Gender discrimination or gender inequality refers to the unfair treatment of an individual based on their differing reproductive role in the society (Reeves & Baden 2000). The most common form of gender discrimination is the one directed towards women. They are constantly downgraded for simply being of the female gender. Despite efforts by many nations to curb the problem of gender discrimination directed towards women, it is still being taken lightly in workplaces. Additionally, in some religions, gender discrimination is still considered a normal thing. In this paper, the different forms of gender discrimination, causes, how they affect lives and their solutions in workplaces are well elucidated.
Forms of gender discrimination in workplaces
Gender discrimination against women spans three major areas in workplaces namely: wages, promotion, and sex. To start with, women have always been victims of wage discrimination. Traditionally, women have been fighting for a right to get a post-secondary education. In 2005, about fifty-eight percent of female graduates received a bachelor’s degree (Snyder & Dillow, 2007). There still exists a huge disparity in payment between men and women in workplaces. Some of the factors that contribute to the gender wage gap include occupational segregation. Since little effort has been put in place to integrate the male and female dominated jobs, the pay gap based on gender is a menace that will continue existing. It is easy to explain the difference between some male versus female employee, but it is hard to justify why the dissimilarity in payment between the genders.
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Secondly, female employees are prone to sex discrimination in their places of work. Sex discrimination is the exclusion of women based on their gender. It comes in different forms such as classification of occupation as “man only” or “female only.” According to US Department of Labor, the occupations with the highest number of female workers are teaching, child care workers, and nursing with 98%, 96% and 90% respectively (Parker, 2018). On the other hand, male dominate in well-paying occupations such as construction, engineering, and heavy machinery operations. Additionally, those women are working in male-dominated occupations still face the same oppression of sex discrimination just like the women employed in “female only” jobs (Parker, 2018). Another form of sex discrimination is “glass ceiling.” The term implies that there exists an artificial barrier that prevents women from attaining top management positions and high salary levels despite their existing an opportunity for progress. This means that the women cannot achieve senior positions no matter how qualified or experienced they may be. Also, sexual harassment is a problematic issue in the workplace. It is a form of sex discrimination that has grown deep roots in the formal employment sector. It comes in many forms such as asking of sexual favors, verbal harassment on sexuality, and physical, sexual harassment, use of sexual gestures, sending suggestive notes, asking about someone’s sexuality among others (Roberts & Mann, 2018) . Women fall victim to sexual harassment in workplaces such that it creates a hostile working environment. On extreme cases, some women get fired o get demoted when they don’t give in to the sexual advances of their superiors. Additionally, some women such as sales ladies quit their jobs due to harassment by male customers, vendor, and contractors.
Thirdly, women face promotion discrimination. Despite existing campaigns to empower women and vote them to positions of influence, a lot still needs to be done. Many qualified women have been passed over for promotion simply because they are pregnant. The job is offered to a less qualified male by virtue that he is a man. Additionally, male colleagues will judge a woman by her looks and her dressing code to gauge whether she qualifies for a certain position. In the same vein, women are discriminated for not being pretty enough, being too old or in some jobs like sales for not being provocative enough (Wolfe, 2018).
Causes of gender discrimination in workplaces
The major cause of gender discrimination against women in the workplace is a lack or low of representation of the female gender in industries that male gender dominates. Consequently, the men holding executive positions may be unwelcoming to women venturing in the fields. Therefore, there exists conflict, tension, and a poor working environment. In the same vein, gender discrimination may exist in other industries whose top executive comprises of male-only who see female as incapable of executing tasks as stated.
Effects of gender discrimination in workplaces
Gender discrimination against women has profound effects on both the person and the organization at large. Firstly, gender discrimination may lead to the person having mental health-related issues such as high anxiety levels, outbursts and in other cases develop depression. As a solution, the employee will turn to drug abuse or become alcoholic to cope up with the depression. In turn, the woman may not be able to execute her duties well. For instance, such an individual may be a liability in business since they are unstable and may resolve to retaliatory actions that can be catastrophic to a business (Quian, 2018). Secondly, gender discrimination may lead to increased conflicts in the workplaces. It may cause division of a team with people taking sides to support either the one being discriminated against or the alleged discriminator. Such a conflict is disastrous in the workplace since it may lead to underperformance of the team. Thirdly, build up of conflicts in the workplace may lead to poor company morale. Thus gender discrimination may lead to a reduced infusion of the company to the simplest things such as taking coffee at different times. Generally, the company morale falls as individuals isolate themselves to avoid the conflicts from escalating. Overall, poor morale affects both the company and the consumer. Fourthly, there is always reduced productivity when gender discrimination takes root in a company. Productivity reduces at both individual and company level. At the individual level, the discriminated female may feel demoralized to continue being productive due to low wages, promotion denial or even sexual harassment. At the company level, with the escalation of conflicts and falling of morale, office productivity reduces. Lastly, where gender discrimination is experienced, lawsuits follow. Thus lack of addressing of discrimination accusations may prompt the plaintiffs to file a lawsuit against the company (Quian, 2018).
Recommended Solutions to workplace gender discrimination
Although there is no unique remedy for gender discrimination, there are solutions that can be implemented to protect individuals against gender discrimination. Firstly, the law protects employees from being harassed at work by their employers and colleagues. Despite the existence of such laws, and legislation laid upon to protect an individual’s dignity in his or her place of work, a score of employees still face gender discrimination. Generally, women tend to remain silent when they face workplace harassment and employment prejudice. They usually opt for silence because they feel that no tangible evidence can be used to prosecute the perpetrators. Therefore, failure to speak out by most women has led to continued oppression of women in the male-dominated jobs. Additionally, they tend to submit to the unwritten law that men’s output is gauged by performance in workplaces while the female output is measured based on appearance. However, women are supposed to speak out any form of gender discrimination they may face in their places of work so that they can be protected.
Secondly, as a manager, one should try to reduce or sometimes eliminate experience requirement for some positions so that women are also able to get positions of influence. Therefore such actions reduce promotion discrimination more so to those women wishing to return to the workforce after a maternal absence and may require previous experience. Moreover, the selection process for promotion should be transparent and give equal chances to both genders. Thirdly, hold regular seminars and sessions to educate male employees about the signs, effects and the results of gender discrimination against women. Equipping the male employee with knowledge on gender discrimination will foster a more collaborative working environment. The results will be a more positive working environment for the women employees. Fourthly, the government should encourage organizations to stipulate clear payment policies that are not gender oriented rather should be workgroup-oriented. The policies should ensure women are paid the wages as their male counterparts for the same job. Lastly, each company should draft clear policies that should help avert sexual harassment and outline guidelines that foster severe punishments to offenders. Besides, a smooth and swift succession of women to positions of power must be encouraged by the company.
Overall, gender discrimination against women still is a menace that needs to be eradicated. The government, society and the companies should join hands and erect policies that will help reduce causes of gender discrimination such as “glass ceiling” and male chauvinism. Women should speak out against any form of discrimination so that proper legal actions are taken against the offenders. Additionally, managers must cultivate a working environment free of gender discrimination to increase the productivity of all the employees and the company at large. With the above recommendations implemented, it would a huge step toward the eradication of gender discrimination.
References
Parker, K. (2018). Women in majority-male workplaces report higher rates of gender discrimination. Retrieved from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/07/women-in-majority-male-workplaces-report-higher-rates-of-gender-discrimination/
Reeves, H., & Baden, S. (2000). Gender and development : Concepts and definitions (Vol. 55). Brighton: Institute of Development Studies.
Roberts, B., & Mann, R. (2018). Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: A Primer. Retrieved from http://www3.uakron.edu/lawrev/robert1.html
Snyder, T. D., & Dillow, S. A. (2009 ). Digest of education statistics , 2008. Government Printing Office.
Quain, S. (2018). The Causes, Effects & Remedies for Gender Discrimination. Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/causes-effects-remedies-gender-discrimination-10726.html
