Gender Inequalities in the Workplace - Research Paper Example

Gender inequalities in the workplace In the contemporary world, the issue of women participation in the workplace has become a norm, rather than the exception. In effect, the world continues to witness women working together with men to produce results in the workplace. Nonetheless, the issue of women working outside the home has generated discrimination of women in the workplace with their treatment not similar to the treatment of their male counterparts. In effect, there has been a dilemma regarding the treatment of women in the workplace with their treatment being demeaning and less professional when compared to the treatment of their male counterparts. Although it is evident that there have been significant gains in the workplace regarding equality in recent times, it is also evident that progress, to ensure equality, has stalled or slowed down. Despite being more than five decades since the idea of empowering women to participate in all the key sectors of the economy was born, it is evident that women face issues related to sexism in their workplace. In effect, this has had an effect of slowing down the gains achieved in ensuring equality. In the United States, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was one of the instruments that contributed to the participation of women in the workplace. This article not only prohibits discrimination due to gender, but also prohibits discrimination of people from the workplace based on their origin and religion (Gregory 1). Inadvertently with the advent of Title VII, it is evident that the world witnessed sweeping changes in the economic and social trends, which enhanced the participation of women in the workplace with the statistics increasing ever since. In the contemporary world, the United States continues to witness women rising in positions of power and their elevation to professional and corporate levels that were previously not fathomed. Despite all these achievements, various issues continue to underline inequality in the workplace. Sex discrimination in the workplace and other key areas of the economy might have subsided although it has not ended. Commenting about the participation and discrimination of women in the workplace, Abrams noted, “The present day finds us not at the end of the path, but navigating a crucial bend in the road” (1183). In this regard, women have realized that they have made substantial gains in the workplace although there are factors that inhibit their participation in the workplace. In line with this, it is crucial to point out that today’s woman can secure academic, professional, and corporate positions that were previously a preserve for men. However, it is evident that various factors such as the ‘glass-ceiling’ deter the rise of women to high positions in their professional fields. Historically, wage discrimination has been the main issue that underlines gender inequality in the workplace. In line with this, it is evident that women received lesser pay when compared to their male counterparts despite the women being in the same level of employment and similar academic and professional qualification like their male counterparts. Interestingly, the ratio of female earnings to male earnings has been increasing instead of decreasing in recent times. Goldin noted, “Only since the early 1980’s has the ratio of female to male earnings begun to rise” with this ratio declining slightly in recent times in comparison to the ratio being constant between 1950 and 1980 (17). In this regard, it is worrying that the economic and social strides that the world witnessed in the 1980s did not decrease the differences in earnings between men and women, but only worked towards increasing these differences. In effect, a gender difference in the earnings seems to be resistant of the immense economic and social changes that the world has continued to witness in recent times. There are various reasons that contribute to the rising disparities in incomes between different genders. Nonetheless, it is evident that the quality of jobs and earnings associated with different jobs played a crucial role in determining the income disparities. On the other hand, it is evident that different scales of earnings results to the inequality of income taking forms in the placement of a particular group of people in specific jobs. These specific jobs require individual qualifications or the requirements of the jobs are due to stereotypical norms, which play a significant role in the contemporary society. In line with this, placement of men in high paying jobs categories is a result of human capital theories that define the biological disparities between women and men. On the other hand, the placement of women in lower paying jobs has an association with the biological differences that are inherent in both genders and define the role of women in the society (Jacobs 165). Gregory notes that the current trend in the differences between the income of men and women is changing (2). However, it is evident that there are austere differences between the incomes received by men and their female counterparts in the current job market. In line with this, Gregory noted, “Although recent years have seen some narrowing of the long-standing gap between compensation paid to men and that paid to women, women workers still receive substantially less than men” (2). In support of this statement, the U.S. Bureau of the Census noted the average income of women who participated in the workplace in the United States as 68 percent that of men in 1985 with this figure rising to 77 percent by 1999 (437). In line with this, it is evident that the country has witnessed important milestones towards achieving gender equality in the incomes earned by women and men in the workplace. However, based on the assumption that all factors will remain constant, straightforward calculation imply that it will take approximately fifty years before achieving equal pay between men and women in the workplace if the current trend continues. Despite these disparities in incomes, evidence available indicates that the participation of women and men in labor was lower than the participation of men in the labor market by 1999. In this case, David, Hermsen, and Vanneman noted 74 percent of women between the ages of 25 to 54 years were either working or looking for work while 86 percent of men in the same age bracket were either looking for a job or they were in actual employment (108). However, these differences do not contribute to the disparities in the wages of the two genders. With the entry of women in the workforce, there is evident segregation of occupations according to the basis of feminism or masculinity, which is supposedly associated with each occupation. In this case, it is evident that some occupations have become associated with male workers while others have become a preserve of female employees. Among these occupations, some have become more gender integrated while other occupations and professions remain a preserve of one gender. David, Hermsen, and Vanneman noted that occupations such as those of bus drivers, mail carriers, real estate agents, and bartenders have become more integrated with men playing a similar role to that of women in these occupations. However, the authors also noted that some occupations remained a preserve of men while others are a preserve of women, which implies that participation of either gender in these occupations remained unequal. In line with this, it is evident that occupations that include librarians, nurses, teachers, and secretaries have become female-dominated careers while men dominated occupations in engineering, architecture, and in the aviation industry (David, Hermsen, and Vanneman 130). In the contemporary society, one issue that has been dominant regarding gender inequality in the workplace relates to the concept of ‘glass ceiling.’ The Federal Glass Ceiling Commission define the glass ceiling as “the unseen, yet unreachable barrier that keeps minorities and women from rising to the upper rungs of the corporate ladder, regardless of their qualifications or achievements” (qtd. in Cotter, Hermsen, Ovadia and Vanneman 654). In this regard, women face challenges to rise to the top and achieve promotion over their male counterparts when they are contending for the same job. In this case, the term ‘glass ceiling’ is symbolic in nature since it identifies a symbolic barrier where women rarely pass towards leading and heading corporate organizations. Therefore, many obstacles prevent the rise of women in this corporate hierarchy with some of these obstacles being excuses that management uses to prevent the rise of women. Among the obstacles, include pregnancy and other issues described as ‘petty’ to prevent the rise of women in the corporate ladder hierarchy. Briefly, it is evident that there are gender inequalities in the contemporary world that are a result of various prevailing reasons. Interestingly, it is evident that the contemporary society witnesses gender inequality regarding disparities in incomes than the differences witnessed in the 1950s before the enactment of Title VII, which prohibits discrimination in any form. Nonetheless, there have been gains made with regard to the participation of women in the labor market with more women joining the labor force. In this case, the gap between the number of women and men working is decreasing although statistics suggest that it will take fifty more years to achieve gender equality among women and men in the workplace. On the other hand, women are not the only ones undergoing gender discrimination and segregation in the workplace. In fact, men are also being locked out of some professions and occupations by virtual of these professions and occupations being female dominated. Similarly, women’s participation in some of the male dominated professions and occupations remained low. Overall, the contemporary society faces the concept of the ‘glass ceiling’ that prevents the hierarchical rise of women in the corporate world. Works Cited Abrams, Kathryn. Gender Discrimination and the Transformation of Workplace Norms. Vanderbilt Law Review 42.4 (1989): 1183-1186. Print. Cotter, David, Joan Hermsen, Seth Ovadia, and Reeve Vanneman. Social Forces: The Glass Ceiling Effect. Social Forces 80.2 (2001): 655-681. Cotter, David, Seth Ovadia, and Reeve Vanneman. “Gender Inequality at Work.” The American People: Census 2000. Eds. Reynolds Farley and John Haaga. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 107-139. 2005. Print. Gregory, Raymond F. Women and Workplace Discrimination: Overcoming Barriers to Gender Equality. Piscataway: Rutgers University Press, 2003. Print. Goldin, Claudia. “Understanding the Gender Gap: An Economic History of American Women.” Equal Employment Opportunity: Labor Market Discrimination and Public Policy. Ed. Paul Burstein. New York: Walter de Gruyter Inc., 17-28. 1994. Print. Jacobs, Jerry A. Gender Inequality at Work. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 1995. Print. U.S. Bureau of the Census. Statistical Abstract of the United States. Washington: Bureau of Census, 2000. Print. Read More