Key Issues of Women at Work - Research Paper Example

? 05 December Human Resources: Key Women’s Issues Workplace in the contemporary age has diversified in all respects that include but are not limited to the culture, religion, ethnicity, and the gender of the workers. As a result of this, the challenges for human resources managers have increased manifolds. Women make a significant portion of the workforce in the present age. A considerable amount of challenges occur because of the issues of the women. Of the whole range of issues of women that they experience at the workplace, some of the issues that have been discussed in this paper include the need to strike a balance between the work and family, pregnancy, pay equity, discrimination, and glass ceiling. The needs and demands of the working women differ from those of the male workers because of such issues. The implication of these issues of the working women upon the managers is to make specific policies for them so that the individualistic and collective needs of the working women are addressed and their productivity is maximized. One of the most fundamental challenges faced by the working women is the need to strike a balance between the work life and the personal life. According to the gender-based roles and responsibilities assigned to the women by the society and the culture, women have the added responsibility of managing their homes. Traditionally, men are expected to be the bread-earners for the families whereas women are expected to manage the money and take care of the family and the home. However, in the present age, as the cost of living has increased, more and more women feel intrinsically motivated and obliged to work to help their husbands in earning money, but they face the challenge of achieving this without compromising upon their fundamental responsibility of managing their homes and looking after their families. As a result, women can only render their services at the workplace for a limited time. While managers may hold the male workers at the office beyond the regular working hours when the load of work is more, it is very difficult to motivate the women workers to stay on the job beyond the regular duty hours. In addition to that, not all women get the permission from their families in general and the husbands in particular after they get married. It so happens particularly in the conservative societies in which the society expects and obliges both men and women to consider their roles and responsibilities most important and superior to all other roles and responsibilities. In addition to these problems, the extreme sensitivity and delicacy of women is a negative factor as far as work is concerned. When something goes wrong at home, women workers remain preoccupied with the stress all day long which declines their efficiency and productivity in the workplace. It is hard for women workers to keep their personal life and work life separate. Likewise, when something bad happens at the workplace, e.g. insult from a senior or sexual harassment by a colleague, their personal life is also disturbed. In short, it is difficult for the women workers to balance their personal life and work life and the two also intertwine. While these problems overall declines the productivity of the women workers, they also make the women workers quite untrustworthy as they can break off any time. Women workers cannot be trusted to be permanent as they can leave the job at any time as a result of the pressure upon them by their families. Pregnancy is another big issue faced by the women workers as well as the managers. During pregnancy, women are recommended bed-rest and the pressure upon them by their families to leave work for the sake of work also increases. “In 2005, 4,449 pregnancy discrimination charges were filed with the commission or state and local employment agencies around the country. Half were related to unlawful dismissals either during a pregnancy or immediately after returning from maternity leave” (Paul). Pregnancy also declines women workers’ physical and mental efficiency. While women workers may be able to continue working with equal efficiency with pregnancy as they worked before, it becomes all the more difficult to do justice with their job in professions where the looks of the employees matter a lot. This is particularly the case with such professions as air-hostess, a nurse, a television show host or compare, or even a teacher. Even if it does not make any difference to the customers or audiences whether or not the woman worker is pregnant or not, the pregnant women workers internally feel this consciousness and guilt that they are not looking the way they should be, and this psychological distress has a negative effect on their efficiency in work. Particularly, it becomes very difficult for a pregnant woman worker to control her emotions and continue doing work with the same high spirit when someone passes a remark that she deems offensive or critical even if the other person did not mean to be offensive. The delicate and sensitive nature of the women workers increases their complications during pregnancy and its effects reflect in their reduced efficiency in work. So even if they are not willing to leave the work, managers do need to consider the effects of pregnancy on their work. Women have conventionally been subjected to discrimination at the workplace particularly when it comes to compensation. Men generally get higher pays than women do. In the year 2011, the wage gap between men and women remained unchanged. “Women's earnings were 77.0 percent of men's in 2011, compared to 77.4 percent in 2010, according to Census statistics released September 12, 2012 based on the median earnings of all full-time, year-round workers. Men's earning in 2011 were $48,202 and women's were $37,118, a difference of $11,084” (“Next Equal Pay”). This is quite unfair since women are expected to display the same productivity as men at the workplace and yet they are compensated lesser than men. Many working women are distressed because of the discrimination they face at the workplace. They think that they are putting in too much effort whereas the chances for progress in work are very less, if any. As a result of these feelings, women workers tend to exert lesser which in turn reduces their productivity. This is not only very demotivational for the women workers but also quite challenging for the human resources managers primarily because the decisions regarding compensation in many organizations are made by the senior management. Women workers have limited room for growth no matter how hard they work. Even the women who are unmarried and can completely devote themselves to their work cannot progress beyond a certain level in their careers. “Only four out of 87 chief executives appointed by Britain's 100 biggest firms in past two years were female” (Brown). This is another form of discrimination that the women workers face. This discrimination exists primarily because like all systems of the society, the work is also controlled and led by the men. Irrespective of how advanced or developed a certain culture is, men still maintain a certain level of domination in all areas over the women and workplace is no exception. Two workers, of which one is man and the other is a woman, that are equally qualified for a higher position have unequal access to it, and the man is preferred over the woman. Again, this is demotivational for the woman worker as well as very challenging for the human resources managers since the top management expects the human resources managers to keep the workforce motivated without giving them the authority to make such important decisions as deciding who would be promoted in the organization. Concluding, challenges in front of the working women are quite different and generally more as compared to the challenges faced by the male workers. Out of the numerous challenges that the women workers normally face in the workplace, some that have been discussed in this paper include difficulty to balance the personal life with the work life, pregnancy and its complications, discrimination in the workplace, and glass ceiling. The challenges of women workers are as complicated for the human resource managers to deal with as they are for the working women. While the solution to some of these challenges like the pay equity and glass ceiling might be in the hands of the human resources managers, other major issues like the workers’ need to strike a balance between work and family, and the complexities of pregnancy are beyond the control of the human resource managers. This imparts the need for the senior management to devise laws specifically for the women workers that provide them with the flexibility as well as the emotional and psychological support that they need in order to optimize on their potential to do work. If provided with the required support, managers can enhance the efficiency and productivity of the women workers manifolds and can also give them a fulfilling experience at the workplace. Works Cited: Brown, Larisa. “The new glass ceiling: How top companies are still keeping women out of the most senior positions.” Mail Online. 28 Aug. 2012. Web. 5 Dec. 2012. . “Next Equal Pay Day.” 15 Nov. 2012. Web. 5 Dec. 2012. . Paul, Anju M. “Pregnancy Remains Heavy Load for Working Women.” 21 Feb. 2006. Web. 5 Dec. 2012. . Read More