The nature of equality hunted by women was a concept that began in the 1800s. The passing of the 15th amendment in 1865 only allowed the African-American men to vote after the end of the civil war. It had been a rough journey as it took around fifty-five years for the women to vote. These happenings prompted feminism campaigns and the first women’s rights convention was arranged and started in 1848. During this period in the American history, women had limited access to education and enjoyed very few rights. Besides, they were perceived as properties of their fathers and husbands meaning that not all that they owned were legally theirs. Women struggled to achieve the first step of equality, which was the right to vote. In 1920, a breakthrough was registered as the 20th amendment was signed giving the women the right to vote 1 . This marked the foundation of women struggle for equality in various fields. For the past ninety years, women have registered great developments towards equality but not in the workplaces.
The Existing Workforce Environment
According to Jalilvand (2000), the current statistics of the labor force comprises of 52% male and 48% percent females. These percentages indicate that women are represented almost equally as the men within the working environment. Moreover, the low and middle ranking positions in the workplace have an almost equal ratio representation. The challenge of the workforce only arises from the top executive positions, which are majorly dominated by the men 2 . Besides, statistics have indicated that women make one dollar less as compared to the men in the same positions.
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The “Glass Ceiling” Concept
While trying to occupy the top-level positions in different companies, women are known to hit the glass ceiling. This was a common phrase from the widely selling newspaper the Wall Street Journal in the early 1980s 3 . Glass ceiling refers to a transparent partition that prevents the women and minorities from acquiring the top-level administrative positions in a workforce. This term promoted the government to establish the Glass Ceiling Act, which eventually led to the creation of Glass Ceiling Commission. The roles and responsibilities of the commission were to come up with conclusions and recommendations of doing away with the artificial barriers hindering the advancement of women and minority groups towards the management and decision-making ranks in the business world 4 . The commission came up with a solid report in 1995 after a few years of research. The report revealed that glass ceiling was rampant and a major shortcoming in many industries. For instance, about 97% of the top administrators at Fortune 1000 and Fortune 500 companies comprised of white males at 95 and 97% respectively. Conversely, in the Fortune 2000 industrial and service companies, about 5% of the senior managers were white women.
The Possible Reasons Why Women Earn Less Salary
Several factors have been attributed to why women earn less money in workplaces. For instance, education and the work environment preferred by the women influence this factor. Women are perceived to seek for such as flexible hours, better-working conditions, and safety. On the other hand, men without college education seek jobs such as firefighting, construction, or driving, whereas women in this category enter occupations such as secretarial jobs, child caretakers, and cashiers. According to Farrell (2005), men earn more money because their job environments are risky. Statistics indicate that 92% of deaths in workplaces often occur to the men 5 .
Moreover, there are disparities in the courses men and women take. For instance, women are more likely to pursue arts and social sciences more than the men are. The statistics of research done by Jancsurak (2008)revealed that about 70% of the women earned doctorates in psychology, around 50 % in life sciences, but only 18% in engineering 6 . The theory of social learning and culture can be used to explain the belief that girls are more oriented towards ‘softer’ tasks and should not ask unnecessary questions. Therefore, in most cases, women are known to earn less money simply because they cannot speak up or negotiate. According to Babcock and Laschever, women have apperception that their situations are always fixed, and there is no room for negotiation. The results from the study by the two authors showed that women were less assertive in requesting for their needs as they scored 45% 7 . Furthermore, research by Catalyst, which is a global corporation, revealed that even if women strived to do everything right in the workplace, their pay would still be lesser than the male colleagues’ 8 .Catalyst termed this as entrenched sexism.
Conclusion
In the contemporary world, more women have increased in the workforce. Even though gender inequality is still an issue in many countries, there have been tremendous advancements in women education, employment, and empowerment. Such progress have a positive influence on improving the workforce. A majority of women now own their businesses as compared to the conventional world. The society still faces the challenges of stereotyping against the women as a lesser sex whose jobs revolve around domestic chores. Instead of having such negative perceptions, the society should sensitize employers to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of both males and females and convert them to the betterment of the organization and the individuals. Women and men also need to understand the differences existing between the two genders to avoid unnecessary squabble in the workplace.
Recommendations
From the reviews, three major analyses can be given to explain the nature of women inequality in the workforce in many countries all over the world. First, women have been found to be not as competitive as the men are. Therefore, one recommendation for the women is to be aggressive in the job market argue that women tend to avoid risks thereby becoming less confident and less competitive (p379) 9 . Secondly, women lack the skills of negotiations as compared to the men. As explained y Babcock (2008, p1), men are found to be more aggressive when negotiating for resource and better-working conditions. Therefore, the women should build good negotiating skills and self-confidence skills to go for what they want.
Annotated Bibliography
Adams, Susan M., et al. "Gender differences in CEO compensation: evidence from the USA." Women in Management Review 22.3 (2007): 208-224.
The purpose of the review was to give insights into the encounters of the women having the desires to become CEO by looking into the qualifications and the compensation expectations.
The findings of the research indicated that women receive lower compensations as compared to the men before assuming the roles of CEO. However, only a few are lucky to receive this raise. Moreover, men were found to have more work experience and education than the women did.
The review highly relates to the paper because it presents the gender inequality situation in workplaces, which is the main concept of the paper.
Babcock, Linda, and Sara Laschever. Women do not ask Negotiation and the gender divide. Princeton University Press, 2009.
This book evaluates the reasons why a majority of women do not ask questions about their strengths and career fields. Men were found to have an active approach to achieving their dreams. Also, they had good negotiating skills. On the other hand, women felt shy and uncomfortable about negotiating for better-working conditions
This book was important to the research because it explored the factors that made women timid and shy in workplaces. After that, it gives recommendations on how women can be assertive and embrace asking questions whenever they face challenges in the workplaces.
Babcock, L. "What happens when women don’t ask." Negotiation 11.96 (2008): 1-4.
This excerpt is a further review of his book and Sara where Babcock talks about assertiveness and the differences in negotiating skills between the men and the women.
It is crucial to the paper because it gives recommendations about dealing with shyness and limited negotiating skills in workplaces.
Beckmann, Daniela, and Lukas Menkhoff. "Will women be women? Analyzing the gender difference among financial experts." Kyklos 61.3 (2008): 364-384.
The main aim of the authors in writing the article included understanding the gender differences in risk taking, overconfidence, and competitive attitudes. Besides, it attempts to discover if financial specialists display gender dissimilarities when making decisions. The study was done in Germany, Italy, US and Thailand revealed that female financial experts were unwilling to take risks and felt uncomfortable during competitions. Overconfidence was found to be insignificant among these women.
The publication is important to this research because it evaluates the stereotypes in workplaces and as well as the behavior of men and women in different career fields.
Carter, Nancy M., and Christine Silva. The Myth of the Ideal Worker: Does Doing All the Right Things Get Women Ahead? New York: Catalyst, 2011.
The authors of the article present an argument against the assumptions that women lag behind in developments, career advancements, and job satisfactions. However, it supported that inequality was still entrenched in the society no matter the efforts implemented. The Catalyst ideas are relevant to the research question because it presents the gendered attitudes and worker stereotypes, which are crucial in understanding the concepts in the research.
Elmuti, Dean, et al. "Inequality between genders in the executive suite in corporate America: Moral and ethical issues.” Equal opportunities international (2013) .
This article takes the readers through the struggles of the women to gain voting rights in the United States in the early 1920s. It shows the oppression of the female gender while seeking to achieve education and democratic rights. Unlike the men, women were not allowed to vote, and education privileges were limited.
The article is a significant review in understanding the history and the struggles of the women, as well as the progress they have made over the years towards achieving autonomy and gender equality.
Farrell, W. (2005). Why men earn more. New York: Amazon.
The article presents the facts why men earn more money than the women do. The main reason for this concept is the job description of the men, which are mostly risky and demanding. Besides, it found out that men were good in negotiating skills.
The publication is in line with the research because at one point the paper assesses the reasons why women earn less money as compared to the men. Hence, it offers statistical knowledge, which is critical to the paper.
Jalilvand, Mahshid. “Married women, work, and values.” Monthly Lab. Rev. 123 (2000): 26.Retrieved on 6th December 2016 from http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2000/08/art3full.pdf
Written by an economics professor in the school of arts and social sciences, the article talks about the perception of the society towards married women and the working women as compared to the non-working women. The main variable under study is value. The article evaluates the political, social, economic, and religious values of women in these categories
Jalilvand’s work applies to research it gives the readers an in-depth view on the matters affecting the work of the women in alignment with their values.
Jancsurak, J. “Women engineers and execs speak out.” Medical Design News 8.10 (2008): 38-41.
This study presented the disparities in the courses men and women take. For instance, women were more likely to pursue arts and social sciences more than the men were. Such disparities had effects in the workplaces, and the women were the most affected
It is a study that is important to the research because it equips the readers with the knowledge about the difference in career fields and how they influence gender inequality.
Olgiati, Etta, et al. Promoting gender equality in the workplace. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2002.
This book gives a description of the corporate equality approaches and evaluates the impacts of these approaches towards gender equality in the work environment of seven European Union Member States. It outlines the factors behind the successes and failures of implementing equality programs. Chapter four to seven are relevant for the research because they give ideas and insights concerning the best gender equality strategies to assume when handling different gender actions.
Parcheta, Nicole, Belal A. Kaifi, and Nile M. Khanfar. "Gender inequality in the workforce: A human resource management quandary." Journal of Business Studies Quarterly 4.3 (2013): 240.
While presenting their work in the form of a case study, these authors define the battles fought by the women to attain their rights. It studies the rights of the women from back in the early 1990s when they were not allowed to vote to their contemporary status. The article shows the progress of the women from education to careers while highlighting gender inequalities.
This journal is the most suitable piece of the paper because it directly talks about gender inequality in workplaces, which is the topic for the research.
Bibliography
Adams, Susan M., et al. "Gender differences in CEO compensation: evidence from the USA." Women in Management Review 22.3 (2007): 208-224.
Babcock, Linda, and Sara Laschever. Women do not ask Negotiation and the gender divide. Princeton University Press, 2009.
Babcock, L. "What happens when women don’t ask." Negotiation 11.96 (2008): 1-4.
Beckmann, Daniela, and Lukas Menkhoff. "Will women be women? Analyzing the gender difference among financial experts." Kyklos 61.3 (2008): 364-384.
Carter, Nancy M., and Christine Silva. The Myth of the Ideal Worker: Does Doing All the Right Things Get Women Ahead? New York: Catalyst, 2011.
Elmuti, Dean, et al. "Inequality between genders in the executive suite in corporate America: Moral and ethical issues.” Equal opportunities international (2013).
Farrell, W. (2005). Why men earn more. New York: Amazon.
Jalilvand, Mahshid. “Married women, work, and values.” Monthly Lab. Rev. 123 (2000): 26.Retrieved on 6th December 2016 from http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2000/08/art3full.pdf
Jancsurak, J. “Women engineers and execs speak out.” Medical Design News 8.10 (2008): 38-41.
Olgiati, Etta, et al. Promoting gender equality in the workplace. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2002.
Parcheta, Nicole, Belal A. Kaifi, and Nile M. Khanfar. "Gender inequality in the workforce: A human resource management quandary." Journal of Business Studies Quarterly 4.3 (2013): 240.
