Gender Bias in the Workplace: Challenges and Solutions
Can you say that you work in a gender-neutral workplace? Women are continuously being discriminated against in society in aspects regarding wage, position, attitude, trust, ability, and overall perception in political, athletic, corporate, and creative/ media jobs. Theme 'Gender Discrimination in Workplace Essay' is an ethical issue that deserves to be discussed as it is affecting the lives of women today. Studies have shown that women often surpass men in education and yet don’t get the jobs they should be getting with said education. Women are segregated based on what they can or cannot do. They are seen as incapable and not trustworthy to make big decisions hence why there is the such little ratio of women in politics compared to men. Such differences can also be seen in sports. For instance, female tennis players will make less than their male counterparts even if they win more games than them or are exposed to more spotlight than them. Women are also less likely to be hired or promoted for C-level jobs. In addition to that, women are also more prone to harassment in all work fields, especially in the career of media. They are heavily sexualized and made out to be emotionally fragile beings that cannot handle pressure. There are visible differences in perception regarding what it means to be a man and a woman and the consequences for it. The underrepresentation of women in male-dominated industries is leading what will be the future generation into a narrow way of thinking.
Why is the ratio of men vs women in the government so dissimilar? There has been a continued under-representation of women in the United States government. In 2010, the proportion of women in parliament was only 13%. Now, although the number has risen, the difference is not significant. The main reason for this is because of the stereotypical view of women not being able to handle powerful positions. There is this notion that women are too emotional and can’t handle being in too much pressure and because of it, they can’t be trusted to make important decisions for the country. In the recent presidential election, Hillary Clinton was one of the promising candidates. If one goes online to search about Clinton, they will come across hundreds of articles and news reports, all stating how Clinton will go berserk and begin wars with other nations when she’s elected and begins her period. This is an absolutely insulting comment that has been made by hundreds of people in the general public. During Clinton’s run for the presidency, she was belittled daily in the media for trying to obtain a powerful role. There are several news reports and interviews that make fun of her for trying to achieve something so impossible. Hillary Clinton is just one of many females in politics that have been ridiculed in the media. Women running for office are subject to many forms of harassment both sexual and threatening. “According to the same study of female parliamentarians, 45 percent of them had received threats of rape, beatings, death or abduction. Of the women surveyed, 41.8% reported facing ‘extremely humiliating or sexually charged images of themselves spread through social media’ ”. These individuals are subjected to threats of rape, violence, abduction, and even death. These types of behavior are never targeted towards the men in politics. Why is it only subjected towards women? Why is it so wrong for a female to get into politics? In an academic book by Florence E. Allen, it can be seen how women are constantly being asked what they have done for the country. Allen writes about the judgmental comments his friend made when the friend found out about Allen writing a book concerning women and their voice. The friend, who was the president of a distinguished university at the time stated that women haven’t done anything to help the nation. If such a knowledgeable person can disregard women’s achievements for the country than it is easier for common people to also do to. Women have greatly contributed to the success of this country but still aren’t given the credit for it but if such contributions were made by a man, hoards of people will rise and boast about the said accomplishments. The stereotyping of women isn’t the only form of inequality that is present in current society but there is also a big difference in how much a woman earns and how much a man earns. This is why in my opinion, the topic 'gender inequality in the workplace essay' is very relevant.
There is a big wage gap in sports. The gap persists between men and women who are in the same career and therefore should be earning similar amounts. The gender pay gap is defined as the average difference between men’s and women’s aggregate hourly earnings. The pay difference between men and women athletes is so great that many have even started to go public and voice out their stories about it to fight and eradicate inequality. There has even been a lawsuit filed by a women's soccer team regarding the apparent gender discrimination. This unfairness isn’t just present in soccer but also in all other sports like tennis, swimming, etc. Serena Williams, an infamous tennis player who has won countless matches and has been in the spotlight for many brand deals has addressed the issue of the wage gap many times and is fighting for equality. Serena Williams earns about $495,000 while Roger Federer, another fellow tennis player, earns about $731,000. Why is it that Federer is earning more than Williams when Williams has won more grand slams. Top female athletes earn only 59 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts and the average total is $63,031,000.00 for the top male players while it is $41,000,000.00 for the top female players. Women earn considerably less compared to men in all sports whether it be tennis, soccer, or swimming. Other than the wage, women are sometimes not even considered for opportunities and are instead always given low positions.
Corporate America is behind on making any progress to even out the ratio of male and female employees in offices. There is a lack of women representation in corporate jobs. Only 15%-16% of board seats in companies are given to women. Not only do women have a tough time getting a secured spot in companies but they also are never promoted to better positions. Women occupy the positions of secretary or receptionist or personal assistant but are rarely given the position of an actual business person. If one were to walk into the office of a company, it doesn’t have to be a known or big one, they will always see women in positions that require the office workers, always men, to boss them around. Why is it that women are never given any roles that come with leadership abilities. Without being given the chance to move onto a higher level, women are getting stuck in the corporate pipeline with no way of obtaining management roles, senior roles, or leadership roles. Women are being denied the opportunity to get promoted while men are given that same opportunity hundreds of times. How is that fair? Why can’t a man work as a secretary, as an assistant, and as a receptionist? Why is it always a woman? In addition to not being given the same momentum, women are also heavily sexualized and dehumanized.
The media has always been unfair to women. In the film and media industry, more than 50% of directors are men. Why is that? Why aren’t women given the chance to share their ideas in the movie world. There are many documentaries and commentary series that have been made addressing this issue. Female directors have reported many times of the struggle they go through to get budgets and movie deals. Research has shown that women have a very creative side to them and can contribute greatly to media. This outstanding potential in being hindered by the lack of resources and accessibility given by big production companies. Very few female directors have been able to break the barrier that was holding them back from big productions and budgets. Hollywood is run by men and those same men choose other men to win awards that are coincidentally also created by men. It is all a twisted cycle that has kicked out many female directors onto the curb. The movie-making industry is all a testosterone-filled world that has been belittling women for many years. It’s not that women aren’t capable of making notable films, just look at Brave, Hurt Locker Guilt Trip, and Cloud Atlas. I mean these are all award-winning movies so clearly, it's not because women don't have the vision to because clearly, they do. The only other reasonable option as to why there is such a lack of female directors is because they simply aren’t given the big budgets and appliances to work with. Besides the underrepresentation of women in the behind-the-scenes aspect of media, those who are actually on the scene and in front of the camera are portrayed very differently to men. There is a standard way of how women are shot for magazines and how men are. Pick up any magazine you see in a store and you can see how men are always in authoritative poses and are always wearing suits and such but women are always in bikinis or are clothed in provocative ways. Why are the men made out to look like leaders and businessmen while women are sexualized? This unjust treatment has been ongoing for many, many years. According to a Unicef article, by Jaimee Swift and Hannah Gould, “58 different magazines, 51.8 percent of advertisements that featured women portrayed them as sex objects. When women appeared in advertisements in men’s magazines, they were objectified 76 percent of the time”. This form of sexual objectification doesn’t happen to men though. In films, for example, the faces of men are always visible on the cover but will always only have a body part of women be on show. For instance, the movie covers of The Sitter, which has only the legs of a woman and the whole face and body of two men on the show, or Dirty Grandpa, which has the whole frame of Zac Efron of the show and only the lower half of a woman's body bent over a car on show, or even the movie Hot Tub which again, has only the lower half of a woman's body be on display. The fact that movies like such aren’t showing the woman’s faces and reducing them to certain body parts dehumanizes them while uplifting men and showing them as dominant by putting their whole selves on display. This sort of gender inequality is seen daily in the career field of media and filmmaking.
One can say that females now are getting the same opportunities as men and have come considerably far regarding equality. While that is true, women still have a long way to go before being considered truly equal to men. Women are still being ridiculed for trying to obtain things that are only supposed to be for men. The presidential situation of Hillary Clinton is just one example. The fact that she was harassed so much for trying to become president shows how backward the nation’s way of thinking still is. The fact that people judged her not based on her credibility but based on her gender is baffling to even think about. Little girls are being confined to what they can or cannot become. The careers and ambitions that these girls dream to pursue change into more refined and “normal” ones as they grow up. Their dreams of becoming president, CEO, leaders, government representatives and more diminish as they are faced with stereotypical ways of thinking. So no, society has not progressed beyond these conformities. In fact, we are still in it. The movies that we watch, and the magazines that we read all devalue what being a woman means while elevating what being a man means. The hypersexualization of females and how they are fragile things made for the consumption of those who are powerful or in other words, men, are messages that are sent daily to the public by the media. The theme of this essay on gender inequality in the workplace still needs a lot of work before it can be achieved.
Diversity in the workplace can do many wonders for a company. An even mix of genders will ensure a company or an organization has a wide talent pool and access to different perspectives. Even though this is proven, men and women still aren’t given the same opportunities to prove themselves. Politics, athletics, media, and the corporate world have an obvious bias towards men and therefore don’t treat women equally. The pay, attitude, trust, and actions towards women have great differences when compared to men in these career fields. Men have a higher privilege than women do and that has been persistent throughout history. The wage gap in sports, the harassment in politics, the sexualization in media, and the outright refusal of high corporate jobs are frankly unbelievable. How long will such disrespect go unchallenged for? How long until there is a real change? How long do women have to keep being less than men? How long will it be until women are seen as capable, smart, strong, leaders who have more to them than just their bodies? The topic of 'gender equality in the workplace essay' needs to change and it needs to happen now.
