Introduction
Workplace inequality is the unfair payment practices against gender, race disability, and nationality. Inequality issues have remained unresolved in many ways in most workplaces. These are brought by the unfair treatment of employees within the same company, same qualification, and same rank whereby one sex is favored over the other. Many people suppose that men get extra special treatment than their female counterparts where employers also tend to pay much attention to them (Klein, 6).
They end up benefiting from their employers than their female counterparts. Many employers consider that male employees have more intellectual abilities than female counterparts. Men are seen to be more disciplined and competent than women. But most recent research shows that women are doing better than men.
Main body
There are some issues that cause inequities in Workplaces. One of the reasons is gender stereotypes. There are some behaviors that are meant for either a man or a woman. Men are believed to be aggressive and the employers feel that this kind of behavior seen in them is needed in the success of the business. Women on the other hand are believed to be passive where less participation in most activities of the business is expected of them.
Sometimes employers are not aware of bias issues that go on in the Workplace though they are the ones mostly blamed for the gender gap or inequality. These gender gaps have some impacts on both sexes. They make women feel inferior in Workplaces in that they sometimes refrain from asking questions or taking up some roles. This results being in remunerated in an inequity manner or remaining in the lower ranks in particular jobs or companies. On the other hand, men take risks and questions authorities of management in some issues making them being well remunerated.
Employers have a big role to play in order to eliminate bias in workplaces. Employers should engage employers in reading articles that are open to both male’s and females inequalities. Employers should always be keen especially when grouping hiring, promoting, designing remuneration, and motivating employees for a company where both sexes should mix… During induction, employers should ensure that appropriate guidance is given.
Gender-free language should be practiced in workplaces (Klein, 9). Always men and women should be treated equally even when it comes to breaking company policies and regulations. It is important for employers to encourage teamwork, especially for women. Employers should try their best to make sure that female employees s reach their potentials.
Members of society too, have a role to play in gender equity both in Workplace and at home. They can improve their employees’ performance in Workplace, especially in technology. They can also be among the technology committee or other activities performed in Workplace especially those that encourage both gender participation. This may also play a major role in ending gender inequities in Workplace.
Women who were associated with a clear consciousness of being female express a greater liking for the less technical while those who were associated with the male category did not connect with the less technical and went for technical and senior jobs. The women’s attitudes are based on their preferences and not influenced by other people’s choices.
Murphy. M.C., Steele C.M., and James J. Gross J.J.(6) in their article they argue that the influence of the social category has not been established and is not are not easier to pinpoint the extent to which women’s attitude could change in a stereotypical way using the stereotype category. They further argue that it is clear that the changes in attitude among women are due to the stereotype reasoning about women’s ability in relation to men’s ability or a combination of both.
Guimond S. and Lydie Roussel L.(2001) have added that based on gender identity establishment it can equally affect women’s attitude towards something: women who are made aware of their identity preferred less tedious jobs are poorly paying while the other ones associated with male gender went for positions that have less inequality. Their choices were based on their own personal perceptions without an outward influence from other people who had similar perceptions to theirs. Another study was done by measuring the women’s hidden attitude towards something after reminding them of their gender identity or neutral identity. The results still showed that women’s attitude towards business was more stereotype- consistent when they were associated with the category female or the gender identity.
Fengfeng K. and Grabowski B. (2007) and McIntyre R.B., Paulson R.M and Lord C. G.; (2003) argue that social category primes affect the attitude of the stereotype group members. It happened every time the women were reminded of their gender category or identity. It showed that the manipulation not only influenced women’s obvious attitudes but also affected their hidden evaluating way of thinking towards these areas. The change in the researcher’s work brought out the self-concept as one of the factors that evolved the women’s way of self-perception and led the participants to express more stereotype kind of ideas both obvious and hidden.
McIntyre R.B., Paulson R.M, and Lord C. G.; (2003) have argued that independent of whether the women had a conscious awareness or not the prime affected the women’s personal views and not views from the angle of other peoples attitude, gave support for this possibility as does the discovery that women’s attitude when reminded about their gender, came up. Never the less this research does not rule out more motivated social cognitive processes for instance the activation of interpersonal goals or self-presentational concerns. When gender was used to group the participants together the women easily adjusted their attitude to go in line with the gender-favored environment.
The fact that the researcher grouped women using this kind of gender prime does not change the concept that the open and hidden attitude of women, neither their perceptions as it was only for a short period of time and it can only be attached to the possibility of cultural influence that created the stereotype and it can affect one permanently (Bonnot V. and Croizet J.C.;2007).
Kiefer A.K. and Sekaquaptewa D. (2007) puts it that the implicit and explicit attitudes which influence women to decide what is their preference between these two is becoming like a norm where they are all going for the low paying jobs leaving the others for the men. Even the era of gender equality has not done much change to this topic in relation to the society and the women’s nature that has a lot of ambitions is yet to set off to take the men jobs domain away from men. Partially to blame are the traditions that have it, the women’s abilities and man’s abilities or both of them. The women’s ability is taken to be of a lower capacity to take on a hard task while the men have a higher intellectual capacity to take some jobs. When the two of them are put together the old line comes up; gender stereotype leading to inequality.
Cultural diversity has been argued as one of the factors working against inequality in Workplaces. Diversity in the Workplace is related to various factors such as age, gender, language, and ethnicity. People having different skills, qualities, attitudes to work are working together in a Workplace and the increasing level of cultural diversity at the workplace, in the era of the global economy, must be explored as a quality associated with diverse skills and unique expertise. The diverse talents of individuals must be respected and by giving due regard and respect the Workplace diversity can be utilized for the benefit of the organization.
In doing so the prejudices and stereotyping are required to be avoided. A good working relationship between people from diverse cultural backgrounds is required to be encouraged. Appropriate steps are required to be taken for reducing Workplace stress and also for maintaining a healthy and strong interpersonal relationship at the Workplace. (Workplace Diversity Plan, aat.gov.au).
Another factor that argues for is communication. Human society is characterized by the major parameters of culture, race, and ethnicity and women face the alteration of these parameters during the journey of life while moving through childhood, education, marriage, and the parent-child relationship. Communication is the only way to express the feelings they undergo during these alterations.
Effective communication will be helpful in building trust and at the same time, it is a challenging task in a situation of fighting inequality. It is because of the fact that even the concept of trust is interpreted in different ways in different groups, culture and therefore trust is built in different ways. In the case of managing cultural differences, one must be aware of the meaning of simple gestures and body language in the concerned culture. The awareness of cultural differences, as well as cultural similarities, will be helpful in effectively communicating with others. Instead of trying to diminish the opposite forces, it is better to leverage the opposite forces, for gaining strategic advantage in the context of the diversified corporate culture.
The typical American Workplace is as diverse as anything can get, on all facets, virtually. Workplaces are comprised of European Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and African Americans. This does not stop at race or ethnicity, however, that diversity triggers even more “sub-diversities,” such as attitude, religion, socioeconomic, behavioral factors, and even in points of view. These groups are remunerated according to their origin creating inequalities that affect the business.
It is almost as if the American Workplace nowadays is a forum of the employee since almost everyone is not only entitled to speak out their thoughts and sentiments. American employees are urged to speak out their thoughts due to the fact that exchanging ideas is very common. For in the American employer, interactions like that denote the capacity or incapacity of an employee to declare his or her identity; opinion is the most prevalent thing personally possessed by individual employees.
This at times leads to inequality as the group may be favored as compared with the other group in terms of ethnicity. Americans may be diverse in about almost anything, but opinion and opinionating comprise the common ground they stand on. At this point, it is obvious that the American Workplace is the embodiment, the melting point of all cultures and aspirations. However, all these possess embedded subfactors and social constructs especially inequality in wages.
On the other hand, it is inevitable that behaviors of employees inside the American Workplace in a way depend on their race or ethnicity, which does not make it a very neutral place of working and social interaction. This is due to the fact race is a social construct, everybody expects different things from different races. One example emphasized in studies is the higher depression rate among Asian American employees, particularly the Chinese, compared to other ethnic groups.
This is one of the things I would change in the Workplace because scholars up until now argue whether this is the implication of the remuneration of the employees. This insinuates that they are more inclined towards avoidance of future maladies, and thus they always tend to play their affairs safe. The study added that Asian Americans also are more prone to health problems as aftereffects of their depression and pessimism, not to mention persistent recurrences of inferiority complex I Workplaces.
America is the melting pot of the whole world, the New World, seen by the rest of the world as the land of opportunity, the land of the free, the green pastures, and the crossroads where virtually all nationalities and races meet.
This problem would not have aroused studies and researches a few centuries ago. This study would not have been conducted in other countries because almost all the world’s countries and their people possess unifying attributes that make them distinct and unmistakable for any other nationality, race, culture, and language. Only America possesses the probability of encountering this problem because of countless causes – immigration, preservation of heritage of immigrants, racial and ethnic differences, and cultural differences to name a few. The new immigrants go to market and they accept lower pay thus creating inequality.
The government responded by requiring the employers to avoid discrimination while employing. the state has required the employers to know and understand that discriminating someone because of some they are different or same gender is a low thing to do and practice because you injure the person i.e. his/her spirit, self –esteem. They have are certain ways, that inequality can be reduced and prevented, and they include:-
Education
Through this people learn how to deal with and care for people. Society creates an equal forum and atmosphere for women to compete with them. Continuous campaigns created awareness of discrimination and sensitize the community on how to deal with discrimination.
Acts
Different acts have been made into law, to deal with discrimination at e.g. Workplaces e.g. Sex and disability discrimination act. This has helped quite a deal so that any employer who violates this is eligible for a suit.
Use of affirmative action
The most constitution has certain laws, that protect the marginalized e.g. a particular government should consist on 50-50 basis i.ec composition of men to women is equal.
Trade unions have ensured that inequalities are minimized through negotiations for employees’ terms. Employers have responded through the.
Conclusion
In the present modern world, it has been proven that women if are given fair treatments and strict follow-up and encouragement in pursuing male-dominated jobs they can excel meticulously. For employers that are seen to play a major role in shaping society, they should abandon traditional tendencies that are long overdue, concerning what particular sex can do or can not or be paid what. Employers are the source of very gender inequities practiced in Workplaces.
This means that they are the same people who can end the same kind of behavior or actions in workplaces. They should remain the main pillars in re-enforcing the need for female employees to engage in technical jobs and be paid well and any other relevant activity that is perceived to be superior. Society as a whole can also help in ending the gender gap or inequality and help women to do better.
Work Cited
Bonnot V. and Croizet J.C. ;(2007); Original Communication Stereotype Internalization, Math Perceptions, and Occupational Choices of Women With Counter-Stereotypical University Majors; University of Clermont-Ferrand, France.
Fengfeng K. and Grabowski B. (2007); Game playing for math’s learning: cooperative or not? British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 38 No 2 2007 249–259.
Guimond S. and lydie Roussel L.(2001); Bragging about one’s school grades: gender stereotyping and students’ perception of their abilities in science, mathematics, and language Social Psychology of Education 4: 275–293.
Kawakami, K, Phills, C,. Steele, J, & Dovidio, J.F (2005) implication of approach- avoidance orientations for implicit racial attitudes and interactions.
Klein, S. (2007).Gender Inequities in Classroom. New York: McGraw-Hill.
McIntyre R.B., Paulson R.M and Lord C. G.; (2003); Alleviating women’s mathematics stereotype threat through salience of group achievements, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
Murphy. M.C., Steele C.M. and James J. GrossJ.J. (2007) Signaling Threat How Situational Cues Affect Women in Math, Science, and Engineering Settings; Research Article.
Muzzatti B.and Agnoli F.; (2007); Gender and Mathematics: Attitudes and Stereotype Threat Susceptibility in Italian Children; University of Padua Workplace Diversity Plan. Web.