Inequalities In The Workplace

A Study of Inequalities in the workplace.

Many have tried to conceptualize the intersectionality between class, gender and the racial relations of inequality in the workplace, and although women have made great strides in the workplace in recent years we find that inequality continue to persist. According to a PEW Research, about four-in-ten working-women (42%) in the United States say they have faced discrimination on the job because of their gender. They report a broad array of personal experiences, ranging from earning less than male counterparts for doing the same job to being passed over for important assignments (PEW Research Center, 2017). Much of the discrimination felt by women have not only been in the social aspect, but in the professional

Women often take inferior compensating jobs as a tradeoff for flexible hours and often-spending lower working hours per week at their jobs than their male counterparts do. For the reason that women are linked to be the primary care givers in the home, they tend to kept lower paying occupations that are more flexible, allowing them to care for their family yet still retain an income earner to their homes. However, with the ever-changing times we find that parental roles have shifted dramatically. Fathers are now sharing the responsibilities of child care, which is allowing more and more women to pursue careers. According to statistics from the Department of Labor of the United States of the “123 million women age 16 years and over, 58.6 percent or 72 million were labor force participants. In the end, women are projected to account for 51 percent of the increase in total labor force growth between 2008 and 2018” (U.S Department of Labor, 2010). For same reasons, gender inequality is an elusive subject, it has become frustrating to pin-point specific causes when developing theories. However, before we can begin to analyze this subject further we need to incorporate men in to the theoretical framework and how workplaces need to acclimate

It is important to realize that much of gender discrimination comes from organizational practices stemming from the hiring process and human resources. Many of the policies in place affect the ability for hired, training, pay and the promotion prospects of women. Under set circumstances, human resource policies are inherently predisposition to exclude certain groups specifically women, despite their education, skills, performance or abilities to conduct the job. “For instance, if women are under-represented in a particular educational program or a particular job type and those credentials or previous job experience are required to be considered for selection, women are being systematically, albeit perhaps not intentionally, discriminated against. In another example, there is gender discrimination if a test is used in the selection battery for which greater gender differences emerge, than those that emerge for job performance ratings. Thus, institutional discrimination can be present within various aspects of HR selection policy and can negatively affect women’s work outcomes” (Hing, 2015). When trying to conceptualize the outcome of organizational Structures, processes, and practices on HR policy, the focus is on the link between institutional discrimination in organizational structures, processes, and practices that can lead to personal discrimination in HR practices (Appendix B). We