Gender Inequality in the Workforce on Hourly Wages or Salary - Report Example

Gender Inequality in the Workforce on Hourly Wages or Salary Introduction The aspect of gender inequality in the workforce in terms of hourly wage orsalary can also be described as ‘gender pay gap’. The gender inequality or ‘gender pay gap’ measures the differentiation in the incomes between women as well as men participating in the labor market in terms of paid employment. This particular facet is one of the crucial indicators of gender unfairness or inequality of a country while evaluating the market participation of labor in terms of gender. The important aspect of gender inequality in the workforce in terms of hourly wage or salary can be observed in different countries throughout the world (Chant, 2010). In the paper, all sides of the social grounds regarding the issue of gender inequality in the workforce on the basis of hourly wage or salary will be taken into concern. Various aspects such as the diverse reasons, problems and appropriate solutions that result from the issue of gender inequality will be portrayed in this discussion. Various Social Factors Regarding the Issue of Gender Inequality in the Workforce The various factors such as communication, gender and education can be regarded as few of the social sides towards understanding the issue of gender inequality in the workplace on the basis of hourly wages or salary. From the viewpoint of the social factor of communication, there lies much difference in the communication style towards the women and the men (Jacobs, 1996). In this connection, the style of communication towards women is fundamentally based upon maintaining social connection and the general conversations towards men depict the communication style of high status and greater authority. The communication style of the women possesses the tendency to be very much open and more communally supportive as compared with men. These specialized distinctions particularly in the field of communication style towards women and men eventually generate one of the social factors towards generating the issue of gender inequality in the workforce (Jacobs, 1996). In terms of the social factor of gender and education, there lies significant impact upon the gender inequality in the workforce. The aspect of gender generally helps to respond towards communal change and differs from one community to the other by considering the different facets of social classes, cultural and ethnic workgroups. Moreover, the issue of gender is very much dynamic and is greatly influenced by class, culture, geographic location and community (Jacobs, 1996). The aspect of education also holds significant impact upon the issue of gender disparity in the working place. The gender inequality in terms of education is the difference between the education level possessing both by the women and the men. The more the level of education, the more is the income and vice-versa. In the early days, men possessed greater education level as compared with women and thus major difference was observed that resulted in the gender inequality in the workforce on hourly wages or salary (Jacobs, 1996). Various Causes of the Gender Inequality in the Workforce on Hourly Wages or Salary There lie numerous reasons for gender inequality in the workforce on hourly wages or salary. The factor of direct gender discrimination and occupational segregation are the major reasons for gender inequality in the workforce. The aspect of direct discrimination generally happens at the time when the working people possess the similar extent of educational attainment and work experiences are dissimilarly treated due to their gender (Chaudhry & Rahman, 2009). In this regard, the aspect of occupational segregation which is based upon gender is considered as the other reason for creating gender disparity in the working place. It has been observed that there are certain areas where the women are employed in large majority such as in the occupation of teachers, nurses and secretaries among others. These specialized occupational areas are generally regarded as weakly paid areas, which ultimately increases the gender inequality in the workforce on hourly wage or salary (Chaudhry & Rahman, 2009). Moreover, certain other causes were also responsible for gender inequality apart from the aspect of occupational segregation and gender discrimination. The reason of gender biasness transpires from parenthood especially from the viewpoint of the women that possess significant impact upon their income growth along with their promotional aspect. This is due to the fact that the women usually work part-time rather than operating full- time because they have to look upon their children and family as well (Chaudhry & Rahman, 2009). These particular women working part-time are offered with low amount of wages or salary as compared with the men workers. As a result, the difference in the financial structure in terms of monetary basis ultimately raises the gender disparity in the working place between both the genders on hourly wage or salary (Chaudhry & Rahman, 2009). Solutions towards the Problem of Gender Inequality in the Workplace The aspect of gender equality can be a major solution towards the problem of gender inequality in the workplace on hourly wage or salary. The idea of gender equality is considered as the parity between both the genders which is viewed as providing fundamental value for the community. The community should execute the policy of gender equality in order to solve the crucial problem of gender inequality that takes place in the workforce (Forbes.com LLC, 2012). In order to control the problem or issue of gender inequality in the workforce on hourly wage or salary, the sociologists should introduce several approaches in order to promote gender equality which is regarded as one of the effective solutions to the difficulty of gender disparity. The approaches should be made in such a way so that it would directly relate with few of the policy procedures that include design, supervision and assessment with a vision to encourage parity between both the genders (Forbes.com LLC, 2012). Moreover, the sociologists should follow a “Roadmap” to cope up with the difficulty of gender disparity. The “Roadmap” is essentially a guideline that mainly aims to tackle various numbers of inequalities that include the distinction in financial reliance for women and men and most importantly the ‘gender pay gap’ (Forbes.com LLC, 2012). In addition, the sociologists can introduce certain approaches that would ensure the introduction of structural alterations within the society by pursuing gender equality along with making sure that both men and women are financially active that would ultimately boost them towards financial growth. The approach also counts the gender balances regarding their decision making procedures in order to generate better and enhanced circumstances for promoting the aspect of parity to both the genders (Long, 2011). Thus, it can be stated that the sociologists should introduce above mentioned guiding approaches in order to alleviate the issue or problem of gender inequality. Collectively, the aim of the sociologists would be to emphasize more upon the full employment, quality and productivity related to work and most importantly the working life equilibrium between both the genders that might diminish the problem of gender inequality by a considerable level. In order to understand the issue of gender inequality, various theories were taken into consideration. Among the various theories, one of the theories i.e. materialist theory explained gender inequality as a result regarding how both the genders are attached together in a financial structure of society. The materialist theory also stated that the main reasons behind gender inequality are lower level of education possessed by women as compared with men and also the fact that women are often engaged with lower-paying occupation due to their various sorts of responsibilities (Long, 2011). Conclusion The aspect of gender inequality poses severe affect upon the financial performance of a particular country. There are various social factors such as education, communication and gender that are related with the aspect of gender inequality that occurs in the working place. It has been recognized that there lie several underlying causes towards the issue or problem of gender inequality and the major solution would be to encourage gender parity in order to cope up with the severe issue. In order to respond towards the issue of gender inequality, certain approaches need to be followed by the sociologists that could diminish the important issue of gender inequality by a certain level. References Chant, S. (2010). The international handbook of gender and poverty: concepts, research, policy. UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. Chaudhry, I. S., & Rahman, S. U. (2009). The impact of gender inequality in education on rural poverty in Pakistan: An empirical analysis. European Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Sciences, (15), pp.174-188. Forbes.com LLC. (2012). A solution for a struggling global economy: gender equality. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeswomanfiles/2011/10/14/a-solution-for-a-struggling-global-economy-gender-equality/ Jacobs, J. A. (1996). Gender inequality and higher education. Annu. Rev. Socio., Vol. 22, pp.153-185. Long, R. (2011). Social problems. Retrieved from http://dmc122011.delmar.edu/socsci/rlong/problems/chap-09.htm Read More