Statement of the Problem Recently, the controversial issue of gender discrimination in the workplace has been a major topic of discussion. The claim is that gender discrimination is not a thing of the past, but is still prevalent today. While some businesses are highly diverse and have great reputations as far as equality toward both genders, others have a notorious reputation of exhibiting inequality toward men or women. Of the 88,778 overall claims filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in FY 2014, 29.3% were gender related (EEOC, 2014), which mirrors the percentage of gender discrimination claims filed in 2006 (Rader Sipe, McKay, Moss, 2016, p.232-233). Since the 1980s, women have received more bachelors, masters, and doctorate …show more content…
The idea of gender discrimination is one of controversy. Feminists believe that it does exist and women draw the short end of the stick. There are other groups of people that claim it does not exist if you look at the right criteria. Which side is right? Is gender discrimination, especially in the workplace, a problem still a problem in today’s society? When researching the topic, the claims of being discriminated against were predominately by women. Are women the only ones discriminated against? Culture of the workplace has a lot to do with how employees are treated. How does the right workplace culture protect against discrimination? We hope to address each of these questions with our research to find the source of the issue of gender inequality and discrimination in the …show more content…
Gender discrimination has long been a topic of discussion in regards to the workplace. With women claiming that they are being offered salaries and benefits less than that offered to their male counterparts, it's no wonder there has been a consistent fight for equality between genders. The apparent discrimination extends not just to companies with traditional hierarchies but also in the service industry where it is believed that your wages are earned based upon your merit. “The latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the largest gaps in wages between men and women are in sales. In insurance, for example, saleswomen make only 62.5% of what their male colleagues earn, in retail just 64.3%, and in real estate only 66%. This is surprising considering that sales pay has long been thought to be less political and more merit-based (Harvard, 2013).” “Between 1980 and 2001, the gap narrowed substantially, from 60 percent to just over 76 percent. Much of what economists call the traditional rationales for explaining the gender pay gap -- such as workforce participation and education rates -- also shifted substantially in that time. In 1963, women accounted for 34.4 percent of the workforce; in 1990 it was 45.2 percent; by 2015, women accounted for nearly 47 percent of the workforce. Not only are women participating in the labor force at equal rates to men, but in 2015, more women held a bachelor's degree than men, marking a first
In their article, “Workplace Gender Bias: Not Just Between Strangers”, authors Nadler and Stockdale discuss the forms of gender bias that still exist in the workplace for women who have jobs in male-dominated fields. They suggest that “gender role stereotypes” and “subtle forms of gender bias” give women a harder time in these fields and may result in “reduced pay, harsher…standards in performance evaluation, and a reduced likelihood to advance” (282-84). Women that do not conform to societal e...
Sex Discrimination in the American Workplace: Still a Fact of Life. (2000, July 01). Retrieved from National Women's Law Center : www.nwlc.org
Despite legislation for equal opportunities, sexism is still evident in the workplace. Women have made great advancements in the workforce and have become an integral part of the labor market. They have greater access to higher education and as a result, greater access to traditionally male dominated professions such as law. While statistics show that women are equal to men in terms of their numbers in the law profession, it is clear however, that they have not yet achieved equality in all other areas of their employment. Discrimination in the form of gender, sex and sexual harassment continues to be a problem in today’s society.
While the median weekly pay for women rose in the past decades, it is still largely inferior to the median weekly pay of men employed in the same jobs. This difference of pay also puts an additional burden on women who are expected to stay home when emergencies arise. They cannot in some cases pay for daycare or rely on their companies’ understanding that someone has to take care of the family obligations. In result, they are penalized when comes the time to find candidates for promotion and are seen as not as dependable as their male counterparts. Finally, women face a social bias against them that encompass gender, appearance and race. It effectively punishes them for reasons that are out of their own control and not related to their job performance and skills. Laws against gender-based discrimination, more flexible workplace arrangements and a change in our culture regarding women may help fight discrimination and help women reach their full potential in the workforce. By starting to allow for more flexibility, paying women on a comparable scale than the one used for men, and support women in their desire to take care of their families, corporations could set the tone for a fairer treatment of women in the
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission chart shows a decrease in gender discrimination since 2012, and remaining at a constant 29% of cases filed at the end of 2015. A straightforward approach is used to propose gender stereotypes by naming, identifying, and understanding the context. An example on how gender stereotyping comes into place, nurses are usually females, and you don’t see as many men in the healthcare field working as a nurses because it is for women. Gender discrimination comes in play when harm is applied to an individual. A woman may want a job that portray the role of a man, and she is discriminated against, and The Equal Employment Opportunity states what laws are being
Female inequality in workplace is one of the harmful aspect that is afflicting the entire
1. Finn, Lisa. "Female Discrimination in the Workplace." Editorial. Global Post-America's World News Site. N.p., 2005. Web. 17 Mar. 2014. .
Women are more than half the work force and are graduating at higher rates then men and continue to earn considerably less then men. There are several contributing factors to the gender wage gap. Women experience gender discrimination in the work force even though it’s been illegal since the Equal Pay Act in 1963. One of the challenges for women is uncovering discrimination. There is a lack of transparency in earnings because employees are either contractually prohibited or it’s strongly discouraged from being discussed. Discrimination also occurs in the restricting of women’s access to jobs with the highest commission payments, or access to lucrative clients.
Blatant forms of gender discrimination, over time, have given away to much more subtle forms. Before the passing of the Civil Rights Act it was common for women to be restricted to certain jobs and positions with the claim that such discrimination was necessary for the women’s discrimination. (pg. 347) Such stereotypes are evident the case of Muller v. Oregon case a Supreme Court judge stated that “[a woman] must rest upon and look to her brother for protection...to protect her from the greed as well as passions of man.” (pg. 347 #60) Although still heavily influenced by stereotypes, Gender discrimination of the 21st century is most commonly seen in the form of lower pay, lack of promotions and exclusion from networking opportunities. According
In relation to employment opportunities, females tend to be limited in their employment possibilities, where they are often viewed as less capable then men and often face discrimination at the workplace from their colleagues. Where, women are less likely to be employed than their male counterpart, have lower wages and aren’t likely to advance at the same rate that males do. Women are segregated into low paying female professions, like secretarial jobs, service orientated occupations or as caregivers. Laws have been placed that seek to prevent occupational discrimination towards women by demanding equal treatment yet those laws, “do not address the indirect obstacles, such as gender inequalities involved in family life or socialization to gendered
It is very important to be concerned about the issue because it is constantly increasing throughout the United States. It upsets me that women are paid less than men because women have the same ability and work ethic as men do, but they are looked at differently. According to AAUW, women make 77 percent of what men make. This rate hasn’t changed since 2002 (Hill, 2013). Statistics show that women will never make as much as men due to the thought of never being comparable to men (Williams, 2013).
For many decades, women have faced inequalities in the workforce. At one point, they were not allowed to work at all. Although women's rights have improved and are now able to work alongside men, they are still treated unfairly. According to the 2012 U.S. Census, women’s earnings were “76.5 percent of men’s” (1). In 2012, men, on average, earned $47,398 and women earned only $35,791. This is when comparing employees where both gender spend the same amount of time working. Not only do women encounter unfairness in work pay, they also face a “glass ceiling” on a promotional basis. This glass ceiling is a “promotion barrier that prevents woman’s upward ability” (2). For example, if a woman is able to enter a job traditionally for men, she will still not receive the same pay or experience the same increase in occupational ability. Gender typing plays a huge role in the workplace. It is the idea that women tend to hold jobs that are low paid with low status. Women are not highly considered in leadership positions because of social construction of gender. Society has given women the role of “caretakers” and sensitive individuals. Therefore, women are not depicted as authoritative figures, which is apparent with the absence of women in leadership roles in companies. Furthermore, sex segregation leads to occupations with either the emphasis of women in a certain job or men in a certain job. In 2009, occupations with the highest proportion of women included “secretary, child care worker, hair dresser, cashier, bookkeeper, etc.” (3). Male workers typically held job positions as construction workers, truck drivers, taxi drivers, etc. (3). Sex segregation represents inequality because the gender composition for these jobs depends on what ...
Today in the United States, men make more than women in various sectors, including education and other trades favoring women workers. The gap gets bigger when comparing the wages earned by men to those of women in jobs favoring men workers such as construction or other physically demanding jobs. Women are less likely to work those jobs, therefor; men have the advantage of having more experience and get paid better. In addition, employers would rather hire a man instead of a woman because they believe that a man will be able to sustain the difficulty of the job and work longer hours which crate a disadvantage for women because they are unable to gain experience and become skilled in that certain field. Gender pay gap based on this information is explained as the result of the discrimination of employers toward the feminine sex in terms of pay, which discourage them to work certain jobs leading to create a bigger gap due to the lack of
Despite government regulations to promote equality within the workplace, women’s salaries continue to lag behind males in similar career with similar experiences. According to research performed by Blau & Kahn (2007) “women salaries averaged about 60% of men’s until the 1970s and rose to nearly 80% by the 1990s” (as cited in Bendick, Jr. & Nunes, 2012, p.244). Today, women on average earn approximately $.81 for every dollar that men earn in the United States (Guy and Fenley P.41 2014).
Gender Inequality at a Workplace Historically, males and females normally assume different kinds of jobs with varying wages in the workplace. These apparent disparities are widely recognized and experienced across the globe, and the most general justification for these differences is that they are the direct outcomes of discrimination or traditional gender beliefs—that women are the caregivers and men are the earners. However, at the turn of the new century, women have revolutionized their roles in the labor market. Specifically in industrialized societies, the social and economic position of women has shifted. Despite the improving participation of women in the labor force and their ameliorating proficiency and qualifications, the labor force is still not so favorable to women.