Globalization in business has brought about more interactions among individuals who come from various backgrounds. The past insular environments where people lived and worked in seclusion from the rest of the world is now gone, and a new world of dynamic interactions has taken over businesses. Presently, businesses are part of a worldwide economy that competes within global frameworks, which defines and eventually directly influences outcomes. This reason alone beckons the diversification of companies, which makes them remain relevant and competitive. Overall, the maximization and capitalization of diversity within organizations are inherently significant, particularly for managerial purposes (Bedi, 2014). The definition of diversity takes various stands and can be precisely defined as the acknowledgment, understanding, or the acceptance and valuing of the differences that exist among people concerning class, age, race, gender, ethnicity, disability and so on (Esty, Griffin & Schorr-Hirsh, 1995). Since diversity has the potential to yield competitive advantages and productivity, companies should embrace it and look for various ways they can adopt inclusive frameworks within their business policies. This paper focuses on the impact and issues related to gender diversity in the workplace.
Gender and business are the results of social practices done in a semantic and physical space whereby meaningful wholesome actions take place in a contextually organized manner within a mutual understanding. Consequently, one needs to have a clear knowledge and understanding of the impact gender has on business enterprises within both global and local markets. This understanding fosters the acceptance of the impact gender has in any business setting and ultimately underscores the need for diversity within organizations. Perhaps the most revealing instance whereby gender diversity is depicted to make impactful changes is the World Economic Forum on Gender Gap Index. This index is used to track correlations between a country’s developments, national competitiveness, and income in relation to its gender gap. The business competitiveness of a country usually hinges on its human talent, which encompasses the education, skills, and productivity of its general workforce. An example of Japan shows that the gender gap is significantly larger than most of the advanced countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), its weakest indicator being the lower ratio of women in managerial positions within companies (Nakagawa, 2015). The impact of having low women representation in Japan led to an overall lower rank on the World Economic Forum Index, depicting the need for gender diversity and a way of boosting company revenues and, in turn, bringing about positive success to business corporations.
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Perhaps the most significant impact of gender diversity within organizations is organizational performance. Innumerable researchers have come up with the proposition of various mechanisms that imply positive relations between diversity in the workforce and the performance of business corporations. Furthermore, diversity of gender has led to an attraction of the attention of politicians and corporate executives the world over, especially on the pertinent question of female representation in relation to business performance. Research studies indicate that diversity in culture, more so gender; have led to the yield of effectiveness in workgroups. This enhancement is capitalized further through group-member diversity, be it ethnical, racial or otherwise (Nakagawa, 2015). Heterogeneous groups are viewed to have a larger set of experience and knowledge and the ability to analyze issues from a broad set of perspectives; subsequently, leading to the consideration and debate of large proposal sets, resulting in innovative solutions that are of a higher quality than a homogenous group. In addition, the diversity of gender has been found to increase the overall creativity in employees due to the combination of varied perspectives, skills, and backgrounds that both men and women possess.
Gender diversity in workplaces aids in providing insights to the needs of female customers. This insight is highly pivotal for any functional business as women represent a large part of consumerism across different regions. Ultimately, understanding or having another perspective on consumerism leads to improved problem-solving abilities, innovation, creativity, and market insight; consequently, making the inclusion of gender diversity inimitable, rare, valuable and non-substitutable. Moreover, gender balanced companies usually benefit from diversity in a number of ways. Among them is the better financial performance especially when it comes to the occupation of managerial positions by women and the demonstration of team productivity and dynamics that are superior (Barker, Mancha & Ashcraft, 2014). Numerous studies show that organizations that are gender diverse, especially those dealing with technology, produce work teams that are usually on schedule and stay relatively under stipulated budgets, demonstrating augmented employee performance. However, to realize the benefits accorded by gender diversity, companies need to foster a culture of progress and an infrastructure that is supportive failure to which, problems and difficulties in general performance will subtly develop leading to an unsuccessful business.
Gender issues in business settings are numerous, and they derail the propensity of diversity within business organizations leading to unproductivity and a host of other business related setbacks. Conceivably, the most pressing issue all business settings face when it comes to gender is the ever-permeating issue of gender inequality. Especially in the workforce, women face quite a number of gender bias. Although companies work hard to promote equity and diversity, women still dominate most of the low paying administrative ranks, while men dominate most of the executive levels in business organizations. Such inequality hurts the performance of corporations and does not bring about healthy competition and overall developmental progress. Notwithstanding prodigious improvements over the last 50 years, regarding shattering most of the gender biases within society, there is still the prevalence of gender inequality within the workforce globally. Moreover, the gender wage gap within many corporations is largely significant and has not changed for quite a long time. In Canada for example, the gender wage gap has remained unremitted since the mid-1990s despite the fact that it is the lowest in all countries globally (Homewood, 2015). When one examines companies, their culture, and trends, principally within the executive strata, fewer female faces are normally found. In the boardrooms, the situation gets worse as forty-percent of the top 500 companies in Canada do not have any representation of a single woman on their boards and 95.4 percent of all the CEOs of these enterprises are men (Homewood, 2015).
A study conducted in Canada showed worrying statistics in the Canadian workforce. In it, analysis of a female labor force of 8 million, representing 48 percent of Canada’s employed labor force, took place (Homewood, 2015). The results indicated that only 0.32 percent of the female workforce was in senior managerial positions. These results lead to a hypothesis that gender representation in companies, particularly in the higher echelons of executive functionality, is highly misrepresented and that gender incongruences are rife. In contrast to women, within the same period of the Canadian study, among a workforce of 8.8 million men, 0.62 percent attained executive status. Furthermore, in a review of workforce demographics by Statistics Canada between 1987 and 2009, the trend of women reaching middle management was four percent. In light of this, the Conference Board of Canada made a statistical foresight that it would take 151 years for the country to realize total gender equality within senior management ranks. Moreover, economists support this premise stating that gender equality in businesses remains to be a pertinent issue.
While it remains true that women have made notable gains in the ranks of middle and lower management over the last 30 years, the number of females retaining this positions or getting promoted to higher managerial positions is relatively small (Homewood, 2015). Most women in diverse organizations experience advancement and are typically maintained in their positions. However, their advancements do not typically exceed an invisible glass ceiling when it comes to accessing the echelons of executive functions within corporations. Moreover, most women face challenges when it comes to being retained within organizations. Usually, women face a number of issues in this respect. One of these pertinent issues concerns gender roles. In the culture of many businesses currently, employee promotion does not revolve around business performance only; it encompasses other aspects as well. As a result, one may put ample working hours and increased efforts in demonstrating ambition and commitment, and may eventually not realize the much-needed promotion. Some companies require an individual to travel extensively or work in various national and international locations. Such requirements that do not augur well with gender roles heavily affect women, placing them in disadvantaged positions. Since women are the primary care givers in families, they cannot devote much of their time to companies as men can. Most men can devote 16 hours a day for seven straight days to the enterprise, while women manage three-quarters to half that time. As a result, this leaves them sidetracked and unable to gain advantageously.
Another issue when it comes to gender diversity is gender bias. In the contemporary world, outright discrimination against women is not part of the business community. Relatively speaking, sex has become a sensitive issue with equal civil rights as the right to vote or the right to follow a particular religion. However, within business settings, “second generation” biases or preferences in disguise continue to permeate and have become a pressing issue eliciting great concern when it comes to gender diversity in businesses. Unlike the intentional gender biases that pervaded the 20th century, current biases are powerful, yet invisible, impeding the advancement of women. These biases stem from a basis of cultural beliefs concerning gender, patterns of interactions that unconsciously favor men, and workplace structures. A good example is the fact that effective leaders are considered strong, assertive, and confident, which are mostly masculine traits. On the other hand, when women take up the mantle and act in a manner to reflect masculinity, they get the consideration of being abrasive, aggressive, and uncaring (Homewood, 2015). These gender inequality stereotypes result in unsuccessful business undertakings and a difficult situation for women in leadership. Therefore, while addressing gender issues in business diversification, gender bias is an inherent problem that requires constant reflection and the improvement of operative ways designed to diminish its effects.
Ultimately, a diverse workforce reflects a transmuting marketplace and a dynamically changing world. Work teams that embrace and adopt gender diversity result to high values within an organization. Not only is adoption necessary, but also the equality of gender representation as it brings about a complete utilization of diversification advantages. In the upper echelons of business organizations, the gender diversity of management is crucial as it benefits associates by creating safe and healthy competition, whereby anyone can access challenges and opportunities. Moreover, lack of diversity in corporate executive levels usually leads to serious ramifications especially on the company’s market share, reputation, and future growth. Therefore, businesses that ignore gender diversity more often than not loose when it comes to most business aspects.
References
Barker, L., Mancha, C., & Ashcraft, C. (2014). What Is The Impact Of Gender Diversity On Technology Business Performance? Research Summary . National Center For Women & Information Technology (NCWIT).
Bedi, P. (2014). Workforce Diversity Management: Biggest Challenge Or Opportunity For 21st Century Organizations. Journal Of Business And Management (IOSR-JBM) , 16 (4), 102-107.
Esty, K., Griffin, R., & Schorr-Hirsh, M. (1995). Workplace diversity. A manager’s guide to solving problems and turning diversity into a competitive advantage . Avon, MA: Adams Media Corporation.
Homewood, H. (2015). Gender Inequality in the Workplace. Vitality , (5), 2-4.
Nakagawa, Y. (2015). The Gender Diversity – Firm Performance Relationship By Industry Type, Working Hours, And Inclusiveness: An Empirical Study Of Japanese Firms. Journal of Diversity Management , 10 (1), 61-78.
