Gender-Based Discrimination - Essay Example

Gender based Discrimination Contents Contents Introduction 2 Body 2 Conclusion 6 Work Cited 7 Gender based Discrimination of the of the Coarse-Time Date Introduction Many great personalities have stated that “if development is not engendered, then it is endangered”. All the progress made in terms of accumulation of financial surplus or different types of business strategies would simply fail if a society is not “gender neutral”. It is true that the countries that exhibit less gender inequality experience a higher threshold of economic development than the nations where gender discrimination issues are high. Female literacy and overall development is crucial for the quality of future population of a country. This is because it is already stated in the millennium development goals that the health status of women and children in a nation depicts the quality of opportunity population. Body It is believed by the analysts that during the rule of Barak Obama, U.S. minorities, single women and young individuals have to pay the maximum penalties from the last four years. It was estimated that about 67% of the votes by single women was largely responsible for the victory of Barak Obama in the U.S. elections. However, under his rule, it was found that about 7% women had lost their jobs in U.S. (Moore, “Stephen Moore: Obamas Economy Hits His Voters Hardest”). The famous Japanese electronics company, Toshiba is accused of gender discrimination in U.S. The company was penalized for afflicting women with unfavorable discriminations in terms of pay and promotion in the workplaces. The company had to pay a penalty of $100 million in U.S. for redemption of this ill practice. Toshiba is known to be biased against the women workers. This is the reason for which its shareholders in Tokyo had claimed that the company did not have any female executives in its working offices (Osawa, “Toshiba Accused of Gender Discrimination in U.S.”). The practice of gender discrimination was also found in one of the famous venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in Silicon Valley. The firm was sued by one of its female investment business partner, Ellen Pao, on the grounds of gender discrimination and also, for retaliation. The female investment partner who had joined the company in 2005 stated that she had faced many incidents of sexual harassment and retaliation in the company for the previous six years (Gage, “Kleiner Perkins Sued by Investment Partner for Gender Discrimination”) The company named Eaton Corporation is a famous firm, engaging in the task of innovation and creativity in the business field. The company was established a hundred years ago and is known for nurturing new concepts in business. However, the firm is found to be deeply rooted in the primitive era when it comes to gender equality. Two female engineers in the company operating in the sales department, had filed cases associated with penalties worth $150 million against the company, on the grounds of sexual discrimination (Moss, “Eaton Corporation Gender Discrimination Matter”). Wal-Mart Inc is the world’s largest multinational retailing company based in America. The company is known for its excellent services and superb business strategies. The Corporate Social Activities of the firm are also commendable in the market. However, in 21st June 2011, the supreme court of Washington had filed a case against the giant retailing company on the grounds of sexual discrimination. It was claimed that the company had offered less pay and promotion opportunities to the female working groups (Bravin and Zimmerman, “Justices Curb Class Actions”). It should be considered that gender related discriminations are not only practiced in the private organizations but they also widely exist in many public organized businesses. It was noted that Fire Department of New York had to settle down its gender discrimination issues with a worth of about $1 million. The company has decided to increase the wages of its female employees and have also decided to introduce a change in its recruitment pattern (Shallwani, “FDNY Will Pay $1 Million to Settle Gender-Discrimination Suit”). Even the business firm of Morgan Stanley is accused of disfavoring between men and women in its workplaces. The company has decided to pay a wholesome amount of money for the sake of penalty. It should be considered that gender discrimination in a company goes against the basic norms of business ethics and moral. Thus, a penalty paid in the form of money cannot actually rectify the internal negativities caused by such discriminations (Patrick, “Morgan Stanley Is Focus of Trial on Gender Bias”). Novartis Pharmaceutical Company is a famous multinational company which enjoys a prolific goodwill in the market. Almost 5600 female employees of the company had filed cases against the organization on the grounds of gender discrimination. These female workers have claimed that even Novartis has discriminated against them and did not provide them with the benefits of maternity leave, wage increase or promotion in the workplaces. The company had to pay a sum of about $3.36 million as compensation against the discriminating practices in its organization (Velez, “Novartis Pharmaceutical Gender Discrimination Class Action”). Exel Corporation is another company based in America that deals with various types of supply chain and logistics services. The federal jury had awarded a woman working in the company with an amount of about $500000. The amount was provided to the female employee as a compensation because it was proved in the court that she was not promoted in Exel Corporation owing to her gender (McDonald, “Federal Jury Awards Exel Employee $500,000 in Sex Discrimination Case”) The above context only emphasizes on a series of cases where the female workers in the workplaces are discriminated adversely due to their gender against the male workers. In reality, there are a lot of organizations in the modern world where women are given more importance than men. It should be recognized that a biased attitude either towards the men or women, would definitely reduce the overall productivity and growth of the organization. In Harvard Business School, the male students and professors claim that the importance and preferences of the female students and teachers in the school eclipses the male students and tutors. The norms and the regulations introduced in the organization also depict a feminist inclination of the school (Kantor, “Harvard Business School Case Study: Gender Equity”). It is claimed by many individuals in U.S. that the Federal justice had not been very keen about punishing the organizations known to practice gender discriminations. It was expected that under the control of Barak Obama, female workers in U.S. would get better justice. Thus, Obama had introduced a rule named Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. This Act assured that the workers could easily sue the organizations for discriminations made on the basis of gender, pay, promotions or disability (Koppel, “Job-Discrimination Cases Tend to Fare Poorly in Federal Court”). There is an organization named Federal Glass Ceiling Commission that notes the extent of discriminating practices in an organization on gender related issues. It was noted by them in 2010 that, 95% to 97% of the senior officers in corporate organizations are men. While a meager percentage of only 3% to 5% individuals were women. However, it should be analyzed that gender discrimination is not only common in the business field but also exists in the social, cultural and political hemispheres of the current contemporary world (Turner, “Outback to Pay 19 Million for Sex Discrimination Case”). It would be astonishing to note that the cases of gender discrimination have also been filed from the defense departments of U.S. A retired command sergeant had claimed that she was a victim of gender discrimination made by her seniors. She was a militant in the infantry department of Fort Stewart (Dao, “Female Sergeant Major Claims Gender Discrimination”). The Bank of America had decided to pay an amount of $ 39 million to a female employee who used to work in its Merrill Lynch division. The amount was paid for the purpose of racial discrimination as well as gender inequity cases which were filed against the organization on behalf of almost 700 black brokers of the Bank (McGeehan, “Bank of America to pay $39 Million in Gender Bias Case”). In order to combat the extensive discriminatory practices on the grounds of sex, religion, caste and creed, the Federal government has introduced a new law in the nation. The Employment Non-discrimination Act has been introduced by the Federal government to reduce the ill actions related to gender discriminations in the country (The Editorial Board, “Toward Ending Workplace Discrimination”). Conclusion Despite being a developed nation in the global economy, discrimination among men and women on the basis of gender sensitive issues are common in U.S. Many modern corporations, which are well known all over the world for its inhibiting modern skills and equipments, are charged heavy penalties for encouraging gender inequalities. This foregrounds the inherent barbarism among modern individuals who claim to work for the betterment of mankind in the world. However, the government of the country has undertaken active measures to protect the rights and powers of women in the American society. This is probably one of the reasons due to which the number of gender discriminations made against women is relatively lower in U.S. than many other nations in the world. It should be realized that equality among men and women on grounds of political and economic power as well as empowerment, is the underlying driving force of human development in a nation. Work Cited Bravin, Jess and Ann Zimmerman. “Justices Curb Class Actions.” Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, June 21, 2011. Web 13 November 2013. . Dao, James. “Female Sergeant Major Claims Gender Discrimination.” The New York Times. The New York Times Company, May 22, 2012. Web. 13 November 2013. . Gage, Deborah. “Kleiner Perkins Sued By Investment Partner For Gender Discrimination.” Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, May 22, 2012. Web. 13 November 2013. . Kantor, Jodi. “Harvard Business School Case Study: Gender Equity.” New York Times. The New York Times Company, September 7, 2013. Web. 13 November 2013. . Koppel, Nathan. “Job-Discrimination Cases Tend To Fare Poorly in Federal Court.” Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, February 19, 2009. Web. 13 November 2013. . McDonald, R. Robin. “Federal Jury Awards Exel Employee $500,000 in Sex Discrimination Case .” Daily Report. The New York Times Company, June 11, 2013. Web. 13 November 2013. . McGeehan, Patrick. “Bank of America to Pay $39 Million in Gender Bias Case.” The New York Times. The New York Times Company, September 6, 2013. Web. 13 November 2013. . Moore, Stephen. “Stephen Moore: Obamas Economy Hits His Voters Hardest” Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, September 3, 2013. Web. 13 November 2013. . Moss, Jamie. “Eaton Corporation Gender Discrimination Matter.” Sanfordheisle. Sanfordheisle, April 5, 2011. Web. 13 November 2013. . Osawa, Juro. “Toshiba Accused of Gender Discrimination in U.S.” Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, February 1, 2011. Web. 13 November 2013. . Patrick, William. “Morgan Stanley Is Focus of Trial On Gender Bias.” Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, Web. 13 November 2013. . Shallwani, Pervaiz. “FDNY Will Pay $1 Million to Settle Gender-Discrimination Suit.” Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, June 14, 2013. Web. 13 November 2013. . The Editorial Board. “Toward Ending Workplace Discrimination.” The New York Times. The New York Times Company, November 4, 2013. Web. 13 November 2013. . Turner, Ilona. “Outback To Pay 19 Million For Sex Discrimination Case.” Todaysworkplace. The New York Times Company, January 12, 2010. Web. 13 November 2013. . Velez, Amy. “Novartis Pharmaceutical Gender Discrimination Class Action.” Sanfordheisler. 2012. 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