Clea Simon On Gender Bias

In “For Women, Progress Slows as Power Nears,” Clea Simon highlights some differences for men and women in the workplace and attempts to explain why these differences still exist. Simon addresses the discrepancies in salaries and higher level education, noting that more women are graduating than men and an equal amount enter post-graduate schools. However, women earn less than men and do not reach the highest level in their career field. After relaying the numerical statistics, Simon states, “Access is better, pay can be good, but when it comes to running things at the highest levels, it's generally still a man's world.” The rest of the article offers suggestions to combat this gender bias. Simon notes that inflexibility contributes to the

Regarding Simon’s article, hierarchy affects the gender bias. Simon says women only occupy 4 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs and 19 percent of congress, leaving men to occupy most of the high-level jobs. From a sociological perspective, the current social structure – men favored in high-level positions – affects the individual agency of perceived human potential. If more men work at the tops of their fields than women, then they earn more money and power. With a huge gap in power, women are viewed as insubordinate to men, and from the wage gap, women can be seen as worth less than men. The gender bias results in the loss of women’s self-perception and potential. Because people view women as less powerful and worthy, women do not earn top tier job positions, creating a cycle of inequality. Since structure and agency work hand in hand, people have the power to alter this cycle. For example, employers can promote women and increase their salaries, which would result in a higher representation of women in powerful and lucrative positions, and thus diminishing the perceptions of insubordination and worthiness. For this reason, the gender gap in power should be important to everyone. It is not just a matter of gender; it is a matter of human