Women have been fighting for equality from as early as the 1800s. It took about fifty-five years after African-American men were given the right to vote before women could be awarded the same power. Women have fought hard to secure the same rights as men, and these efforts have paid off to some extent. Today, women are represented almost as equally as men in the workforce. Women are also represented almost evenly when it comes to low and middle-level managerial positions. However, the workplace is still regarded to, on some occasions, as an inhospitable place for women because of the numerous forms of gender inequalities that exist. Gender discriminatory practices are often witnessed in a company’s structure, processes, and practices. Some of the most harmful forms of gender inequalities to women are usually enacted within human resources practices. This is because HR practices dictate the promotion, pay, training, and hiring of women. Very few women are lucky enough to acquire top level positions. Most women hit a so-called" Glass Ceiling" when they attempt to gain high level positions. Several reasons have been proposed regarding why companies tolerate discriminatory practices towards women. Stamarski and Hing (2015) argue that gender discrimination in HR practices originate from gender discrimination in broader organization practices, structures, and processes.
A discriminatory workplace culture, has in many instances, been proposed to be the cause of women’s poor socio-economic status. For example, five women sued Monster Energy alleging that the company hosted an abusive culture. According to Sara Rabuse’s lawsuit, one of the women involved in the case, her ex-boyfriend Brent Hamilton once attempted to chock her and then almost bit her finger off while drunk (Peck, 2018). Surprisingly, Hamilton remains the head of music marketing at the company. Manger Phillip Deitrich was accused of regularly humiliating a certain female subordinate in front of her co-workers which interfered with her ability to work. Three women accused vice president John Kenneally of harassment, bullying, and retaliation. The stories of this women paint a detailed and disturbing picture of what discrimination in the workplace can do to a woman’s career and life.
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Monster Energy is the perfect example of a company with a discriminatory culture. First of all, the company's executives are all men, and only one woman had acquired a sit as one of the boards of directors. He company’s discriminatory culture is also evident from how the company is marketed. Monster uses the slogan "Unleash the Beast: to market its brand to consumers. Monster then goes on to add that men can sign up for a weekly newsletter to discover the Monster Energy girls. On visiting the Monster website, it becomes evident that the company is marketed in a way that preys on men's insecurities. The site has an entire webpage for the so-called Monster Energy girls who are dressed in skimpy clothes a clear indication that the company is a firm believer of sex advertising. It is no wonder that the sexual hostility at the company is at a whole new level.
Essentially, such discrimination against women is often related to HR-related decision-making and HR policies. One of the primary responsibilities of the Human Resources department is to create a conducive workplace culture that promotes business efficiencies. In this regard, they are also responsible for discouraging any behaviors that might interfere with the operations of the businesses. Therefore, HR is partly to blame when such culture is institutionalized. Gender inequality can be institutionalized through leadership. Leaders are supposed to influence others in an attempt to reach organizational. They affect organizational practices, structures, and processes. Institutional gender inequality can exist when women are underrepresented in high level positions in comparison to men, especially if women are represented well at lower levels within the organization. This is usually the case in most companies with gender discriminatory cultures. As in the case of Monster, the company has only one female executive with most women occupying low-level management positions.
Members in organizations that emphasize concerns with meritocracy are likely to oppose HR initiatives that seek to promote gender equality. This is because people who believe that outcomes should only be awarded to those who deserve them the most are likely to also think that the current outcomes are not given to those who deserve them. Such people are more likely to believe that men deserve their elevated status since they are “superior” to women, while women deserve to hold subordinate positions.
Gender inequality can also be witnessed in organizational climates. Victims in organizational climates that are permissive of harassment will be unwilling to come forward out of fear that their complaints will not be heard and they might face negative personal consequences. For instance, the women in the Monster lawsuit reported that their attempts to report any inappropriate actions to HR were ignored. As a result of this permissive climate, the bullying and harassing behaviors continued. Organizational climates for sexual harassment are inextricably linked to HR practices. A sexual harassment climate depends on employee’s beliefs on the strictness of the sexual harassment policy in the workplace.
The truth of the matter, it is unacceptable to have a discriminatory workplace culture since it negatively affects the people who are targeted. Women might be unable to advance their careers because of the backlash they receive for attempting to pursue high-status roles in the workplace. Women can wind up disengaging from the work and might eventually leave the organization. Others might end up suffering anxiety and depression which will decrease their productivity. Consequently, the company will also suffer. A culture of discrimination is unfair to women who work harder than men to achieve the organization's goals. It is necessary to make changes to prevent such a culture from flourish within the company.
Organizations can mitigate discrimination in HR policies through diversity initiatives. This initiative can work like affirmative action groups by tracking and monitoring the number of qualified candidates from different groups in a certain category and the number of people who are hired or promoted from each group. Target recruitment efforts would need to be taken when it is found that the number of candidates who are successfully selected from one group significantly surpass those selected from the other. In an effort to reduce personal bias by organizational decisionmakers, a company can also design HR policies that objectify and standardize performance data. A job analysis can be conducted to identify the right set of skills and abilities for a certain job position. This would reduce discrimination by ensuring that hiring decisions follow a specific framework. Interventions aimed at reducing benevolent sexist beliefs can be initiated. These interventions typically involve diversity training programs like workshops and seminars.
Women have made tremendous strides educationally and professionally, particularly over the last couple of decades. For this reason, the workplace structure has changed for the better. More women than ever before are rising to initiate their own startups, something that was rarely witnessed years ago. However, society still has some long-standing views that women are the lesser sex, and thus they belong at home. Discriminatory workplace culture can have adverse effects on the victims and the company as a whole. Therefore, it is important for corporations to identify the differences in males and females and utilize it to better the company.
References
Peck, E. (2018, January 24). Exclusive: 5 Women Sue Monster Energy Over Abusive, Discriminatory Culture. Huffington Post. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/monster- energy-lawsuits_us_5a6280c1e4b002283002ca27
Stamarski, C. & Hing, L. (2015). Gender inequalities in the workplace: The effects of
organizational structures, processes, practices, and decision makers’ sexism. Frontiers in Psychology, 6.
