Gender Equality In Canada

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Newspaper Article Summary and Discussion
In the article, Virtually no change in getting woman on boards in Canada, stats show, Vanessa Lu examines the state of gender diversity on corporate boards in Canada. The issue arises when recent disclosure results reveal that there has been nearly no improvement over the past year in increasing the number of women appointed to the boards of Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) listed companies (2016). In other words, the number of Canadian women serving on corporate boards only increased “one percentage in the year since securities regulators first began ordering companies to track and disclose women in their ranks" (Lu 2016). Since the results show that there has been almost no change in getting women on boards …show more content…

More specifically, women from minority ethnic and racial groups suffer from greater underrepresentation (Acker 2009:199). Acker states that images of appropriate gendered and racialized bodies influence perceptions of hiring and promoting, and these processes are informed by images of the successful leader (2009:208). This image of the successful leader is stereotypically masculine. Consequently, such stereotyping constitutes a major barrier to women’s entry into top management, and it is often unrecognized. Thus, gendered and racialized stereotyped images contribute and help to perpetuate gender and race typing and segregation of jobs at all levels of class hierarchy (Acker 2009:208). At top management levels, hiring is usually done by corporate boards or by other top managers. Therefore, given the gender and race composition of these top corporate levels, it is not surprising that newly selected leaders tend to have the gender and race characteristic of the decision-makers (Acker …show more content…

Acker’s theory of gendered organizations states that values, beliefs, and stereotypes about gender are embedded in the very design and culture of organizations, their practices and policies (Krahn, Hughes, and Lowe 2014:206). Thus, the theoretical perspective towards work the authors are likely using are gender-role socialization and gendered work and organizations. More specifically, stereotypes on how women are tied to family duties. This is evident in the article when it stated that many women may not find it very attractive to become CEOs because they have to give up too much to fill a CEO position compared to the alternative as being a VP or having a lower position which is more easily combined with having more children and full take-up of maternity leave and other family-friendly schemes. In other words, women may feel that they have to give up a “normal life” to fill the role as a CEO (Smith, Smith, and Verner 2013:383). Therefore, the historical fact that men and women have performed different tasks in the home and in the labour force creates gender differences in work orientations and expectations. Women may be aware of their subordinate role, but may rationalize it as an outcome of their domestic responsibilities. Likewise, decision-makers may draw on traditional ideas about women’s and men’s skills

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