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Social factors that have led to gender inequality at work
Sexism in the workforce
Sexism in the workforce
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Women in the Workplace All over the world, patriarchy controls and dictates the way society works. Every day stories are told of women in third-world countries who have fallen victim to said patriarchy. These women seem distant from people who live in the first-world, causing many to think that patriarchy is not present in more advanced cultures. However, they could not be more wrong. It encompasses almost every aspect of western life. Even in a country as developed as the United Kingdom, misogyny and gender inequality still exist in the workplace. Take a moment to think of why people have jobs; the salary. Even in this most basic aspect of work, men and women are far from equal. A study by the Office for National Statistics shows that the gross weekly pay for full-time female workers is 458.8 pounds; and the same statistic for men is 556.0 pounds (“Statistical Bulletin: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings”). With a difference of 100 pounds per week, men and women’s pay is not equal. This difference between salaries can be shocking. One would think that wage equality would be present in in a nation as advanced as the United Kingdom. In reality, the advancity of a country cannot keep out the epidemic of patriarchy. Women are paid drastically less than men, proving that gender inequality still thrives on the workplace. Not only is the gender pay gap large; it is also increasing. Another study by the Office for National Statistics proves that the gender pay gap in 2013 was 15.7%, which is an increase from 14.8% in the preceding year (“Labour Market Profile Great Britain”). This is hardly surprising. Now that women have been taking a stand and feminist ideas have been spreading, there is bound to be a backlash. People are afraid o... ... middle of paper ... ...start paying attention to their equality data, it may help them find ways to make their company more impartial and egalitarian. This would be a simple step for employers to take; yet they do not take it. To further gender equality and fairness, we must have equal representation in work. However, women are still not being represented enough in the workplace. Even thought the United Kingdom is extremely advanced, it’s workplaces and job arenas are still unequal and slanted towards men. Pay, discrimination, and representation are all factors of the inequality that women often experience in the workplace. To have complete equality in the workplace would be a huge leap for gender equality outside of work, too. Once women are fully respected at work, that respect will transfer into all the other aspects of society; eventually allowing women and men to finally be equals.
furthermore, i believe women should not be oppressed in the working environment as they are only trying to seek the same opportunities as men,everybody should be treated equally and fairly. I have realised even in our society women are still looked down on and their appearance is always seen us more important than their knowledge in order for them to get on with their work. Even in our developed generation despite how much the Suffragettes fought for the equality of women in some the cabinet jobs women are still paid less compared to men. I believe the main gender inequality directly comes from the media as we are bombarded to believe women are fragile and
The once male dominated, corporate, "white collar" America has seen a phenomenal influx of women within the last thirty years. Although a female lawyer, physician, or CEO is no longer considered a rarity in our times, women still face quite a deal of oppression in comparison to their male counterparts. In retrospect, some professions have always been controlled by women, and men have not made a noticeable advance in these fields. In 1970, finding a female lawyer to represent you would be a difficult task, since less than five percent of the profession were women. Today, that number has risen to almost thirty percent. The percentage of female doctors has almost tripled in the course of thirty years. African Americans have not made such a conspicuous progression within the last fifty years, while women have made a tremendous impact on the corporate world. One may wonder, how did women make these extraordinary advances? For the most part, it is due to the education they receive. At the present time young girls are encouraged to enroll in classes dealing with math and science, rather than home economics and typing. As pointed out by Nanette Asimov, in her essay "Fewer Teen Girls Enrolling in Technology Classes", school officials are advocating the necessity of advanced placement, and honor classes for teenage girls, in both the arts and sciences. This support and reassurance than carries over onto college, and finds a permanent fixture in a woman’s life. While women are continuing their success in once exclusively male oriented professions, they are still lacking the respect and equality from their peers, coworkers, and society. The average male lawyer, and doctor make twenty-five percent more money than their female equivalent. Women have always lived with the reputation of being intellectually inferior to, and physically submissive to men. This medieval, ignorant notion is far fetched from the truth. In 1999, high school men and women posted similar SAT scores, being separated by a only a few points. In addition to posting similar scores on the SAT, the average males score was a mere two-tenths of a point higher than an average females score on the ACT. Even though a woman maybe as qualified as a male for a certain occupation , women receive unwanted harassment, and are under strict scrutiny. A good illustration of this would be the women represented in "Two Women Cadets Leave the Citadel.
Throughout the world, discrimination in all forms has continued to be a constant struggle; whether it’s racial, gender based, religion, beliefs, appearance or anything that makes one person different from another, it’s an everyday occurrence. A major place that discrimination is occurring at is in the workplace. One of the largest problems discrimination issues is believed to be gender. Women, who have the same amount of experience as men are not getting paid at the same rate as men, these women also are equally trained and educated. According to the article Gender Pay, it was discovered in 2007 that a woman makes 81 cents for every dollar a man earns.(“Gender Pay”) . This shouldn’t be happening in today’s society for the fact the society lived in today is suppose to be more accepting. Men are viewed as being more popular, valuable and having higher powers than women. The Reason Discrimination is involved in the equal pay equal work is because of the significance it has to how some businesses pay their employees.
The first significant equality legislation in the UK was the Equal Pay Act 1970 . However, the issue of equal pay in the workplace can be traced back to the 19th century. This essay will analyse how economic and social factors of the 19th and 20th century were the reasons for highlighting the issue of equal pay in the workplace. However, with the gender pay gap standing at 19.2 per cent in 2015 , there can be no defining reason for equal pay in the workplace. Consequently, this essay will then discuss how equality legislation has challenged unequal pay in the workplace, but in its reactive approach has failed its objective. Furthermore, this essay will then discuss the remedies for equal pay in the workplace by analysing the impact on both
In the year of 2016, news companies, magazines, social media sites, activists, students, and others from many different parts of the globe are still pushing for a variety of women’s rights in a plethora of areas. Among these crucial areas is the workforce. Years after the women’s rights movement initially began, women are still struggling to gain equal access to job opportunities simply because of gender-based discrimination. As part of a platform that was especially promoted by the feminist Second Wave, equal access in the workforce matters because it directly affects how women are able to define their goals, the way in which they can pursue their aspirations, and their capability to provide for
Initially, the first women entering the workplace did so out of desire. In a post feminist, post-civil right era and spurred on by higher levels of education. Women saw jobs and careers as rights that had previously been denied to them. Women were tired of just being "Big Johns Wife" or "Little Johnny's mommy". They wanted to be known the way men have always identified themselves by their jobs, their careers, and the level of success to which they had risen. Status, not salary, was the prime mover of the first wave of women to assault the previously all male worlds of medicine, and the corporate citadel
Critics of feminist studies of men often argue that the politics to change values and behaviour need to come from men themselves, because feminist women’s long efforts against gender discrimination, misogyny, sexual harassment, rape, battering, and male violence have often created backlash and stubborn resistance from men (Lorber, 2012, 274). If men do not fight for what they want they will not see change, it will not be handed to them as many things have already been. Although, the question presumes, why would men want to change something that they feel is just fine? This is where controversy takes place. A change must occur in order for things to be equal. Men do not always have to be the breadwinners; On the other hand, areas that seemed to indicate potential gender equality – fatherhood and men doing “women’s work” – have ironically restored gender inequality. This refers to the racialized glass escalator. Where men who do women’s work have reliable preferences in the working environment, such that even in occupations where men are numerical in minorities they are likely to enjoy higher wages and faster promotions (Lorber, 2012, p.264) In addition, men get daddy bonuses when they become fathers while women workers suffer a motherhood penalty in reduced wages (Lorber, 2012, 274). Limitations such as these reinforce gender
In the workplace, women do not receive the same benefits that men do. Some women do the same job, for the same amount of hours, and still do not receive the same pay for their work. Is there a specific reason behind this? No, it is just one of the many inequalities that goes on on the job. As pointed out in the essay by Susan Faludi, Blame it on Feminism, women earn less. The average women’s paycheck is twenty percent less than their male counterparts. Men with only high school education’s make more than some women who have graduated college. Most women are still working the traditional “female” jobs: secretaries, teachers, and nurses for example. Construction work, engineering, and doctor’s, are considered “out of our reach” and men’s jobs. Women are very capable of doing these jobs, but most times when applying for a “man’s job” are not taken seriously. American women are more likely not to receive health insurance and twice as likely not to draw pension then American men. They face the biggest gender-biased pay gap in the world.
Just recently, Tesco, a supermarket company, received the largest equal pay claim in the UK at a staggering four billion british pounds. Numerous claims similar to this have been instituted in companies across the UK in hopes of closing the wage gap between female and male dominated jobs. The push for change is riding on the laws passed in 1984 stating, “Workers doing jobs that require comparable skills, have similar levels of responsibility and are of comparable worth to the employer, should also be rewarded equally.” Lawyers supporting the case for equal pay state female workers have a lower paycheck than men and in fact, recent statistics show that women in the UK are normally paid £8 to a man’s
Jones states in his Gallup news article entitled Americans Say Equal Pay Top Issue for Working Women, (Jones, 2014) that the data from a September 2014 Gallup poll shows that two of the most important issues facing working women in this country today are equal/fair pay and equal opportunity for advancement and promotion. These concerns placed higher than the issues of better childcare and healthcare and the economy in general. The number of working women in the United States is almost equal to that of men, however the challenges women face in establishing careers and advancing in them is different from men. The EEOC Women 's Work Group issued a report (EEOC Women 's Work Group, 2010) that cites many of the biggest challenges for women seeking equal opportunities in the workplace. These include lack of mentoring and grooming for management positions, being less likely to be invited to networking events, women not being granted training and developmental assignments on as equal footing as men, and women not being targeted in recruitment efforts for upper level and management positions. In order to combat these discriminatory practices, employers should develop mentoring programs and monitor their effectiveness, actively making sure that women are as equally included as men. Senior level officials should be expected to mentor subordinates and that mentoring should not be gender biased. Businesses should perform a barrier analysis to discover what obstacles
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.
... is a impetus in changing society perception and also company policies to favour both sexes.Male and female can work together for a better performance to create a gender equality society. Let us start together to create a gender equality society.
According to journal of organization culture, communication and conflict “in 1967 women earned sixty cents for a full time work, while men earned one dollar” (Hill, 31). Even though this has improved over the years we still have not reached equality. Women have been behind for centuries. For example, women were given the right to vote after men. Ever since women were created we have been one step behind men and we have been fighting to be equal. Even though society does not think women are equal, we have proven
“There are 74.6 million women in the civilian labor force. Almost 47 percent of U.S. workers are women.” (DeWolf 2017) Today, there are more woman in leadership roles in business than ever before. A leadership role in business ranges from a store manager, branch manager, to CEO’s of large companies. Through the modern and correct view on Feminism more business’ and individuals are proud and happy with the results woman are producing in the workplace. With women in the workplace comes the right for equal pay, which is now coming to fruition more than ever, further pushing the equal rights of women. A prime example of equal pay for equal work is the stance Google recently taken on closing the gap between salaries for men and
Women’s subordination within the labour market is seen by Marxist feminists as suiting the needs of capitalism as women are considered a ‘reserve army of labour’ as they are a more disposable part of the workforce. According to Beechey (1986) women are a cheap ‘reserve army of labour’ that are brought in during economic booms but then thrown out during slumps. Women are often not members of trade unions and are prepared to work for less money as their wage could be a second income. This benefits capitalism as a group of unemployed people looking for work creates competition and exploitation. Employers are given an advantage which allows them to reduce wages and increase the rate of exploitation. Benston (1972) supports this as women are used to benefitting the operation of the capitalist economy by carrying out unprepared work in the home. This proves that patriarchy dominates women which leads to women’s subordination. Hartmann (1981) believes that patriarchy and the economy both play a crucial role in explaining and understanding gender inequality. Historically, men have controlled women especially by control of labour power. This can come through legislation that operates economically to the benefit of men, for example Maternity and Paternity Rights. This proves that patriarchy and economics together explains gender inequality. However, Walby (1986) argues that women staying at home can actually harm capitalism because if women were to compete for jobs with men this would lower wages and increase profits. Women who earn also have superior spending power which would boost the economy and benefit