Ethnic Women, Their Self Realization in the Home and in the Workplace - Essay Example

As A ‘Double Minority’, Ethnic Women Have To Deal With Obstacles to Their Self Realisation in the Home As Well As In the Workplace Introduction Womenhave always been treated as second class citizens since the beginning of human kind. The Holy Scriptures of all religions depict woman as the weaker sex in terms of physical as well as mental capacity. Legends as well as historical records of various communities throughout the world show women as people who cannot control themselves and often bring calamities and tragedies to the world. The idea that one gender is better or more superior to the other can be referred to as sexism. The manifestation of ideas resulting from male sexism has resulted to theories on why men are superior to women. These reasons range from sexual differences to the size of male and female brains. Though overt forms of sexism have been eliminated as a result of women’s empowerment movements, most of which gained prominence in the 20th century, there are still subtle and not so subtle types of sexist behaviours that still keep women from realising their full potential. The women in ethnic minority groups have to bear double the burden of being outsiders in their homes as well as in the workplace. This is because they have to bear the stigma that women in their communities are exposed to while also facing subtle forms of stereotypes or racism in their places of work owing to the colour of their skin. Ethnic Women in the Home To a huge extent, ethnic minority women have to entertain more sexist behaviour from their male relatives than Caucasian women are exposed to. Women from minority ethnic groups are particularly affected negatively in the home as well as in the workplace. They do not have any power in either of these places. In their homes, it is their husbands and male relatives that make the laws. In the workplace, it is the White males that are often given positions of power. Most of the time women from minority ethnic groups live together with members of their extended families. These relatives can be very influential in enforcing cultural practices that are harmful to women, such as honour killings, as well as female genital mutilation. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is the most common type of violent behaviour faced by minority women. If the woman is a member of a culture with customary values and religious values, it is likely that she will experience some kind of violence. Men’s authority and devotion to traditional values where women are concerned have been shown to be factors that can contribute to the mistreatment of women. As Walby (2004) commented, one of the factors that promote family violence has to do with religious men’s’ beliefs that good women ought to be submissive to men. In most ethnic communities, such subservience is culturally endorsed. Walby (2004) states that violence against women is connected with legal, political, and civil restrictions for women, and is more widespread in societies where there are hardly any ways of punishing men who commit acts of domestic violence. Most minority women come from communities where gender roles support male dominance. In such communities, men are revered whether or not they carry out their responsibilities. This forms in them a dangerous sense of entitlement where they feel that any woman that does not out rightly show them respect is challenging their male hood. Women, on the other hand, are expected to be submissive and obedient to their male folk and are responsible for their spiritual as well as emotional well being. Such demarcations of roles not only functions as a justification for domestic violence, but also increases the chances of women being abused because they are made responsible for the well being of the feelings of other people while they are expected to ignore their own (Walby, 2004). A research of Korean women in America showed that women were more likely to be abused in families where there were strong religious ties (Povey, Coleman, Kaiza and Roe, 2009). African American women have undergone such negative socialisation concerning their perception of themselves that they actually defend the irresponsible behaviour of African American men when the wider society points an accusing finger at them (Coy, Lovett and Kelly, 2008). In spite of their defence of African American men, African American women are still the single group of women in America that suffers from some of the most shocking statistics of domestic violence. The women in this community are still victims of retrogressive beliefs in spite of their seeming acceptance of all the aspects that accompany modern life. African American women are recognised for their strong religious convictions (Bender, Cook and Kaslow, 2003). The human interpretation of the Christian religion stresses that women have a duty to preserve their families at all costs. Most of the time, the biblical verses that appear to endorse this ideology are used to encourage African American women to remain with dangerous partners that ought to be incarcerated (Jarvinen, Kail and Miller, 2008). Additionally, most African women have a need to be admired by their fellow women. They fear that they will be maligned and pitied if they reveal that they are suffering in their homes. The most significant impediment to African American women reporting domestic violence or seeking to force their partners to change is the fear that their partners will leave them. It has been stated that in the present generation, there are more unmarried African American women of marriageable age than in all other ethnic groups. (Caetano and Cunradi, 2003) note that the apparent shortage of marriageable African American men has resulted in a destabilising effect for the African American Family. (Chubin, DePass and Blockus, 2009) state that though African American women may not always be susceptible to pressures from the community to stay with abusive spouses or boyfriends, they have to deal with their own fear that they will not find other husbands if they let the abusive one go. In spite of all the monikers about self empowerment and actualisation that are frequently quoted in churches as well as conventions, these ideas of empowerment have not really been internalised by the community (Benson, Wooldredge, Thistlethwaite and Fox, 2004). Ethnic Minority Women in the Workplace With the collapse of long accepted structures of segregation and acceptance of minorities in universities and workplaces in America, there was a considerable investment in education. Asian, Black African and Black Caribbean minorities readily took advantage of the government initiatives and thus improved their job prospects. Employment rates improved among these groups mainly because of their educational accomplishments. However, even in these groups, the women of the minority groups did not acquire jobs at the same rate. Gender Stereotypes, Discrimination and the Glass Ceiling Minorities and female staff in the professoriate have achieved a level of career accomplishments that trounce hindrances and negotiate the learning processes. Still, they undergo rougher experiences in comparison with their white co-workers. They are also way behind in terms of income and mobility. Investigative studies have established that even “triumphant” minorities experience the place of work in ways, unlike white men. For women and people of different ethnicities, motivation is still the key factor necessary to achieve their goals in the workplace. This is because sometimes they meet with disapproving attitudes that are hidden behind accepting gestures from supervisors. Only the female workers and minorities that ignore such tactics and increase their motivation to realise their ambitions will succeed in their endeavours. Education is a factor that plays a role in discriminating against minorities. Whereas men may not be required to produce evidence of advanced degrees to acquire the high level jobs, most immigrants have to produce degrees from recognised universities to win the same positions. Many employers cease to treat women and minorities differently when they see that both have motivation to get educated and acquire practice prior to entering the workforce (Vinnecombe and Bank, 2003). Another area in which women and minorities do not do well in is in attaining the high level promotions. Where promotions mean being promoted to work stations that are based in other countries, women are routinely left out. Many employers feel that sending female representatives to head company branches based in conservative countries like Saudi Arabia may result in loss of customer base since, in such, regions women are not regarded as potential leaders or managers. The female employee will be hindered from accomplishing all the duties and responsibilities that her job entails. This is due to the negative cultural statutes that such nations impose on all women. The Glass Ceiling In many companies, women at the middle management level get promotions due to their sterling performances. Male employees at the same level achieve promotions based on their potential. One reality is that women at this stage usually have young children at home and feel unable to travel long distances away from home. Society allows women to halt their professions in order to return to the home to tend their young children (Kochan, Bezrukova and Ely, 2003). They simply do not get assignments at the same rate as their white counterparts. This means that they do not get many opportunities to develop their skills. They also have no opportunities to exhibit their talents and capabilities to their directors and supervisors. Social Isolation Although the skills of ethnic minorities are readily recognized by their employers, they tend to be given support type positions that are not directly in business lines (Anderson, 2008). Attainment of promotions can only be achieved by one who works on the core issues of the business and not the sideline issues (Daily and Dalton, 2003). Research has proved that due to negative experiences in the workplace, white male employees could be working in totally different corporations from female members of staff and other ethnicities (Agars and Kottke, 2004). Women have alluded to the ‘clique’ culture in large businesses and claim that these are responsible for a lot of the isolation experienced by minorities. The trading of off-colour or racially biased jokes among the senior directors is another trait that leads to the social isolation of women as well as ethnic minorities in the workplace (Livers and Caver, 2003). Race and Ethnicity The inclination to migrate lessens with age and rises with education. Those who are jobless are more likely to migrate than those who hold steady jobs. Highly skilled workers are welcomed into the countries they migrate. Alternatively, lowly skilled or unemployed workers tend to suffer from discrimination right from the point of applying for visas. Minorities have experienced these realities with the small difference that even the highly skilled do suffer some subtle discrimination (Agars and Kottke, 2004). Many minorities have to deal with stereotypes long held by the ethnic majority. It is a hard task to combat retrogressive attitudes from directors or to report such behaviours. Many people assume that all people of Asian descent are good in math and sciences. Government policies view this as progressive and encourage other ethnicities in believing it. Thus, Asian employees may be gently but firmly steered toward departments that have to do with these two specialties. This will happen even though the Asian employees in question wish to pursue the artistic side of things. Asians have also spoken of the conflict that arises between them and other people of colour who believe that the Asians are better treated than they are. This means that they experience discrimination from the ethnic majority as well as other ethnic minority groups (Anderson, 2008). Asian employees are also much more likely to be misunderstood because their cultures do not encourage the promotion of one self. Therefore, their silence in a meeting may be taken to indicate the principles being discussed while they are just respecting the leader. Since the 1960’s, the average figures of unemployed black men have remained almost constant (Babcock and Laschever, 2003). This means that though diversity has been widely acknowledged it remains mere lip service as far as the heads of major corporations are concerned. In order to fight discriminatory practices, the government can vigorously enforce policies that end this practice. An example is the use of testers to uncover discriminative organisations and then prosecuting them. The government’s administration can also deny state contracts to discriminating corporations and issue them to those companies that have a multicultural workforce. It can also disallow discriminative businesses from obtaining functional permits. Ethnic Minority Women Double minority ethnic women tend to carry a larger burden than their male counterparts due to discriminative practices (Agars and Kottke, 2004). It has been established through research that, in most corporations, Black and Latino women earn the least and hold the lowest positions. They also experience more harassment than their white counterparts and are more unlikely to report it (Anderson, 2008). It is likely that they are the breadwinners in their families and so fear to lose their positions and so they put up with their abusers. The needs of minority women go ignored because they are never the target of any investigations. The repression of women is considered in terms of the experiences Caucasian females and the subjugation of minorities in terms of what male minorities undergo (Babcock and Laschever, 2003). Even though, the government has passed laws to combat harassment and discrimination, it needs to make examples of perpetrators. This will inspire the confidence of women who have been victims of this discrimination to report issues of discrimination. The directors of companies, as well as law enforcement officials, should consider that if the man accused of harassment is a prominent personality, it is simple for him to paint his accuser as a gold digger. Indeed, many such cases have ended in the withdrawal of the woman who sued a corporate executive for harassment being depicted as an immoral individual who is hankering after a larger pay. The government should also do away with the vagueness as to what comprises stalking behaviour (Anderson, 2008). Cases that merit big punishments should include those concerning dirty as well as threatening phone calls, and improper conversations, comments or gestures in the workplace. The government policies should also consider that the woman being harassed can be demoted or fired for rejecting the demands of her superior (Agars and Kottke, 2004). Though the establishment of such circumstances will take a lot of considerations, the law should be ready to make the necessary investigations. Equality Approaches: Equal Opportunities versus Managing Diversities A corporation that employs an assorted multicultural labour force is better able to tackle personnel contentment and maintenance factors. Since globalisation is the contemporary inclination in corporation circles, it is an acknowledged and popular notion. Many company directors believe that employing national of other countries allows them to tap into foreign markets. For this to take place, the employer has to tap into the wide range of the experiences of his multiethnic personnel (Agars and Kottke, 2004). Many firm directors are not inspires to delve in to the cultural values of their members of staff. They feel that in employing foreign nationals and women, they have satisfied the expectations of the government concerning employment practices. Unfortunately, this prohibits them from benefiting fully from their workers’ experiences. This is a style of external and shallow diversity. Deep level diversity delves into the knowledge and cultural norms of the workforce. Employees are encouraged to challenge the ideas of fellow employees in order to learn what each of them knows and believes. Processing deep information in that fashion could result in positive outcomes. Implementing diversity laws such as these will prompt employers to implement action plans that allow for the contribution of women and ethnic minority members in the workplace. Whereas diversity laws emphasise differences in cultural or informational views the industry will benefit from the similarities that employees discover that they share. This trend will contribute to an interconnected working environment. Additionally, employers cannot steer clear of lawsuits from the discontented members of one ethnic group when they apply the diversity law. References Agars, M.D. & Kottke, J.L. (2004) The psychology and management of workplace diversity, Blackwell Publishers, Malden. Anderson, J. A. (2008) Driving change through diversity and globalisation: transformative leadership in the academy, Stylus Publishing, Sterling. Babcock, L. & Laschever, S. (2003) Women don’t ask: negotiation and the gender divide, Princeton University Press, Princeton. Bender, M. Cook, S. & Kaslow, N. (2003) ‘Social support as a mediator of revictimisation of low-income african american women’, Violence and Victims, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 419-431. Benson, M.L. Wooldredge, J. Thistlethwaite, A.B. & Fox, G.L. (2004) ‘The correlation between race and domestic violence is confounded with community context’, Social Problems, vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 326-342. Caetano, R. & Cunradi, C. (2003) ‘Intimate partner violence and depression among whites, blacks, and hispanics’, Annals of Epidemiology, vol. 13, no. 10, pp. 661-665. Chubin, D.E. DePass, A.L. & Blockus, L. (2009) Understanding interventions that encourage minorities to pursue research careers, American Society for Cell Biology, Bethesda. Coy, M. Lovett,. & Kelly, L. (2008) Realising rights, fulfilling obligations: a template for an integrated strategy, End Violence Against Women, London. Daily, C.M. & Dalton, D.R. (2003) ‘Women in the boardroom: A business imperative’, The Journal of Business Strategy, vol. 24, no. 5. Jarvinen, J. Kail, A. & Miller, I. (2008) Hard knock life: violence against women – a guide for donors and funders, New Philanthropy Capital, London. Kochan, T. Bezrukova, R. & Ely, T. 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