Unequal treatment and payment to women in workplace - Essay Example

Unequal treatment and payment to women in workplace Introduction The issue of women discrimination in the workplace has raisedgreat concern across the world in the past few years. Actually, the problem of unequal payment for women in the same job groups as men has been very controversial. A recent research conducted on the employment trends in the world showed that women constitute about 56% of total labor force (Freedman, 2010). The information was a shock to many people since no one ever imaged that over 50% of the labor market is made up of women. In the United States, female workers are underpaid compared to their female counterparts. For instance, women are till paid only 77¢ for every dollar their male colleagues make. In a country that promotes gender equality, women should get equal treatment and payment as men in the workplace. The number of women entering the labor force increases from time to time. The advancement in women’s education makes them less satisfied with the traditional homemaking. Despite the acquisition of education by women, the treatment of men and women in the working situations is far from equal. In Bass’s article ‘male Managers’ attitudes’, MB Bass, American Behavioral Scientist, said “It has become increasingly clear that the treatment of men and women in the working situations is far from uniform and equal. Sometimes the discrepancy is obvious. For example, the U.S department of Labor and U.S. Bureau of the Census statistics show that women are consistently paid less than men at all levels of payment” (2). From the past, women engaging in employment is ‘unladylike’. The outdated attitude that women should not work outside their homes instigates discrimination in the workplace. According to the social norm, the society has negative attitudes towards married women pursuing professional careers. In summation of the above discussion, it is hard exercise equality between men and women in the workplace. In most cases, women do not get equal payment, and treatment in the workplace compare to men in the today’s society. In essence, women get quite low payments compared to men in some fields. A research conducted in 201ed shown that the ratio of medium annual earnings for women to men was approximately 76.5 percent for full-time/year-round workers. In this case, it can be observed that the gender wage gap for full-time/year-round workers is 23.5 percent. Moreover, it is hard for female workers to take the executive positions in a company. The traditional theory about workplace inequality can be attributed to biological reasons such as childbearing, maternity leave, and child care that hold women back. In this regard, these are the core cognitive biases that rig the game in favor of men. One of Sandberg’s most interesting observations is that women and men work and collaborate differently, causing variations in career outcomes. In the article “what data analytics says about gender inequality in the workplace”, Ben Ambret writes, “One point that everyone approves is that women and men face gigantic disparities at the office. Less than 5% of chief executive officers at Fortune 500 companies are women.” (Ben, 2). The obstacles hindering women from taking executive positions in companies can be overcome; however, doing so will require great effort Women are usually born with the responsibility to give birth to next generation. However, pregnancy is not considered a disability. However, some companies and employers do not accommodate pregnant workers. In the article ‘women still are not equal in workplace’, by Tyler Vendetti, Tyler illustrates an incident where a pregnant woman was fired at Walmart for asking for the permission to carry a bottle of water even after displaying the doctor’s prescription Besides pregnancy, women’s ability is not recognized by many organizations. A recent survey depicted that high-potential women are over supervised and under supported relative to their male counterparts. . In some companies, women are not allowed to contribute to major decisions. Apparently, this situation makes women work more and contribute less to the company’s developmental efforts, which is not fair at all. Although women constitute about half the total labor force in different fields, they receive a low deal when it comes to payment. Men are usually concentrated in high-paying fields such as finance and engineering. In those high-income fields, women take approximately 37%. However, in the low-income fields such as social services, women constitute about 77.3% of labor force. It can be observed that this is another discrimination in the workplace environment. The society does not believe that women can take important and hard job such as engineering and finance. Actually, when the companies conduct interviews, they are more likely to hire males instead of females in the high paying jobs. Some people wonder why we should care about the issue of unequal treatment of women in the workplace. Some women in the workplace are single mothers, and they have to support the whole family. In this regard, discrimination in the working place makes women to have tough times in supporting their families. Woman have psychological gifts given by nature to work hard and keep good relationships. Basically, a woman’s brain is more attuned to making good relationship than that of a man. Biologically, a woman’s brain is wired differently from that of a man. Essentially, hormones play a significant role in making women more sensitive to create relationship than men. Alluding to biology, men have as much as 20 times more testosterone in their systems than women. This makes men more aggressive, dominant and narrow focused on physical aspects of relationship compared to women. Some people might see women as sentimental but when it comes to enduring relationships, women have a stronger ability than men. Apart for the ability to build good relationships, women also have a strong convincing power. Some people complain that women talk too much, which sounds deceptive. However, studies have shown that women speak three times more than men in a day. The fact that women talk more than men should not be used as a weapon to discriminate women in the workplace. In essence, women speak their mind rationally, logically and to the point. In addition, women see a conversation as an act of sharing ideas and an opportunity to boost the relationship with colleagues or business partner. Through sharing ideas, women can release negative feelings and solidifies with the one they talk with.  In the book called The Female Mind by Dr Luan Brizendine, a female psychiatrist, says “women devote more brain cells to talking than men” (Luan, 3). Science has also proved that a woman’s brain can process and analyzes more words, feeling and emotion than a man’s brain. Since they understand better, women are able to communicate better. The role of education in developing people’s career has proven that education can model the future. Going by the current statistics regarding enrollment in various learning institutions, women represent 60 % of new master’s degrees, around 50% of all law and medical degrees, and 42% of all M.B.A.s. Most important, women earn almost 60% of all bachelor’s degrees. Apart from scaling in high heights of education, women have stronger skills of dealing with work problems than men. For instance, women can manage to work at home with family members and friends without causing commotions. Actually, apart from ironing shirts and cooking dinner, women can also prepare a perfect business presentation. Men are usually poor at multitasking and usually prefer to do one thing at a time. Instead of being employees, women should become employers in the various fields. When women are employers, the working conditions in the workplace are better compared to when men are employers. Basically, women understand employees’ emotion or stress better than men. In addition, it is easy for female employers to communicate with their employees to so solve problems since women are generally outspoken. The Washington Post shows a study that established the fact that single women investors outstripped single men by 2.3%, female investment groups outdid male colleagues by 4.6%, and women overall outperformed men by 1.4%. This data shows that women have better control of money than men. As an employer, it is necessary to deal with money appropriately. The gift of controlling money makes women better employers than men. Essentially, passion builds loyalty and motivate employees. For this reason, an employer needs to have passion when executing the office work. Women are usually more passionate about their work than men. In this case, female employers are likely to offer more motivation to employees due to passion than men. Conclusion In my view, women should be given equal treatment as men in the workplace. It can be observed that women are not doing worse than men in the job market. Companies should learn to recognize women’s ability to execute the assigned tasks. It is usually hard to find women holding executive positions in most companies. Employers should encourage and support women to take executive positions in originations. In summary, the stereotype that men are better than women should be erased from people’s mind in order to give women a free working environment. Women should never be discriminated for whatever reasons and should receive equal treatment as their male counterparts. References: Freedman, J. (2010). Women in the workplace: Wages, respect, and equal rights. New York: Rosen Pub. Read More