Discrimination based on gender

Review of the Literature on Workplace Discrimination Against Women
Gender discrimination in the workplace is still a major issue despite numerous significant improvements in management procedures in contemporary firms and the creation of better regulatory requirements (Francine & Kahn 78). The majority of studies on gender discrimination concur on the claim that it is a persistent issue in society that persists despite employers' awareness of its effects on the organization's reputation and overall performance (Blau & DeVaro 510). Due to the majority of responsibilities being provided to men, women are currently underrepresented in many organizational activities, particularly those that pay well. Daniel observe that there is the wrong perception in most employers that women only deliver best results when assigned to lighter and less sophisticated activities such as secretarial and receptionists. Schech & Dev conclude that this is a false fallacy which cannot be justified since the reasoning and intelligent level for both men and women are equal and either can perform any duty based on the professional knowledge and job experience.

In the recent years, some companies have recognized the importance of eliminating discriminative gender policies, and have further replaced them with equal employment opportunities. According to King et al, gender discrimination is experienced in the decision making, policy enactment, pay, training, hiring, and promotion of women. Gender discrimination is illegal under the state and federal law because of the adverse effects on the organizational performance and aggrieved individuals (Francine & Kahn 85). Gender discrimination in the workplaces is perhaps caused by discriminative societal norms and acculturation which mostly favor one sex over the other (Daniel). Consequently, the community views and expectations regarding the roles of individuals influence how the employers and managers perceive and treat workers in the workplace. Through the human resources departments, most companies use criteria such as job requirements, educational qualifications, gender balance, and work experience to hire workers (Schech & Dev 15). During the recruitment process, the entire screening process is based on these metrics which provides equal opportunities to everyone regardless of the gender.

How gender discrimination is manifested in the workplace

However, in the contemporary society, gender discrimination is rooted on women being perceived as inferior to their male counterparts hence leaving out other pertinent forms of discrimination (King et al. 1835). According to Blau & DeVaro, gender discrimination is manifested for both male and female, although, a little focus has been accorded to the men because most discriminative cases that occur favor them. Today, women have made significant progress towards equality, but it is apparent that still many obstacles prevent them from accomplishing their full potentials in the public sphere. The society devalues women because of the primitive societal norms, roles instruct, and rules which influence employers and top management of various organizations (King et al. 1840). In most organizations, women are rapidly subjected to subtle discrimination by both sexes, a behavior that is highly objected by the federal and state laws (Sackett 265). In the recent years, discriminative cases such as denying qualified women being denied promotion because of pregnancies or refusal to give them deserved promotions because they become pregnant (Roth 785). Similarly, women are discriminated based on their looks and their dressing modes than are the male counterparts (Francine & Kahn 83). This goes hand in hand with Gelfand et al who conclude in their study that, the continued existence of these invisible barriers against women still prevents them from clinching the top rank of management and securing better-paying jobs.

Moreover, gender discrimination is still evident in the workplace in various forms and range from simple to complex of which some are solvable or prevented whereas others are hard to deal with (Blau & DeVaro 515). Gender discrimination is further portrayed through unequal pay, unfriendly interview questions, diminished responsibilities, inadequate restrooms, glass ceilings, sexual harassment and positional bias (Roth 790). Apparently, the occurrence of these practices in the organization aims to benefit the men hence impacting negatively on women contributions to the business success (Pang & Huang 38). Despite being evident that gender discriminations occur in these forms, it is sometimes hard to spot and purge some situations. In other cases, women who ascend to higher positions in the organization are constantly mistreated and even not respected by colleagues serving in the same rank (Roth et al. 725). Their efforts and hard working go un-rewarded as individuals might collude not to support plans or follow policies formulated under the guidance of the female manager (Dushica 120). However, efforts in combating gender discrimination in the workplace have failed to yield expected results because of lack of the adequate knowledge about the subject. Additionally, gender discrimination has remained a challenge to solve because it has been built into the social fabric that mostly favors males.

Gelfand et al assert that gender discrimination is detrimental to the growth and expansion of the organization. These scholars state that gender discrimination creates a poor working environment which ultimately demoralizes both the victims and other employees of the organization. Undeniably, people are social beings, and wrong doings against the female will probably discourage individuals who are directly attached to them. Gender discrimination increases resentment, hostility, suspicion, and rivalry (Onay et al. 1110). The existence of these aspects in the business eventually creates poor communications among the employees (Dushica 511). Notably, effective communication is crucial while initiating and implementing projects or just coordination the execution of daily activities. Therefore, gender discrimination in the workplace undeniably gives a direct ticket for the failure. Apparently, the business is expected to have a good public image since its employees are also the potential market for the products and services it offers (Onay et al. 1108). If it comes in the limelight that the organization discriminates its employees based on gender issues, then its reputation will probably damage hence which will eventually affect the overall performance. Similarly, Dushica conclude that gender discrimination in the workplace interferes with the business focus on important issues. Once some employees realize that their efforts are unrecognized by the organization, they become discouraged from perfectly discharging their duties while others raises issues that consume a lot of time that could be spent on important matters (Gelfand et al.). In short, gender discrimination interferes with the normal functioning of the business and leads to time-wasting.

The target for gender discrimination at work

Bulk & Tiene define gender discrimination in the workplace as the process of treating some employees differently from others by solely basing on gender rather than job performance or task requirements. Most studies discuss the discrimination women experiences while working in the different organization which paints a picture that gender discrimination only targets women (Dushica 507). However, this is not the case because gender discrimination mostly targets women because the present culture and perception of individuals favor males (Gutiérrez et al.). Also, most executive positions in various companies globally are held by men who give them the upper hand to discriminate females (Daniel). In the developing countries, most high positions in the political sphere are dominated by males who sometimes fail to enact and support policies that aim to bring gender equity in the public and private sectors (Roth et al. 720). Nevertheless, this is not the case in the developed nations. For instance, the US has taken the frontier role in bringing order to the employment and management practices performed by companies that operate in there (Belohlav & Ayton 284). The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has developed and enforced laws that prohibit gender discrimination in the workplace. These rules are enshrined in the Title VII of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and Equal Pay Act of 1963 prevents employment discrimination based on gender during the recruitment, hiring and firing and sex-based wage discrimination respectively (Belohlav & Ayton 282). Dushica assert that these laws are also applied other countries in the meaning but are differently worded to ensure employers and managers hire, treat and reward workers based on their qualifications, job requirements, and experience rather than gender principles.

In the organization, there is usually direct and indirect discrimination. An employer is guilty of direct gender discrimination when the human resource manager passes over a qualified male job to the unqualified female and vice versa (Dushica 115). These aspects might be invisible and unnoticed; however, they might be in the knowledge of the hiring officer. On the other hand, indirect discrimination is more subtle and is presented as the organization policies but might directly or indirectly disqualify individuals from occupying positions they deserve (Triana et al. 820). Such elements include but not limited to minimum heights which do not affect workers from discharging their roles in the office and appointment or training programs that might isolate women with children from attending. De Pater et al state that most organizations hire both male and female, and this implies that both the gender is affected differently by management practices that are applied. According to Bulk & Tiene, employees’ experiences gender discrimination during recruitment, pay and terms of conditions of employment, promotions opportunities, training opportunities, and selection for redundancy. These elements are not restricted to a particular gender, hence will affect anyone depending on the employer’s intention. Triana et al conclude that gender discrimination targets anyone but because of the discriminative culture that mostly favor men, hence making many women to experience discrimination in the workplace.

The reasons why does gender discrimination occur at workplace

Despite the increased awareness among employees about what constitutes gender discrimination and legal frameworks prohibiting this vice, it is experienced in both well-established and developing organizations (Walter & Michael). Scholars have examined potential causes of gender discrimination and most findings include; persisting uncertainty, double personality standards, breadwinner assumptions, and traditional views (De Pater et al. 436). These factors significantly contribute to gender discrimination despite the existing employment policies that are put in place to protect their rights. These factors are caused by the financial pressures, and lack of diversity training in various economies.

First and foremost, there are persisting uncertainties beyond workers control (Bulk & Tiene). Because of the uncertainties, the managers have the belief that women mostly get pregnant, and during this period their commitments to organization activities reduce. Managers hold the belief that female candidate might get pregnant, a perception that forces them to promote the male without considering their qualifications (Stamarski & Son 1400). Secondly, the double personality standards promote gender discrimination by asserting that women who hold top positions to concentrate on unimportant issues (Bobbit-Zeher). Powerful and vocal women leaders struggle with negative viewpoint men or women instead of concentrating on pertinent organization activities, and this assertive makes’ men more perfect than women. Today, there is a stereotype that men are the breadwinner in the society and women of the household. This perception still holds in the contemporary society whereby men are supposed to be given more responsibilities than women to provide for their families. Bobbit-Zeher state that employer’s base on this to offer female candidates less involving jobs to allow them have time to attend to family issues. Moreover, most scholars explain that gender discrimination is mostly caused by traditional views which are substantially held by many workers (Roth et al. 730). Evidently, traditional beliefs influence individuals’ workers in the business to discriminate even if the company systems promote fairness and non-discrimination.

Gutierrez et al assert that gender discrimination is still experienced because of the factors such as the absence of good behavior modeling, generational differences, and lack of training. On the good-behavior modeling, studies propose that healthy organizations workplace should have diversity in departments, daily activities, and policies (De Pater et al. 437). The policies in the organizations should be clear and automatic, and individuals who deserve promotions must be allowed based on the merit rather than gender considerations to make them feel accepted and valued. Additionally, generational differences among employees in organizations encourage a particular generation to discriminate the other (De Pater et al. 433). In most cases, the younger generation is more discriminated against the experienced and workers who have served in the business for a long period. The older generation feels the younger one are unprepared and immature to hold particular positions in the firm, an aspect that might prevent the business from capitalizing on diversity. According to Bobbit-Zeher, gender discrimination in the workplace still exists because of lack or inadequate diversity training. Sensitizing employees on the importance of diversity and respect for each other in the business may motivate them to work in unity for the benefit of the firm. In summary, these factors ought to be adequately addressed in the organization to encourage diversity which will ultimately minimize and further eliminate gender discrimination.





















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