The Psycho-Emotional Effects of Gender Inequality in the Workplace - Research Proposal Example

The Psycho-Emotional Effects of Gender Inequality in the Workplace 100 respondents (50 males and 50 females) are randomly selected from 5 different companies to complete a questionnaire on their perceptions of gender equality/inequality in the workplace. Their responses are analyzed using SPSS, frequency counts, percentage distributions, correlation, and ANOVA analysis. The results shall determine gender differences in job perceptions and the psychological and emotional effects of such perceptions on the workers’ performance and motivation. INTRODUCTION Working women are usually faced with a multitude of challenges. On top of balancing their duties and responsibilities as members of their families, they need to be efficient workers and competitive in their chosen professions. One main challenge is the issue of proving themselves as worthy employees to gain equal opportunities with men. Sexual stereotypes passed on from generation to generation seem to dictate that women have no place in the workforce and their rightful place is at home, caring for her family. Thus, some work places may not be too accepting of the empowerment of women in employment and may strip them of their dignity to make them realize that they do not belong there. Many researches have investigated the problem of equality rights and gender prejudices in the workplace. Many claim that because of the established dominance of males in the vast number of areas of public life, women are often placed in a disadvantaged position from the very beginning. The main problem seems to be the lower pay of women for the same work at the same position with the same range responsibilities of their male counterparts. Studies have revealed that such gender inequality have grave effects on women’s perceptions of their efficiency and motivation. Some women fall into the trap of giving in to bleak self-fulfilling prophecies that they are not as good as their male co-workers and eventually prove the expectations to be right. PROBLEM STATEMENT This research paper explores the perceptions of workers of the realities in the workplace regarding gender equality. It will attempt to investigate the grievances and fulfillments of workers regarding their current jobs, pay and career advancement and probe the psychological and emotional effects these have on their job performance and motivation. REVIEW OF RELATED RESEARCH Due to the significance of equal opportunities to citizens the world over, laws have been passed to ensure that they are available to everyone. These laws have been designed to provide, compensation for those who consider they were discriminated against by reason of sex, marital status, ethnic or national origin, color, race, nationality, age, disability, religion, and differing terms of employment, including pay for jobs of equal value. In the United States of America, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces all laws on employment opportunities. EEOC also provides oversight and coordination of all federal equal employment opportunity. One major kind of discrimination in the workplace is on the basis of gender. Sexual discrimination is a biased attitude towards a person because of his/her gender, pregnancy, marital status, etc. This is considered to be direct sexual discrimination. An example is a company’s policy of not hiring married women because of possible restrictions their marriages can pose that may affect job performance. Indirect discrimination happens when the requirements are equal for all people, but these result in an unfair disadvantage on certain groups due to their gender, marital status or pregnancy. An example is a manager’s demand for overtime for the whole staff including pregnant workers. (Equal Opportunity, 2006) The monumental world-wide response to the Platform for Action for the resolution of women’s issues delivered in the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women still reverberates until the present time. Much of the initial initiatives regarding this Plan of Action include creating new mechanisms upgrading existing structures and energizing participatory processes. The movement against discrimination of women, particularly those who are disabled either temporarily (by pregnancy, illness, etc.) or permanently has likewise been strong.On October 15, 2003, the Honorable Stefania Prestigiacomo, Minister for Equal Opportunites of Italy read the Statement on the Advancement of Women to the Third Committee, on behalf of the European Union. She states that “The European Union appreciates the efforts by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and urges States to accept the amendment to Article 20, paragraph 1, which would allow the Committee to enjoy a greater flexibility. “ (Prestigiacomo, 2006) She likewise advocates that “all States must recognize that the creation of an enabling environment is necessary to ensure the advancement of women and to realize the full implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and of the Outcome of the Twenty-Third Special Session.” (Prestigiacomo, 2006) Equality of Gender Rights Equality of gender rights is very controversial and highly disputable. Putting men and women in the same work conditions may be unacceptable, considering the physical strengths and limitations of each. Many critics claim, that in exerting all their efforts to advance themselves in the professional sphere, women become unable to perform successfully as mothers, wives and life partners. However, the latter are among primary duties of all women. The issue of equal rights and family priority indicate that without neglecting their basic duties to family, women can still get an education, which is equal to the education of men. The majority of job placements should be available to women. Presently, women now can occupy positions even in professions considered male-dominated. Many researchers try to prove that women are more responsible and hard working and can perform with more efficiency than their male counterparts. There appears to be a constant conflict between mutually beneficial relationships and contemporary situations, where males dominate the social, political and professional spheres (Taylor, Kemeny, Reed, Bower, & Grunewald, 2000). . Many women claim that they have fewer opportunities to succeed in their work than men do and have to exert greater effort in order to be promoted in their jobs. Men are more readily employed and more supported by their employers than women (Bergman, 2003). . Other job characteristics of typically female jobs are not particularly compatible with family roles. For example, job flexibility and unsupervised breaks when workers can call home were less common among female than male occupations. Women were more likely than men to value jobs with characteristics that mothers would find convenient. (Reskin, 1993) Research conducted in the US in 2002 in which 500 companies where studied, showed that women occupied no more than 15.7 % held managerial positions and only 5.2 % of women were top earners. Most women working in this company held staff positions. Staff positions are not so prominent and therefore women are less likely to receive promotions and attain the very top of job hierarchy. In the line corporate-officer jobs women occupy not more than 1/10 of men-occupied positions. Within each occupation, a considerable hierarchy can be seen. Vertical segregation implies that women quite seldom occupy top posts in management in the European Union and in the rest of the countries (Equal Opportunities Policy and Statements). The Career Development Group maintains that there is social disadvantage due to the fact that there exists particular social roles which influence the public lives of both genders. These roles were established in patriarchal societies and are therefore strongly influenced by social power, which usually belong to men. Being influenced by the rules of society conduct people yield to these stereotypes (Equal Opportunities Policy and Statements). Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act was a turning point. In barring most firms with at least 15 employees from assigning jobs on the basis of sex, the act made it illegal for employers to impose segregation on workers. Amendments to Title VII and Presidential Executive Orders in the years that followed created a legal foundation for challenging sex segregation. (Reskin, 1993). The very existence of such laws serve as reminders to all that a person’s sex should not limit his or her opportunities, and are likewise deterrents of employers that they should provide equal opportunities due their prospective and current employees. The problem of pay gap was well studied by the Women and Equality Unit and the Equal Opportunities Commission. These units aimed to improve the position of women in the workplace and to increase their wages (Advancing Women in the Workplace, 2004) They studied the employers’ actions and other factors which determine the lower payment of women’s wages. Research funded by the European Commission showed that generally women who work full-time, receive only three-fourths of the hourly earnings of men. This holds true in the European Union in all professions with equal qualification levels and ages of men and women (Equal Opportunity, 2006). Since the implementation of the Equal Pay Act in 1975, womens salaries have improved. In 1970, women generally earned less than 65 percent of mens salaries, compared with 74 percent in 1987. A 1990 study of pay in the City of London, the heart of British business, revealed that more than four in every five of the highest-paid jobs are held by men and almost all those earning |pounds~70,000 and above were men. Only in the newer areas of business such as investment banking did women earn more than their male colleagues when matched by age (Hammond & Holton, 1993). The pay gap is partly explained by the fact that women are much more likely to be in lower-grade, lower-paid occupations than men. Another factor contributing to the pay gap is that women in management have less seniority and are rewarded at a lower rate, For example, a regular national salary survey for the British Institute of Management (IM), based on the experiences of over 400 companies with more than 21,000 executives, revealed that women are, on average, seven years younger and have seven years less service with their current company (Remuneration Economics, 1991). The pay survey of women in the City of London found a clear age-related factor in that salaries for men and women diverged during their mid-twenties and the gap increased with age (Wren, 1990). For the first time in recent years, the IM survey found that women averaged a lower pay increase during he year, 9.8 percent, compared with 11.7 percent for men. At the manager level, women earned only 3 percent less than men, but at the director level the gap was 33 percent (Remuneration Economics, 1991) One of the researches, conducted in 2002 in the USA studying 500 companies showed that women occupied not more than 15.7 % of corporate-officer positions and only 5.2 % of women were top earners. The other characteristic feature is that the greatest part of all women, who occupy top positions, take not line but staff positions (Hymowitz, 2003). Staff positions are less prominent and therefore women are less likely to receive promotions and attain the very top of job hierarchy. In the line corporate-officer jobs women occupy not more than 1/10 of men-occupied positions(Royal Society of Chemistry, 1989) The Career Development Group maintains that there is social disadvantage due to the fact that there exists particular social roles which influence the public lives of both genders. These roles were established in patriarchal societies and are therefore strongly influenced by social power, which usually belong to men. Being influenced by the rules of society conduct people yield to these stereotypes (Equal Opportunities Policy and Statements, 2006). Studies have shown that workers’ job efficiency have much to do with how they perceive their responsibilities and significance in their particular job positions. Valentine (2001) indexed a variety of research studies on how perceptions of own jobs and expectations of other people in the workplace of one’s job efficiency may create self-fulfilling prophesies. Findings in these researches show that despite their managerial competencies, women must unfortunately deal with negative stereotypes that can impair their job mobility and advancement. As leaders, women may be viewed as passive, overly relationship-oriented and emotionally unstable. The masculine task-oriented styles of leadership highly favoured by management are not always exhibited by women. Many of the negative ideas about women in management may affect how they are treated and accepted at work. Despite representing almost half of the workforce, womens presence is much less noticeable in positions with executive responsibility. Even worse, women are frequently given assignments that are excluded from social and professional networking concluded that women reported greater career barriers and greater importance of performing well on the job than did men using matched samples of male and female executives. These negative ideas unfortunately lead some women to question their own supervisory abilities, to evaluate themselves harshly on performance appraisals, and to set low performance expectations. They experience more motivational problems and career uncertainties compared to men, and this could be attributed to their negative work experiences. HYPOTHESIS: It is hypothesized that gender inequality exists in workplaces, especially in bigger companies. This is exhibited by a large pay discrepancy between men and women who hold the same position and job descriptions. This study will investigate the workers’ perception of gender inequality across the board. The hypothesis will be: Women will perceive gender inequality within the organization while men will not perceive gender inequality. (Independent variable shall be gender (male or female) and dependent variable shall be their perception of gender inequality in the workplace.) METHODOLOGY SUBJECTS: One hundred subjects whose positions range from rank and file to top management are employees from 5 selected workplaces shall complete a questionnaire provided by the researcher. Twenty respondents (10 males and 10 females) shall be randomly selected in each company. MEASUREMENTS AND INSTRUMENTS: The questionnaire to be answered is in the form of a likert scale. The respondents shall choose their responses to the questions by choosing a number from 1 to 5 depending on their agreement or disagreement . The reliability and validity of the questionnaire shall be tested with a pilot group of 30 respondents to check if all questions are clearly understood in the same perspective. DESIGN: To pursue the objectives stated in this research, a questionnaire will be distributed in five different companies. For each company, 20 respondents will be randomly chosen (10 males and 10 females). Profile information (educational background, years of work experience, marital status, salary, etc.) shall be collected along with the questionnaires and shall be charted for comparison. The questionnaire shall focus on the employees’ jobs focusing on their feelings about their current job descriptions, pay and career advancement and the psychological and emotional effects these have on their job performance. DATA ANALYSIS PLAN: The total sample for this study is 100 and the data shall be entered and analyzed through the Statistical Program for the Social Science (SPSS). Frequency counts, percentage distributions, correlation, and ANOVA analysis will be used to the objectives. HUMAN SUBJECTS: The subjects are adult employees whose ages range from 18 and above. Their work experiences may vary in terms of duration, position or industry. INFORMED VOLUNTARY CONSENT: Consent shall be sought from the randomly selected subjects before beginning the questionnaire. If informed voluntary consent is not given, then another subject shall be approached to fulfill the required number of subjects that shall participate in the study. POTENTIAL RISKS: It is possible that subjects will not give truthful answers to the questions and such behavior shall affect the validity and reliability of the results. To prevent or minimize the risks, the researcher shall brief the respondents on the importance of honesty and assure them of confidentiality. A common script shall be used for the briefing and debriefing of the respondents. WORK PLAN: July: submission of research proposal search for prospective workplaces to conduct data gathering August: securing permission from prospective workplaces that will participate in the study random selection of respondents data gathering September analysis of data presentation of results October editing, completion and submission of research project TIME/TASK/PRODUCTS LIST Permission letter to companies Questionnaire REFERENCES Advancing women in the workplace. Labour Market Trends. 2004 Bergman, B. (2003) The validation of the women workplace culture questionnaire: gender-related stress and health for Swedish working women. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research Equal Opportunities Policy and Statements. Retrieved on July 25, 2007 from http://www.careerdevelopmentgroup.org.uk Equal Opportunities Management Guidelines, Retrieved on July 25, 2007 from: http://www.highland.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/8B9E4B30-7483-4919-B78C- 46454D9288A6/0/EqualOpportunitiesManagement.pdf Hammond, V & Holton, V., (1993) The Scenario for Women Managers in Britain in the 1990s. International Studies of Management & Organization. Volume: 23. Issue: 2 Hymowitz, C. (2003) Why Women Professionals Miss Great Opportunities. The Wall Street Journal Prestigiacomo, S, (2003)EU Presidency Statement - Advancement of Women, Retrieved on July 25, 2007 from http://europa-eu-un.org/ Remuneration Economics (1991) 1990 Salary Survey. Corby: British Institute of Management (now known as Institute of Management) Reskin, B.,(1993) ‘Sex Segregation in the Workplace. Annual Review of Sociology. Volume: 19 Royal Society of Chemistry. (1989) Employment and Attitudes of Men and Women Members. London: Royal Society of Chemistry Taylor, S. E., Kemeny, M. E., Reed, G. M., Bower J. E., & Grunewald, T. L. (2000)Psychological resources, positive illusions, and health. American Psychologist. Valentine, S., ‘Men and Women Supervisors Job Responsibility, Job Satisfaction and Employee Monitoring’. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research. Plenum Publishing Corporation 2001 Wren, J. (1990) Women’s Pay in the City. London: Jonathan Wren Executive Read More