The Economics of Women Discrimination in the Workplace - Term Paper Example

The Economics of Women Discrimination in the Workplace Introduction Discrimination, as applied in the workplace, is generally connoted as bias or prejudice against or in favor of one party on the bases of prejudgment (A. Nelson and W. Nelson 447), which commonly is stereotype casting. One example of which is that women are weaker than men, as evidenced in work segregation where men are grouped in heavy high value-added industries, while women are grouped in light low-value added industries. The Equal Employment Opportunities Act defines discrimination in the workplace as direct and indirect. Direct discrimination refers to employment practices by which different or unfair terms and conditions of employment based on sex, marriage, status, pregnancy or maternity are offered without any just cause; while indirect discrimination refers to any unfair situations putting a particular sex at significant disadvantage or advantage position making hiring or employment harder or difficult respectively for the disfavored or favored sex; such exists not necessitating just cause. (section 2, clause 1, qtd. in Lee 154) The old problem of discrimination against women in the workplace persists until today despite international laws eliminating all forms of discrimination against women and country legislations requiring equal work and equal pay regardless of sex, race, religion, and ethnicity. For example, the Equal Pay Act (EPA) mandates equal payment for both men and women workers on jobs of substantial equal content (qtd. in A. Nelson and W. Nelson 447). Discrimination of women in the workplace takes varied forms: Wage gap, segregation and the glass ceiling (UNIFEM 19). The reason for this is differently viewed by analysts to either cause by career choice or simple discrimination (Hirsh G1). This persisting discrimination against women in the workplace is further worsened by racial discrimination, which is aggravated by cultural issues. For example a survey among 219 American Muslim women, also called Jihabs, seeking employment reveals that those of them wearing headscarves are stigmatized especially after the 9/11 attack in New York City and face workplace discrimination in the US. Among the reasons cited for not hiring Jihabs are job requirements that collide with Muslim practices, for example jobs requiring high public contact like food server, sales person, and the like. (Ghumman 1) Discrimination against women in the workplace is not only a socio-political issue but an economic issue, too. Its economic implications are in fact, too broad, as it affects almost all aspects of economic life and ultimately, the national economy. Women Discrimination in the Workplace 1. Forms a. Wage gap Average wage or salary includes only ‘basic wages and salaries, cost-of-living allowances and other guaranteed and regularly paid allowances’ as compensation for normal time of work (ILO, qtd. in Robinson 10). While, wage based discrimination occurs when work of equal and comparable value is paid differently. One typical example of which is the repeated lifting of heavy loads, which when done in domestic setting by domestic helpers, such as, women lifting children, household equipments, or large kettles with food, is paid poorly, but when done in industrial setting, such as men lifting machine parts, is paid well. (UNIFEM 20) And “gender wage gap refers to the difference between the wages earned by women and by men” (Ghailani 119). The persistence of wage gap is recognized by experts, as the US Census wage-gap study in comparing 1999 median salaries show higher earnings of male over female workers: $110,000 for male dentists as against $68,000 for female dentists; $70,000 for male pharmacists as against $63,000 for female pharmacists; $17,000 for male cooks as against $15,000 for female cooks (Hirsh G1). Disparity in wage between men and women could be due to certain practices or elements in payment system, for example paid allowances may increase men’s earnings over women. Like for instance, in the case of both spouses employed, payment of a child allowance may only be paid to the man with the man as the recognized primary family provider. This practice increases men’s measured earnings over women. The payment basis may also result to differences in earnings favourable to men. For example, since most commonly, men work longer hours on average than women; this gives men higher average weekly/monthly average earnings than women, even if they are equally paid hourly. This condition is further aggravated by the fact that part-time work is typically paid at lower hourly rates to which most women fall into due to domestic necessities (Robinson 6) like child rearing. Data from the Institute of Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) shows that “the gender wage gap for full-time year-round workers is now 22.9 percent” (1). Other factors affecting gender wage gap disfavoring women are occupational factors. For example, findings of the most recent detailed longitudinal study showed that in “the late 1980s about one-third of the gender pay gap was explained by differences in the skills and experience that women bring to the labor market and about 28 percent was due to differences in industry, occupation, and union status among men and women” (Blau and Kahn, qtd. in The Council of Economic Advisers 1). Structural changes in the economy, for example, changes in technology and production methods, and changes in world trade, also contributes to gender wage gap. (Robinson 6). b. Segregation Gender segregation in the workplace occurs when works are organized based on sex. Typically the patterns of segregation reflect stereotyped ideas about men and women’s roles, strengths, and weaknesses, which also correspond to differences in payment. Thus “segregation within occupations, result in task differentiation between men and women” (Ennals 154). For example, women are commonly employed in domesticated works like childcare, education, health care, and personal and household services, which remuneration is significantly lower than those works predominated by men, for example in construction, utilities, transport and communications. Such results to gender wage gap. (UNIFEM 20) Furthermore, female-dominated jobs when compared with male-dominated jobs are found to offer limited opportunities for organizational promotion (Baron, Davis-Blake, and Bielby, qtd. in A. Nelson and W. Nelson 447), instead, these are more prone to repeated unemployment, as these works are not that stable unlike in industries predominated by men (Reskin and Hartman, qtd. in A. Nelson and W. Nelson 447). Gender segregation in the workplace is done in three ways: (1) norms relegating sexes to separate sphere, for example – women are relegated to the home and men to the public sector; (2) many highly paid works are in exclusively one sex settings, for example most heavy industries such as steel, metal and mining, oil, and the like are dominated by men; and (3) functional separation, wherein labor is divided based on sex, for example, notably in hospitals lower positions such as nurses, technicians, clerical workers, and food service workers are overwhelmingly female, while higher positions like doctors, administrators, and orderlies are predominantly male. (Reskin 2) c. Glass Ceiling Glass ceiling, coined in a March 1986 Wall Street Journal article (qtd. in Albelda and Tilly 40) is commonly an unwritten and unofficial policy in workplaces, referring to the unseen barriers that block qualified employee’s advancement in the organizational ladder. Such practice covertly violates equal employment opportunity against women, blacks, ethnics, deaf, blind, disabled and aged. (Hesse-Biber and Carter 77-78) For example, since the move to encourage diversity in workplace is relatively a new phenomenon, during economic downturns, the first to be hit by downsizing are women, blacks, migrant workers, and others, as they have the least years of tenure (Walker 1). In its October 2001 issue, Fortune magazine reported that among the top 500 companies noted, only six has women CEOs (qtd. in Albelda and Tilly 40).   In the traditionally male-dominated workplaces such as the military, glass ceiling is termed as ‘brass ceiling’, with brass denoting decision-makers, who incidentally are men, at the top of the organization. This refers to the difficulties women are made to endure if they attempt to rise up in the ranks. The most common barrier to women’s rise in the military ladder is their family responsibilities, as corporate culture did only change a little. Job performances remain to be evaluated on the same standard traditionally used for men. In fact, men’s family responsibility is too different from women. As such, the Pentagon confirms that the most likely to reach top positions in the military are married men and unmarried women. (qtd. in Albelda and Tilly 41) On the other hand ‘bamboo ceiling’ refers to the exclusion of Asian-Americans from executive and managerial roles simply on subjective bases. The Asian culture of community service and respect for authority is misunderstood for aloofness, arrogance, and inattentiveness, which when evaluated as to top positions are misjudged as the lack of leadership potential and inferiority to communicate well (Fisher, par. 3). While ‘concrete ceiling’ refers to the solid and unyielding barriers confronting minority women in advancing within their occupation, as they face both issues of sexism and racial discrimination (Hesse-Biber and Carter 209). Walker reported that skilled and educated women and minorities do not only find a job doubly harder than their white-male counterparts but do endure high degree of sex and racial discrimination once they are hired (par. 2). 2. Causes The economic differences between men and women in the workplace are differently viewed by analysts as caused either by career choice or simple discrimination (Hirsh G1). For example, research shows date where women get less paid employment due to their own choice: female respondents are more inclined to specialize in the fields of education and social science (22.6% women vs 9.2% men) – fields that are typically less paid; more handsomely paid fields such as engineering and computer sciences are chosen by males (11. 3% men vs 3.2% women) (Hennessey, par. 7). However, Catalyst – a research and advisory organization working with businesses and professionals to equalize opportunities for women in the business field– argued that women are in fact similarly ambitious as men, citing its research finding that: “Women want—and expect—to achieve career success. Women in business have the negotiating skills equal to men and they have the ambition for success and the expectation for comparable pay.” (Hennessey, par. 12) Such finding is supported by a study among Canadian women-owned firms which “findings challenge the stereotypical profile of women-owned firms as being under-resourced, subsistence/micro-enterprises with modest growth expectations” (Orser, Riding, and Townsend 170). Rooting it out, gender differences in socio-economic status could be seen as a result of the traditional gender division of labor: Men do the paid work to provide for their family’s subsistence, while women do the unpaid work of child rearing and family care. This does not only impact on men and women’s earnings but in their subsistence up to old age. (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe 2) 3. Economic Implications The massive entry of women in the workforce is considered as one of the most important economic and social development of the century, as this has dramatically changed (1) the family – for example, family’s today accepts the second shift; (2) the workplace – for example, family-friendly policies are recognized to increase workers productivity and improved performance; and (3) the economy – its dramatic impact on the GDP, with women productively contributing to the production (Lewis & Peterson 67). This confirms Zoellick statement that “gender equality is also smart economics” (qtd. in Buffard A18). Many studies further confirm this, citing productivity by women: Women are more likely to positively impact family welfare, nutrition and girls' education (Ellis, qtd. in Buffard A18); women can also excel in agriculture – “Rural women are responsible for half of the world's food production, and in developing countries, they produce 60 percent to 80 percent of the food” (International Center for Research on Women, qtd. in Buffard A18). As Cari M. Dominguez, EEOC Chair, said: “As never before, America’s economic prosperity is dependent on our ability to compete in the global marketplace. Maintaining a competitive edge depends on the full use of our nation’s talented workers regardless of their race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, age or disability” (Taborn 33) As the famous Chinese saying goes, “If you want to plant for a year plant wheat, if you wish to plan for ten years grow trees but if you want to plan for 100 years empower women” (Bhagwan and Goyal 860). This only means that achieving genuine gender equality in the workplace is more beneficial to society than not. Conclusion The consciousness to achieve gender equality in the workplace has attained significant development in terms of reach. However, there is much more to improve as women discrimination is still prevalent more in covert form in the form of wage gap, segregation and glass ceiling. This only means that present country legislations do not sufficiently address issues that hinder gender equality in the workplace. In fact having two opposing views, such as career choice and simple discrimination as reasons for women’s low income compared with men, imply society’s superficial regard of gender equality in the workplace. Though it is true that some studies show that career choice determines gender differences in the workplace, these do not supersede simple discrimination, as this is still imbedded in most corporate organizations in various forms, most commonly in pay system. Considering the almost unchanged standards by which work performance is measured – until today highly compensated works are evaluated based on the traditional man-based standards – already spells out an inherent problem resulting to gender discrimination in the workplace. This only means that women has to cope with men while still shouldering their traditional domestic role of child-rearing and family care; whereas men having used to their own work standard do not need to cope and yet are not required to take domestic responsibility. This discriminating practice is furthered by racial factors which also results to cultural factors. The emancipation of women has proven fruitful to society, even under discriminating practices, that achieving genuine gender equality should be worked at. However, such change necessitates not only policy change but in fact culture-change, as society’s consciousness determines its practice. Works Cited Albelda, Randy and Tilly, Chris. “Glass Ceiling,” in Weatherford, Doris, ed. Women’s Almanac 2002, New York, NY: The Moschovitis Group, 2002, pp. 40-41. Bhagwan, Vishnu and Goyal, Shikha. “Empowering women: Dream of equality – materialising in reality,” Pratiyogita Darpan, November 2009, pp. 860-862. Buffard, Anne-Laure. “Women Lead the Way; Female Entrepreneurs Use Microfinance Wisely,” The Washington Times, November 20, 2008, p. A18. Ennals, Richard, ed. Work life 2000 yearbook 3, Volume 3. Great Britain: Swedish National Institute for Working Life, 2001. Fisher, Anne. “Piercing the ‘bamboo ceiling’,” CNNMoney.com, August 8, 2005. 26 October 2010 Ghailani, Dalila. “Gender wage gap as a tension between quality and quantity of jobs in the European labour market,” in Guillén, Ana M. and Svenn-Åge Dahl, eds. Quality of work in the European Union: Concept, data and debates from as transnational perspective, Germany: Peter Lang, 2009, pp. 117-140. Ghumman, Sonia. “Muslim women who wear headscarves face workplace discrimination in US: Study,” Physorg.com News, September 28, 2010, p. 1. 26 October 2010 . Hennessey, Sara. “Grads still see a gender-based pay gap,” Business Week, June 29, 2008. 26 October 2010 http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/jun2008/bs20080629_410881.htm Hesse-Biber, Sharlene N. and Carter , Gregg L. Working Women in America, New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2005. Hirsh, Stacey. “Gender-based wage gap is real – but why?; analysts are divided over whether the pay inequality is caused by career choices or simple discrimination,” The Baltimore Sun, July 14, 2004, p. G1 Institute for Women’s Policy Research. “The gender wage gap: 2009,” Fact Sheet, September 2010, pp. 1-4. Lee, Sung-Wook. “The definition of discrimination,” In Blanpain, Roger, Hiroya Nakakubo, Takashi Araki, and Catherine Barnard (eds.), New developments in employment discrimination law, The Netherlands: Kluwer Law International, 2008, pp. 154-155. Lewis, Margaret and Peterson, Janice. “Chapter 5: The labor supply decision-differences between genders and races.” In Bartlett, Robin L., ed. Introducing race and gender into economics, London: Routledge, 1997, pp. 67-88. Nelson, Anne and Nelson, William H.M. “Information Dependency Theory: Furthering the Understanding of a Manager's Predilection to Use Gender as a Basis for Pay and Organization Hierarchical Level Decisions,” International Journal of Public Administration, 2001, pp. 447. Orser, Barbara, Riding, Allan, and Townsend, JoAnna. “Exporting as a means of growth for women-owned Canadian SMEs,” Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Summer 2004, pp. 153-176. Reskin, Barabara F. “Executive Summary,” In Sex Segregation in the Workplace: Trends, Explanations, Remedies, National Academy of Sciences: National Academies Press, 1984. Robinson, Derek. “Differences in Occupational Earnings by Sex,” International Labour Review, 1998, pp. 3-10. Taborn, Tyrone D. “What’s important to professional women of color?” Women of Color, November/December 2005, pp. 33-39. The Council of Economic Advisers. Explaining Trends in the Gender Wage Gap, June 1998. 26 October 2010 < http://clinton4.nara.gov/WH/EOP/CEA/html/gendergap.html>. United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). “Gender equality, work and old age,” Policy Brief No. 2, November 2009, p. 1-12. UNIFEM. “Labour Market Discrimination Against Women – at Home and Abroad.” A UNIFEM Briefing Paper. 26 October 2010 . Walker, Devona. “Has the Obama backlash fueled more workplace discrimination?” TheLoop21.com, June 10, 2010, pp. 1-4. 26 October 2010 Read More