Gender Inequality in the Workplace Research Paper

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Gender Inequality in the Workplace

Families, societies, workplaces, moreover the whole world at large is bubbling with inequality. Color, religion, ethnicity, age, financial status and mostly gender are the basis of this biasness. Families do not mingle with people outside their own community, they do not consider cross marriages. Societies look down upon lower statuses and the elite have their noses held high in the air where no conscience can reach. Workplaces are also affected by the same factors. The entire concept of workforce diversity is base on minimizing the differences between castes, religions, age, color and gender.

However, the struggle to lessen this inequality shows only gradual enhancements (Cotter, Joan, Reese, 2000). Throwing light upon the most persistent factor of inequality we find that discrimination is done on the basis of gender everywhere. It is needless to say which gender has the upper hand. A very common and widely used phrase provides enough evidence to win the case that women are undervalued -- the male dominant world. How often do we hear this? In fact, how often do we use or reflect upon this small statement? Be it directly or in the offing, whether silently or rebelliously, we all accept it. In the deepest, darkest corner of our minds we all agree that somehow women are just not competent enough and workplaces are the most prominent markets where this phenomenon is visibly practiced.

Examples:

On all occasions, at all times, in all locations discrimination between genders has been and is still being practiced. Like stated above, this practice of undermining the abilities and efforts of different genders in different areas is most prominent in the labor workforce. Some of the most common examples that all of us are aware of and probably some of us are even going through are listed below. These highlight the gender inequality in workforces and how much it has affected the lives of all working ladies (Sen, 2001).

Higher education is denied to women even if they are given the privilege to study the lower grades of school. This gender bias seen in even the richest countries of the world. Due to this unfairness the women of a society have lesser chances of entering the workforce and work as equals with men. The chances of women working shoulder to shoulder with men are far less than thin (Bailey, 1992).

On the other hand men who work at educational institutes are often looked upon with curious eyes. The idea of male teacher -- specially at the primary level is still astonishing in some of the underdeveloped and developed countries.

Women who do get a chance to work alongside men, in offices or fields alike, are discriminated in terms of promotion and income. While men are appreciated for every single beneficial step, women will encounter such prize very occasionally or in a longer period of time. The salaries incurred by men are always higher than those earned by women and that too for the same post, same amount of work, and the same time consumed for the work (Bailey, 1992).

While men tend to get promotion at an earlier stage of their job, women at the same level have to wait for a longer period of time to get the same recognition and reward.

At workplaces -- mostly -- it is the female members of staff who are attacked with sexual harassment. Despite the gradual entrance of more and more women into the workforce, societies find it hard to accept this intervention of females into the male dominant society and thus women face the consequences. They are disrespected at some occasions. Most, almost all, cases of sexual harassment at workplaces have female victims (Friedman and Marshall, 2004). However, men are not exactly left to live a happy life at work. They have other pressures and tortures to deal with.

Another example of biasness at work: women often get the easy jobs. They have more chances of getting off early to pick up their children or something of the sort. While men are given a comparatively rough time at work. Along with the tougher tasks, men are to some extent deprived of this right.

Causes:

The reasons for underrating the participants of the workforce are uncountable and also undeniable. People step up in noticing and pointing out the drawbacks of workforces and majorly the discrimination on the basis of gender, but rarely does any of them stand up for the rights of people may they be men or women.

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They fail to voice their opinions and keep their silence as long as their expenses are provided for.

Education:

Education as we all know is the most important factor of a good life. Here I do not talk about wealthy or rich luxuries of the world to pamper someone. I only talk about education as being a means to an end. Quality education plays a vital role in creating awareness about the ways of the world and helps the young ones nurture their abilities in which they may add to the improvement of human life in their own small ways (Bailey, 1992).

This nurturing is not only essential for male students, but for female students as well as they form almost half of the world's population. Even if most of these women are in the end going to have the regular job of a mother and a wife, studies for them are essential. They need to be educated in order to give proper training to their children who in the long run will be the future entrepreneurs of the world.

According to surveys, female students tend to do better at schools and boys are considered more as the gender that increases the dropout rate. And yet it is very obvious that men dominate the workforce (Clarke, 2008).

Unfortunately, very few people understand this and even fewer act upon it and educate their daughters. Every day of our lives as students we see the discrimination between genders. I mean how many of us can deny that the first most unavoidable question in our minds on the first day of our new academic session is, how many girls are there in the class. Or how many male teachers do we have? Is this not discrimination? The obvious low number of girls in a classroom and the men in the staffroom is an example of how this gender gap prevails in the work environment.

The phrase "educate a woman, educate a nation" is scarcely followed, and even if it is being followed the progress is extremely gradual. This partiality at such an early stage of life adds to the limited amount of women workers in workplaces. Even those female students who do get the chance to acquire higher education are not allowed to join the labor force (Cotter, Joan, Reese, 2000).

Experience:

We have seen a lot of men at work and a lot of women at work too. But this "a lot of women" is only a fraction of "a lot of men." This difference in number is majorly because of lack of experience of practical life. Women obviously are not as experienced as the men around them. Men, unlike women, are encouraged to do part time jobs and therefore their job experiences tend to be more and diverse. The sudden entrance of women into the workforce causes employers to avoid hiring female staff or hire them at lower levels than offered to a man with same educational qualifications.

As employers are the basic route for entering an organization, the decision of the employers decides the future placing of all applicants. The female candidates run the risk of early elimination from the short list of prospective employees. This is because the stereotypical mentality of the employers tends to seek good education along with relevant experience. Women who rarely have experience let alone its relevance find it hard to penetrate the workforce and have their ideas heard (Cotter, Joan, Reese, 2000).

This sort of degradation leads to further inexperience of women and higher experience of men, which in turn is an obvious setback for educated women who keep facing difficulty in getting a job worth their educational qualification. Inexperience in relevant jobs and lower employment rates of women causes women to stay inexperienced in all sorts of ways other than facing rejection.

Family backgrounds:

Families matter a lot. They play the most vital role in shaping up a person's personality and in the long run his future. It is said that when a person leaves his home to find his own place in the world, his behavior and mannerism represent his family.

The family backgrounds in most of the third world countries, to some extent, believe that women should stay home and work for their husband and children. Moreover, if they enter the real job world they are expected to come back home and be active enough to serve the family without failing any of their demands. Inability to.....

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