The Role of Equity and Dignity at Work with Regard to either Gender and Work/Life Balance - Term Paper Example

The Role of Equity and Dignity at Work with Regard to either Gender and Work/Life Balance Introduction In recent decades, gender inequity and work/life balance have become serious matters of debates among the general public due to various factors including personal, economical, educational and so on. Gender, quite specifically the social attitude towards female representation at workplace has prohibited many females from playing better roles in the functional areas like organizations and management. This piece of research work will address both the issues of gender inequity and work/life balance and explores the importance of these two topics. Women and Workplace In terms of employment as well as promotion in work and occupation, women often have less advantage to receive equal job opportunities comparing to men. Japan can be considered to be an illuminating example to demonstrate this issue. Most management positions are held by men in Japan. Even though both men and women have same education backgrounds and working experience, men would have more chances than women, and in some circumstances, women applicants are rejected as well. Sexual harassment at work has recently become a major obstacle to gender equality in the work place, especially for women. It is common on the news report that companies cannot guarantee women’s human rights at work especially with issues like sexual harassment which in turn discourage women to perform well in their workplace at their best capacities and ultimately contribute less to the company as a whole. Moreover, women face more family related issues than men and hence they opt to stay back home. This is also an obstacle for women’s’ job performance. If work-family issues are not taken seriously, they might cause problems in the workplace that could affect job performance. It is suggested that women need more support and help because of their role in society. Furthermore, women receive an unequal pay as compared to that of men at work. This reflects and underpins gender roles, with men's authority more highly valued socially as well as economically. Unequal pay usually comes in two forms: women being paid less than men for doing a similar job and women being paid less than men because they work in undervalued female-dominated occupations such as nursing and hospitality. The pay gap between women and men who have the same occupations is well documented. One important difference between different countries’ response to unfairness towards women involves the action of their civil society. Wealthier countries, with a more developed rule of law and helped by their geographic position, made possible the involvement of civic structures, non-governmental associations and foundations in fighting some of the most serious problems concerning women. At every level of education, from individuals without high school diplomas to those with professional degrees, men earned 20 percent to 35 percent more than their female counterparts in 1999 (Holgersson, 2009). Some companies think that women are less likely to work harder in their work roles, especially if they have children at home or are planning to start a family. Another reason I believe might be that women employees do not negotiate salary as well as men. Today, the union movement is seeking further pay claims on behalf of female-dominated professions, but this process is slow. Women in Leadership Roles Although today women increasingly enter leadership roles that traditionally were occupied mainly by men, the leadership styles of men and women have many differences (Eagly and Johannesen-Schmidt, 2001). There is much argument over who is a better leader- a man or woman? Many men and women have become successful leaders with their own style and perception in the past as well as today’s business and political domains. Differences in styles can be consequential because they are one factor that may affect people’s views about whether women should become leaders and advance to higher positions in organizational hierarchies. Even when men and women have equal experiences, responsibilities, and qualifications, employers refuse to nominate women equally. Men tend to be more direct and goal-oriented while women leaders tend to create a more supportive, nurturing environment at work. Female leaders normally enhance team work, encourage innovation through collaboration as well as increase opportunities for continuous improvement of information. On the other hand, male leaders tend to set strong goals and boundaries, they assign clear responsibilities and they are very deliberate in terms of decision-making. However, women and men who work together often have communication issues, especially issues that involve power, advocacy and managing their teams. Men and women leaders have different views on actions and strategies taken and they often have different styles for expressing work-related demands and needs. In general, women are more likely than men to prioritize family-caring responsibilities. Women’s preferences for working reduced hours, particularly when their children are very young, are seen as a justification of gender segregation in employment. The consequences of this segregation, particularly in part time jobs, are also considered as personal choice. It is argued that gender pay-gap is a consequence of women's choice when they decide to spend less time at work instead they spend time looking after their children and families. (Whitehouse, 2002) However, in reality, there is a discrimination against mothers that seems to force mothers to pay for parenting. In some companies, they demote or fire women who get pregnant, even before they go on maternity leave. And in some other cases, their working hours has been reduced for no reason when they return back to work. Sex discrimination is not necessarily intentional, but most often, it happens through mindless bias and careless stereotyping. In whatever situations, this has considered to be unfair and illegal (Tienari, Holgersson, Meriläinen and Höök 2009). Because of the consequences, in recent decades, there has been increased number of women who decided not to give up their jobs or promotional opportunities. They have chosen not to stay at home or indulge in part time work when the children need them, instead they seek to share that load with their partners, or choose not having children. In addition, statistics show that in the last 40 years, more than 45% of Australian marriages have been broken up. It is believed that the reasons behind these pressures for women are significant as it involves anger, tiredness and relationship strain in many marriages, and it is often the main reasons for divorce. In my opinion, women’s feeling as being unfairly treated at work can lead to a lot of negative life consequences such as family relationship, health and can even affect their younger generations. Trends in workplace discrimination Even though many Americans believe that sex discriminations does not make significant problems on working women due to much progress that past thirty five years have witnessed, sex discrimination- that are blatant, subtle and covert- are still continuing to plague working women throughout various occupations. Nearly all working women are encountering obstacles to job advancements (Gregory, 2003, p. 5). Females, in recent decades, have represented relatively good number of workplace related jobs, but their numbers are still very low in leadership related jobs. At the end of 2001, five out Fortune 500 companies have elevated women to the top positions, but 495 were still led by male CEOs (p. 6). Coughlin (2005) pointed out that it is a disappointing fact that women make up of 47% of U.S labor force, 50% of managerial and professional occupations, but only a very small number of leadership roles are played by females in the public sectors (p. 9). In recent days, women, not as equal to the number of men, are well playing in labor force and managerial or professional positions. Then, why not they represent same proportion in leadership traits? As is discussed earlier, constant barriers including institutional, family related, gender related, harassment related and many that sorts are the factors that account for the gap between the male and female representation in leadership roles. There are various work cultures among employees within a workplace. To indulge with a low standard job has been considered to be a good strategy to show competency, but it is not the same for many others. Even when some leaders work or perform some low graded works like ‘picking a soldering iron’, they may perceive the value which being added. For them, it is not something to be followed by all in general. This cultural or conventional wisdom in fact is making women away from this kind of behavior (Fletcher, 2001, p. 92- 93). This answers why women got disappeared from many critical or rather better roles both in leadership and workplace jobs. Work/ Life Balance Work has come to increasingly dominate our daily life,. The overwork culture and modern management techniques cause millions of people to spend the best part of their lives to their organizations. In the case of downsizing, people who keep their jobs are referred to be very lucky. They keep their positions and maintain their income.  However, for a lot of organizations, the remaining workers can be asked to work harder and longer hours. These employees may end up on sick leave or may willingly choose to leave due to overstress. In other words, the survivor will only survive in a competently managed work environment ( M. Bunting 2004) . The problem being faced by employees is their work load as it affects their lifestyle, their health and motivations. In fact, I believe that overwork culture has lead to unsatisfied work life for employees. When employees feel overwhelmed, they lose confidence and become irritable, making them less productive, less efficient and less rewarding to their efforts. If the warning signs of work stress go unattended, they can lead to other problems (Heiler, 2008). For example, a large number of employees claim that they have difficulties to sleep at night due to anxiety. The over-dependence on medication and excessive smoking that many employees practice show that they are dissatisfied with their workplace. On the other hand, it is very unfortunate that in many organizations these days, managers believe that employees’ stress is just a natural phenomenon during their performance process and they even believe that good result can be produced under high pressure. It is suggested that employees should schedule a work/life balance for themselves. They should never make goals that can not be achieved within a day. They need to plan regular breaks and leisure to spend with colleagues and this as a result can help improve the quality of the work life. Health should always be the number one priority and employees need to learn how to use their time effectively which can help them perform a particular task more efficiently at the end. It is because poor time management can result in loss of working hours and thus contribute stress and strains as well. More significantly, employees need to separate their work duty with personal life duties. Managing stress moment to moment is a key in high level performance and in the attainment of optimum health. People who manage stress well will receive more advantages in many different areas of their life. Promoting work Life Balance can assist employers and employees to be productive and healthy in their work and daily lives. It can provide employees greater flexibilities in managing their time and task. It can also offer employers the competitive business reputation in attracting and retaining employees. There have been a number of changes made by companies to try and support employees with better balance of their work and non-work lives; it is evident that some policies work well while it is not the case for all industries. Conclusion The issues of inequality of men and women at work with work life balance are interrelated at some points. Due to the present facts and evidence of the unfairly treated women at work, it drives them to work much harder than what they should be. This is under the conditions of having similar qualifications and education backgrounds comparing to men. This has lead to different problems to women as well as their relationships with their partners and children. Furthermore, this has also lead to overstress at work and poor life styles. Women’s work-life patterns and their occupational preferences are significant factors in determining their wages. Increasingly it is indicated that men argue for a greater involvement in their families, but the lack of affordable child care combined with the fact that most women earn less than men force most families to forfeit the earnings of the mother. My point of view is that organizations should treat women employees in a fair way as well as providing them more supports. Reference List Bunting M and Slaves W (2004), How the Overwork Culture is Ruling Our Lives, Harper, London, Chapter 2. Coughlin L (2005), Enlightened power: how women are transforming the practice of leadership, Edition: illustrated, John Wiley and Sons Eagly A. H. and Johannesen-Schmidt M.C (2001), ‘The Leadership Styles of Men and Women’, Journal of Social Issues, vol. 57, no. 4, 2001 Fletcher J. K (2001), Disappearing Acts: Gender, Power, and Relational Practice at Work, MIT Press Gregory R.F (2003), Women and workplace discrimination: overcoming barriers to gender equality, illustrated edition, Rutgers University Press Heiler K (1998), ‘The “petty pilfering of minutes” or what has happened to the length of the working day in Australia?’, International Journal of Manpower, vol. 19, no. 4, Tienari J, Holgersson C, Meriläinen S and Höök P (2009), ‘Gender, Management and Market Discourse: The Case of Gender Quotas in the Swedish and Finnish Media’, Gender, Work and Organization, vol. 16, no. 4, Towers I, Duxbury L, Higgins C Thomas J (2006), ‘Time thieves and space invaders: technology, work and the organization’, Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 19, no. 5 Whitehouse G (2002), ‘Parenthood and Pay in Australia and the UK: evidence from workplace surveys’, Journal of Sociology, vol. 38, no. 4, 2002. Warhurst C and Nickson D (2009), ‘Who’s Got the Look?’ Emotional, Aesthetic and Sexualised Labour in Interactive Services’, Gender, Work and Organization, vol. 16, no. 3, Warhurst C, Eikhof D.R and Haunschild A(eds), Work Less, Live More? Critical Analysis of the Work-Life Boundary, Palgrave Macmillan, Houndsmill, 2008, esp. chapters 3, 4 and 5 Read More