The Times They Aren’t A-Changin'
On February 19, 2017, ex-Uber Engineer Susan Fowler published her accounts of sexual harassment, gender inequality, and sexism during her time with the company. This initiated strong reactions public outcry. A day later, Forbes reported that Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, with the assistance from former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder would launch an independent review into the allegations. We are approaching 2018, Gender inequality and sexism should not be a problem anymore, and yet Silicon Valley has been criticized for the lack of representation of females in the workplace for years. What are the long term ramifications on society if gender inequality is not addressed, and how would a sociologist approach
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Women in the workspace are not seeking preferential treatment, but instead to be treated as equals. Unfortunately, this is becoming a reoccurring theme in many tech-related jobs. According to Susan Fowler’s accounts and the Forbes report, she states that when she reported the manager who was sexually harassing her, the manager was not disciplined because he was a “high performer,” and because this was his first offence. It was later revealed that this was not his first offence, and that woman who have reported him to HR in the past were ignored. Since the female group represents the minority of engineers within Uber, it is as if they have been forced to assimilate to their male counterparts because of the culture within the company. Another example of discrimination discussed in Susan Fowler’s and the Forbes article was managements refusal to purchase leather jackets for the female engineers as promised because of the number of female engineers (six) was so low, they were unable to receive a bulk discount. Instead, Uber instructed the female engineers that they would need to find leather jackets for themselves at the same price as the bulk order price of the men’s jackets. What occurred at Uber during Susan Fowler’s time with the company is one of the most shocking examples of gender inequality ever reported, and evidence that the feminist fight for equality is still not over. The …show more content…
In the article by Forbes and Susan Fowler, the male supervisor that propositioned her was not disciplined, nor for the other inappropriate interactions he had with other female engineers in the company. The fact that management and human resources would lie to protect this individual speaks to how they reward men in upper management. This attracts like-minded individuals either within the company, or outsiders to be hired despite their misogyny. Conversely, Susan Fowler stated in the article that despite meeting all the qualifications for transferring, and obtaining a perfect performance score, she was denied the ability to transfer, and later had her performance altered due to constantly reporting her management team to HR. Susan Fowler was enrolled at Stanford CS Graduate Program at the time, and sponsored by Uber. Due to the alteration in her performance score, she was no longer eligible to receive this sponsorship. This highlights a functionalist theory that attracts and rewards talented individuals, but ignores the contributions of others due to class, gender or other
“Pinpointed the conditions in which queen bees emerge: when women are a marginalized group in the workplace, have made big sacrifices for their career, or are already predisposed to show little “gender discrimination” (p.54, Khazan). Not only women face sexism, but gender and racial bias from work. This turns into the “competitive threat” when a woman worries that a female newcomer will outshine her in the workplace. Workers do not respect female bosses compared to men so that prompts the bosses to treat workers worse, which causes the workers to think less of their boss and most likely continue disrespecting them. Women seem to not be respected by men just as easily, that respect needs to be commended. Also, for those women that gave honest feedback were liked less and less likely to be hireable. This method is called the “system justification” a long-oppressed group struggling to make sense of an unfair world, internalize negative
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.
In America today, race/ethnicity, class categorization, and gender inequalities are just some of the most controversial issues that have created social division in every facet of our society. Gender inequality for one, remains a significant issue from the past up to this day. Looking at history, women have struggled to gain equal rights as well as equal pay against their male counterpart. As described in her book, “Cutting into the Meatpacking Line”, Deborah Fink detailed the inequalities against women and ethnic groups in the meatpacking plant where she had a first-hand experience as a worker. Furthermore, capitalism played an important role in the inequalities in race, gender, culture, and ethnicity, and it has also legitimized the disparities
Women now hold their place in the workforce and we have our eight hour day. Charlotte Perkins Gilman was one of the people who strongly believed that women needed opportunities for labor, and women have gotten those rights. On the contrary, women still get paid less than men. According to CNN Money, “men still make more than women in most professions -- considerably more in some occupations than others, according to a new study by the job search site Glassdoor”. Although we like to comfort ourselves with the idea that we have gotten our rightfully earned rights, we had not been given bathroom breaks until 1998. Furthermore, employees are still afraid to have a voice in the workforce. Employers establish rules that basically let laborers know that they are inferior. In Ehrenreich 's case, she witnessed being told that her bag was subject to being looked through at any time, and she saw how degrading drug tests were. Ehrenreich argues that“the drug tests, the constant surveillance, being ‘reamed out’ by managers- are part of what keeps wages low”(Ehrenreich 211) which is agreeable seeing as the low wage workers decline to fight for better conditions due to fear. Additionally, Barbara figures out that minimum jobs do not equal minimum labor, which has always been the case. I agree with that fact due to
One thing that this reading brought to my attention that I did not know before is that these double standards are still happening. Over the years this country has come very far in women 's rights and I was not aware that these double standards still happened in the workplace. In my experience, I have never once heard any of these happening in my 5 years of working. I was unaware that this was still a serious problem for women. Before reading this, I thought that these double standards were almost extinct, and that we have moved far past these as a society. This article brought some of these example to my attention so that I can watch out for them in the
Sex Discrimination in the American Workplace: Still a Fact of Life. (2000, July 01). Retrieved from National Women's Law Center : www.nwlc.org
Gender roles are a staple construct of human civilization, designating the behaviors and lifestyles that society expects out of its participants, with gender as the defining characteristic. Historically, females have been at the forefront of the conversation, with feminism regarded as the principal solution to the well-established issue of gender inequality. However, this is foolish. To truly mend the gender inequalities forged by thousands of years of human interaction, both genders have to be acknowledged. Both males and females are equally constrained by gender roles, however the effects of this constraint are in differing fields. There are studies showing that females are at a disadvantage economically, in the workplace, while other studies
In the working environment, there is focus on females having unequal salaries with males or where women are lacking. Sociology Professor of University of British Columbia, Neil Guppy, reveals statistics that point out males are more likely to become engineers; “. . .men with lower mathematics test scores are significantly more likely to enter and graduate from STEM degree fields” (Guppy 248). Additionally, “. . . domestic labor continues to be segregated into blue and pink jobs, with women disproportionately doing routine housework and childcare, and men concentrating most on non-routine domestic labor (e.g. fixing things)” (Guppy 251). Feminists have every right to argue for female inequality in the working environment; if women are able to score higher mathematics scores than males then they should have every right to obtain a STEM degree and enter fields of engineering. If women are able to prove throughout the course of the feminist movement that they are strong, they should be able to perform careers when they fix things. However, the perspective this writing takes doesn’t address how males fall victim to such careers; males are discriminated into performing non-routine domestic labor because they are supposed to be the “breadwinners” or perform physically demanding jobs. Just as females are disproportionately forced into domestic labor, so are males in STEM and engineering fields; if
One important question that needs to be asked is, “what is equal?” Equality between sexes and race has been stressed and made law in the late nineteenth century, but even though laws have been made to protect woman from this discrimination, it still occurs frequently. Equal is being treated the same way and having the same opportunities no matter who one is. Big business has not given women the chance to be equal with men. One does not normally see a woman as the owner, or even the manager of a major corporation, these jobs consistently go to men. Traditi...
In “A distressing summer of workplace sexism reminds us how far we have to go” by Susanna Schrobsdorff, the author states, “according to a Pew Research survey released in August, most American men—56%— think sexism is over and done with. More than half believe that “the obstacles that once made it harder or women than men to get ahead are now largely gone. Of course, most women—63%—disagree” (Schrobsdorff 55). The misbelief that sexism still does not exist allows for the culture in which women continue to only be seen as sexual objects and not competent workers. Ehrenreich describes that, “[you should] watch out for Lon, who has a habit of following his female coworkers into service closets” (Ehrenreich 64). Ehrenreich is warned about a potential harassing employee and that it may happen to you, but most importantly, the behavior is normalized instead of trying to stop it. In “Not Just Fox” by Katha Pollitt, she explains that there is a misconception when it comes to being harassed and it is that, “being harassed is not a matter of weakness; it’s about the enormous power differential between worker and boss” (Pollitt 6). This is further supported by “ a 2015 Cosmopolitan survey, 71% of women said they did not file complaints about sexual harassment, likely because they feared appearing difficult or ‘too sensitive.’And they worry about retaliation and job security” (Schrobsdorff 55). Sometimes the person that is doing the harassing is the supervisor or the manager, when this occurs the victim is left with little options that will not disrupt the workplace. She also runs the possibility of being fired solely to avoid a sexual harassment complaint that she may file against him. Ehrenreich states that, “as a dietary aide, as I understand the job, is dependent on a cook as a waitress is[;] He or she
The critical rank for reducing gender inequalities should be education, labor force participation, and lastly, wages. There are obvious differences between men and women whether it’s anatomically, financially, and so forth. The gender inequalities women face compared to men is alarming and saddening. Gender stereotypes reinforce gender inequalities because stereotypes can often be internalized which results in biases against either sex. These biases against a person can result in negative results. Gender inequality has been within our society for a long time especially amongst women.
The issue of gender inequality will never truly be solved in the United States. This arises from differences in socially constructed gender roles as well as biologically through hormonal differences, chromosomes, and brain structures. Gender inequality is defined as unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals based on gender. One of the reasons for gender inequality is income disparities. Another reason is because of the positions in the workplace. Thirdly, the reason is because of beliefs that one another has. For these reasons is why these situations should be examined to get to the root of the problem.
Gender inequality refers to the inequality between men and women, or the unequal treatment or perception of a person based on his or her gender. Gender inequality is almost always prominent towards a female rather than towards a male. Women are seen as inferior to men in every country in the world. This form of society is called patriarchal and is one of this biggest issues in American society today. Patriarchy means that the country has a primarily male dominated society. Does anyone realize what gender inequality is doing to our country as a whole? Not everyone may think it has a great impact on our society, but gender inequality creates many of our problems today including wealth, income, and status discriminations. I chose to write about this topic because I believe that this is one of the biggest problems that all societies face, not just the United States. Fixing the gender inequality issues in our country could have a bigger impact than what many people may think. Changing something that most consider to be so minuscule could play a very important part of a much bigger picture in our country. If we could close the gap created by the inequality between men and women than maybe we could help influence the way America thinks about many other issues as well.
Guynn Jessica, “Sexism a problem in Silicon Valley, critics say,” LA Times, October 24, 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 ...