Gender Inequalities in the Workplace Essay

The issue of sex inequality has been in the eyes of the public and been in cognizance of society for decades. The problem of inequality in battle is one of the most vital issues in todays society. In order to understand this speckle one must try to get to the root of the problem and must understand the factors that ca subroutine the female sex to pick out a much more difficult time in getting the same benefits, occupys, and job opportunities as the male sex. The society in which we live has been shaped historically by men.A charrs primary attachment is to the family role women ar therefore less intrinsically committed to feat than men and less likely to husband a high level of specialized k presentlyledge (Oakley, 1974, p. 28)President Clinton proclaimed April 11, 1996, as the National Pay Inequality Awargonness Day. In the year 1972, the Equal profession Opportunity Act was established the goal of the g everywherenment was to change and eliminate the discrimination in th e workplace. The major aim of these two acts is to protect unmarried rights and promotes employment opportunities and fairness for everyone within the workplace. We accept that the government is awargon of the inequality between men and women in work place, and they ar trying every flair they jackpot to pr eveningt and discontinue the inequality so the question is what ar the reasons why women are still being treated unfairly at work? stool plays an important role in helping individuals find their true identity as come up as helping one builds their self-esteem.However, in the past women were non encouraged to work real jobs, instead they often stayed at home and are often labeled as housewives. The truth is women do work, they always extradite worked, but the work that they do are often unpaid childbed work. Before men assumed that women didnt really want to work they didnt need the money and that they nourish different interests. (Kimmel, 2000, p.175) So it was assumed t hat women either couldnt do a job, or, if they could, they would neither want to nor need to do it. directly in the twenty-first century things beat changed dramatically, more women are educated, and more determined to search for their identity. In order for them to do that, they often time taste employment. Womens participation in the labor force has grown to such an extent that society can no longer ignore and view women as unimportant. Women face many obstacles when seeking out jobs, and even more obstacles when they are working with men.Sex discrimination and gender inequality have always existed in society, but when does it actually start? The answer is ever since the minute they were born. In 1995 Wall Street Journal report observed that elementary school girls ascertain smaller allowances and are asked to do more chores than boys. (Kimmel, 2000, p.174) When a womanhood grows up and enters womanhood, if she wishes to work, she would have to face many irrelevant tribulatio ns. Sex discrimination occurs when we treat throng unequally because of individualal characteristics that are not related to the job. Discrimination can be when we treat nation who are similar in different ways, or when we treat people who are different in similar ways. (Kimmel, 2000) We often discriminate the people we meet because of our past experiences, from what we have learned, and with stereotyping.Stereotyping is the process of legal opinion someone on the basis of our perception of the group to which he or she belongs. (Robbins, 2003) Stereotypes exist because of the differences among individuals. Since it is almost impossible for human brains to process such large tier of differences quickly, people simplify these differences and make generalizations without even noticing doing so. While these generalizations has originally begun with observed differences among people and have a shred of truth to them, most of these generalization have been so largely exaggerated ove r time that they no longer serve their original purpose of describing people accurately. The way that people make these generalizations are greatly dependent on their ability, background and culture. These characteristics influence how individuals perceive the world around them and their expectations toward others.Socialization and information overload besides play a spectacular role in gender stereotyping. Individuals begin learning stereotypes as early as in their infancy. According to The Reproduction Mothering theory by Nancy Chodorow (1978), infants learn anticipate gender behaviors and stereotypes from their mothers. The girls remain attached to their mothers to learn about emotionally intimacy, while boys are forced to separate from their mothers to be strong and independent. Then from media, school, peers and religion institution, children piecemeal learned what is to be expected from people who are different from themselves in ethnicity and gender, for instance. Thelarg e amount of information readily available to us today alike increases stereotyping. Since it is impossible to take in all the information, individuals have to cope with information overload by simplifying what is around them.Stereotyping generally prevents people from recognizing who an individual really is. When a person believes certain stereotypes to be true, his or her perception of a group will most probably be limited by these stereotypes and are improbable to change. These groundless generalizations can often delay effective communications as a person assumes things about another. In the workplace, this can lead to not recognizing individual achievements and unfriendly similitudeships between groups, which reduces employee morale and productivity.It is important to recognize stereotypes in the workplace because of the diverse workforce today. Globalization and feminist movement have greatly increase the diversity in the work force. However, stereotypes delay management fro m recognizing the value of diversity and reinforce conformity in the workplace, thus limiting the organizations authorization to grow. For instance, managements can miss out good potential employees who can do good. Stereotypes are also noises in communications. (Robbins, 2003) In todays organizations where communications are essential to success, stereotypes can create misunderstandings and harmfully affect day-to-day operations. Therefore, it is important that people should understand the harmful impact of stereotypes.It is also important to mention that even though occupational sex segregation started to decrease in the 1970s and in the 1980s, it still exists in todays workforce. Such discrimination is operated through interviewing techniques and the stereotypes of the initial recruiter. A recruiter may believe, for good example, that a managerial position is a mans job. He or she may believe that a womans nature does not allow her to be a good manager because women are seen to lack leadership, managerial and technical skills. Recruiters should keep down stereotyping and benefit that women are ready to join the work force in any type of job. (Robbins, 2003)Men andwomen differ in their experiences with both paid and unpaid work.In comparison to men, for example women do a disproportionate share of unpaid and usually less valued work. Discrimination at work often leads to income gap, for doing the same job as the men, women get less pay. One of the reasons for the inequality wage gap is the assumption that when a man enters a labor force, he enters for good, while for a woman the assumption is that when she enters will eventually take time out for childbearing and parental leave. This too greatly affects womens wages women who drop out of the labor force have lower real wages when they come back to work than they had when they left. Jobs held by mostly females are considered unimportant and lower skilled as compared to male jobs.The other obstacle that women face in workplace is the glass ceiling and the sticky floor these two elements are barriers preventing women from succeeding and raising their location at work. The glass ceiling is an expression used to describe the inequalities of men and women within the workforce. It seems that women can become employed but then run into an hidden barrier when they try to move up the ladder of hierarchy within the organization (McGuire, 2000, p. 3).Employers should pay close attention to gender stereotyping which exists within a workplace. If they avoid doing so they may lose an opportunity to hire or promote a good employee. In order to avoid gender stereotyping it would be of use to mention the stereotypes that exist today. Some common masculine behavior include independence, superiority, status, competition and aggression. In contrast, the feminine behaviors are consensus, inferiority, harmony, and gentleness. (Kimmel, 2000) David Geary, a psychology professor at the University of Mis souri, Columbia, concluded that such qualities of men and women are generally true.He states that these stereotypical behaviors are strongly influenced by nature. He also mentions that Over the course of evolution, these stereotypes have resulted due to strategies used by males and females to attract mates. Men and women use certain sexual strategies in order to reproduce, and they are essential to our mating patterns. These sexual strategies are the cause of the male and female differences of today including physical attributes, social behavior,parental interests, and motivational and emotional patterns. However, as an employer, it is important to realize that these are generalities, and that one person can express both masculine and feminine behaviors. People should not be labeled, but instead they should be judged as individuals.Men believe that it is easier to work with men and that men do a better job and therefore deserve more money. Their pride and egos tell them that women c annot do the job as well as they can. These personal beliefs must be changed. Pairing men and women in concert on teams will expand the male mindset and hopefully help them realize that females and minorities are as equally qualified. Valuing the differences of all employees can make an organization stronger. Society posits that men and women work together and this is not going to change. What has to change is the way we work together. Communication is the key. If we do not communicate effectively, then the best intentions of both genders will fail (Heim, 1995, p.3).Society influences what we are taught as children in regards to roles of females and males brim over into the workplace (Hale, 1999, p.14) In sum, it is the relationship between social roles, interests, intergroup relationships and organizational culture norms and values that set the conditions that perpetuate unequal employment opportunities and outcomes (Hale, 1999, p.13). It is impossible to change people overnight especially what they have been taught and what they have always have confidence in generation after generation.The managers of today grew up in families where their mothers stayed at home, unploughed house, and took care of children. They have been taught at home that men should be the bread winner the leader of the house, and women should only be housewives and take care of the house. They are also taught that men are stronger and should be the leader of the household and therefore these behaviors flow into the work setting. Even the Bible states that a woman should not be over a man. These beliefs are taught generation after generation.Despite the awareness of gender inequality, there are still arguments about gender difference and assumptions that women and men are from different planets women and men are still treated distinguishably in society. Theworkplace still remains an unequal arena, plague by persistent sex segregation, wage inequality, sex discrimination, and sexual har assment. Women and men work because they want to and because they have to. Employers should not judge women as being non-dependable. Family structure has changed dramatically over the years. Fathers and mothers today now share family responsibilities. To compensate for this change, businesses have introduced flextime, job sharing, telecommuting, on-site child care and parental leave. (Kimmel, 2000) Employers should accommodate a womans needs and expand the gender diversity of their company. There was a time where the balance of respect and roles never existed between the two, but today, men and women are truly redefining themselves and their relationships with each other.Most importantly, women have broken from the bondage of dependence on men. Women no longer have to submit themselves to one main role in family life as the mother. along with being the mother, women have become the educated breadwinners. As for men, the need for dominancy has changed dramatically because today, men have been found to be the nurturing stay-at-home fathers of their family. Male and female relation is not entirely a dispute on inequality that women received from society, although that is what propels finding equality between the two genders. Besides, men today also require such needs and hiring based on gender is no longer relevant. Rather, male and female relation resolute this emergent society to work together as a unit.ReferencesOakley, Ann. (1974) The Sociology of Housework New York Pantheon BooksStromberg, Ann H. & Harkess, Shirley. (1978) Women Working Theories and Facts inPerspective. California Mayfield Publishing CompanyRobbins, Stephen P. (2003) Organizational Behavior. New Jersey Prentice HallMcGuire, Gail M. (2000) Gender, Race, Ethnicity, & Networks Electronic version. Work &Occupations, 27(4), 500-523.Hale, Mary. (1999) He Says, She Says Gender and Worklife. globe Administration Review,59(5). Retrieved March 4, 2009, from www.questia.comKimmel, Michael S. (2000) Th e Gendered Society. New York Oxford University Press