women “are only 14.6 percent of executive officers, 8.1 percent of top earners, and 4.6 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs.” And even though they comprise the majority of the labor force in the financial services and healthcare industries, not a single woman in these fields is head honcho of her company“(Hawaii Free Press, page 1). Women have less authoritative power when it comes to the employment field. More women than men are employed in the labor force, yet majority of the most powerful employers are men. This gender gap seems to be more than just a coincidence. This is one of the results of sexism in the America. Gender gaps in the job market are not the biggest problem of sexism because violence against women still lingers around the United

As humans, we are all born with a set of reproductive organs that identify us as either male or female. The majority of us are raised in very different ways depending on this seemingly simple distinction. Boys are given toy soldiers, guns, and sports equipment, while girls are given Barbie dolls, Easy Bake Oven’s, and jump ropes. Gender roles continue to have a significant influence through adolescence and into adulthood. This is especially seen when entering the workforce. “Gender scholars have argued that the workplace is fundamentally gendered” and “structured by beliefs that individuals and

Throughout history, humans have always been expected to act a certain way depending on their sex. These societal expectations are called gender roles. (Rathus, 2010, p.447). These roles begin to develop even before a child is even out of the womb. A mother may decorate their nursery pink if they are having a daughter because “girls like pink,” and “boys like blue.” Gender roles should not be confused with gender stereotypes. A gender stereotype is a narrow way of thinking about how men and woman are obligated to behave. For example, men have always been considered to be the breadwinners of the family. Females, on the other hand, are seen more as the gentle homemakers that stay home to clean and take care of the children. (Rathus, 2010, p.447). These types of stereotypes have caused certain out-of-the-home jobs to be mainly categorized for either women or men, causing an even more distinct line between the genders.

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.

Gender inequalities in the workplace have been an ongoing issue for many years, which has mainly been central to women in the workplace, as senior management has prioritised men over women. This has made it very difficult for women to work their way up to management as women are considered to be incompetent compared to the men in the workplace. The wage gap between men and women has raised much debate, as men are generally more likely to get paid more than women.

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.

Inequality based on gender is an ongoing ethical issue that many women still face in the workplace. Gender inequality refers to unfair treatment and perceptions on another person’s gender and tends to happen a lot in many different companies and organizations. These types of inequality can range from women getting paid less then men or women not chosen for high positions in companies such as CEOs. As Hannah Gould points out in her newspaper article, “We 're good at citing examples of women in influential posts, but in reality, women hold only 14% of board seats and 2% of CEO positions in the financial services despite making up 60% of its global workforce.”(Gould, 2014). This type of gender discrimination should be dealt with immediately but has not been tackled upon yet as sufficiently as we have hoped. As more and more laws are produced, the gender pay gap is either staying the same or widening. Also, in some instances, men are being promoted to higher positions in firms and companies where woman are only holding small marginal roles in those firms and companies. “Men hold 83% of the executive committee positions within top US companies, leaving 11% of women in staff roles and 6% in line roles” (McCullough, 2014). Clearly there is a gender inequality issue here since the most lucrative high-end job positions are still primarily male dominated and especially in the financial sector where women have trouble getting paid equally to

“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.

In today’s world, it is hard to believe there is still inequality in the workplace based on gender. Women have always been a part of the workforce, but as explained by Farmer (2014) women became a larger portion of the male dominated positions such as manufacturing of ammunition during the Second World War due to the fact that the male workers were drafted to serve in the armed forces. Upon returning home from the war, male workers took these positions back over and most females left the workplace. When the Korean War began, female workers were once again needed to fill the manufacturing positions and women wanted to earn wages in assist in financially supporting their families. The positions held by women in the work force were low paying and unsupportive of working mothers. President Kennedy appointed Eleanor Roosevelt to lead a team to address equal pay and opportunity for women in the workforce in 1961. Based on the recommendations, Congress passed the Equal Pay Act of 1963. The following year, Congress passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which included Title VII that bans discrimination based on race, religion and sex (Farmer, 2014).

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