The Women Position at the Workplace - Case Study Example

 The Women’s Position at the Workplace The case under consideration is very relevant as it is related to gender discrimination. Meghan, a mother of two children and an attorney, felt herself discriminated when she was refused partnership in her company. When she asked for explanation, the answers were too vague and, according to Meghan, different failures of her work were invented in order not to offer her partnership. The given paper will provide the overview of the case, women’s position at the workplace and offer possible solutions. Describe and analyze, in the context of the literature and research, the behavior of the women and men in the workplace depicted in this case study. Be specific by giving examples. The aggravated economic crisis promotes the distribution of a new type of gender discrimination at which employers formally follow all the rights women are provided with under the law, but actually create intolerable working conditions to get rid of "fair sex". Actually, it is the manifestation of chauvinism from the side of males and discrimination of women at work. After all, there is no discrimination of men in the sphere of work and the question is why women should suffer. In the case of Meghan, she was discriminated when refused a partnership and was not invited to corporative parties. Her friends had difficulties returning to work when they become mothers. What challenges related to gender are evident from reading the case study? In the USA, Great Britain and many other developed countries the rights of women for equal conditions with men is affirmed in the law, and the attempt to violate these rights as a rule results in multimillion claims to the violator. For example, in summer 2012 a great number of claims against the corporations violating the rights of women were made. The 100 million dollars claim was submitted against the Forest Pharmaceuticals company where, according to claimants, pregnant women and young mothers were refused career advancement and increase of salaries. The few less than 2000 employees of the Wallmart Company from 48 states of the USA submitted multimillion claims about gender discrimination at the workplace: managers of supermarkets raised salaries and offered career advancement only to men. The court agreed to pay more than 5 million dollars to the group of women who were refused the work on elimination accident’s consequences in the Gulf of Mexico because of their gender. However, according to the research conducted in 2009 at the Cambridge University, men endure stronger stress because of the economic crisis and dismissals than woman. Thus, women do not have enough reasons to complain concerning the conditions they work in during the last several years. As the professor of Cambridge University Uilliam Brown noted in interview of WEJ, in some fields woman are even in more favorable conditions, than the representatives of "strong sex". For example, if the work is paid by the hour women earn more than men. The gap between salaries of full-time employees with monthly payment is certainly present, but it is rather small, and, moreover, is almost imperceptible in those spheres where work demands high qualification of an employee (Benatar, 2012). The statistics confirms the fact the women of the employment age do not have reasons to feel discriminated. For example, according to Bureau on census of the USA, their salary in general doesn't differ much from the salary of men. In other western countries the similar situation is present. However, this statistics is fair only concerning the young workers who recently finished training: at the age of 20-24 a salary of an average woman in 2008-2009, that was the peak of financial crisis made 92% of a salary of an average man. However, once such workers become older", the gap increases — in 35-44 years a woman earns 74,5% of a man’s salary. Certainly, such state of affairs can be explained not by discrimination, but natural processes: women get married, give birth to children, and having the same opportunities with men may wish to work less to be able to take care of the family. Active defenders of the rights of women claim: the family doesn't prevent the active work of a woman at all. But employers do everything possible to make wives and mothers refuse to work or move to lower position. Till 2008 about 30 thousand British women per year lost their job only because they became pregnant and couldn't conform to former requirements of the employer. What benefits come from having both women and men in the workplace? The employers prefer to lose women than to lose men, but the question is if they are right. Certainly, many women prefer to be good wives and mothers, but there are women who like their job and value it high. They do their best to be good mothers and good employees. Moreover, women have many good qualities, which men lack. The majority of staffs includes the representatives of the both sexes. It brings stability to the organization, because the drawbacks and merits of men and women are counterbalanced in such a staff. However, it doesn't mean that women or men start to behave in a different way. The qualities of each of sexes remain unchanged, but lose the force of manifestation (Atwell). The main characteristics of the mixed staffs: - more harmonious psychological climate; - the opportunity for everyone to find his/her place; - higher tolerance to the drawbacks of other people; - the opportunity to redistribute the work finding those who would cope with it better. What three to four actions would be effective to strengthen the effectiveness in the mixed-sex work situation identified in the case study? (Note: actions can be implemented by any person or department within the organization). In the staff much depends of the head of this staff. His/her task is to regulate the relations between men and women to prevent such a conflict that Meghan went through. It is necessary to organize corporative parties for workers taking into account the interests of the both men and women and their own schedule. In the case of Meghan her bosses did not take into account the interests and family situation of women while organizing corporative parties (Did attorney Evans bump her head on the glass ceiling?). The awards should be paid for the results of the work of the whole department. When everyone is responsible only for himself, he performs only his own work. In any team there are leaders, and there are subordinates. In case of team awarding leaders stimulate others not to lose an award. And more passive workers start working more actively under the pressure of the public. The accent should be made on the amount of the work done and on the results, not on the time actually spent in the office. It is necessary to create the kind atmosphere in the office. What would you recommend the participants in the case study do differently (both women and men) to increase effectiveness in the workplace? The men and the heads of the company should also take into account the position of a woman who have children and do not try to deprive her of the opportunity to get a higher position if she really deserves it. What should Attorney Evans do in this situation? Be specific by using examples from the case study and support your position with your readings and research. In case of Meghan, the conflict should be analyzed in court in order to reveal the real reason of refusal and relevance of the accusations she got from her bosses when they said that she is not attentive to clients. If the reason is the gender, she should get a compensation for that. References Atwell, M. (2002). Equal Protection of the Law?: Gender and Justice in the United States. New York: P. Lang. Benatar, D. (2012). The Second Sexism: Discrimination Against Men And Boys. 2012. John Wiley & Sons Inc., West Sussex, UK; Did attorney Evans bump her head on the glass ceiling? (2009). Chapter 3. Gender at the workplace. 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