Abstract
Gender and cultural discrimination prevail in society in general and at the workplace in particular and the worst affected remains the women and people of different cultures in the workforce to date. This research assignment presents information about this problem. The reference page appends sources in MLA format.
Introduction
There are increasing numerals of reported cases of prejudice. Such reports vary from the straightforward implausible glances if a person has put on accessories or clothes which are not usually seen, to the more relentless and multifaceted circumstances of having fought as well as there being situations where people get verbally abused. For the most part, women and culturally diverse people are more prone to affliction or having to face racist annotations and exploitation from people at the workplace.
Discrimination in any field of life is unjust as well as highly disturbing. However, workplace discrimination is a challenge faced by various organizations the world over as well as a social dilemma and a professional hurdle that uncountable employees experience in today’s highly competitive work environment. The passages below throw light upon the extent to which gender and cultural discrimination exist in the U.S. work environment and the entire research assignment supports the thesis statement which claims that women and culturally diverse people are largely affected by discrimination in the workplace; a fact that has led to wage and power inequalities in the workplace between people and has resulted in other problems including psychological hazards and unjustified career constraints for people based on their sex and cultural background. Discussion is based on the extensive research conducted by experts in the related field. The United States of America is a very diverse country in the context of culture. People of a vast number of different ethnic backgrounds, religions, nationalities, languages, etc live together in a culturally diverse environment. Discrimination is a problem that is being faced by a cast number of people on regular basis not only in America but in the whole world. Discrimination is defined as “the restrictive treatment of a person or group based on prejudiced assumptions of group characteristics, rather than on individual judgment. It is the denial of justice prompted by prejudice” (Glossary, p.1).
Research Findings on Discrimination: How big is the Problem?
Although times have changed and so has the general mentality of the employers as well as the employees. However, the situation at the corporate level still needs to change. Women to date complain of gender discrimination at the workplace particularly in areas including “income, unemployment, and occupational distribution” (Trentham & Larwood, p.1). Statistics derived from the research studies also support these claims. For instance, test results of some studies show that “women’s salaries average only 72-88% of men’s salaries, even after controlling for such variables as education, age, position level and job tenure” (Trentham & Larwood, p.1). Also, it has been seen that men seem to dominate the executive positions at the corporate level, be it in small firms or large-scale organizations. This idea is further supported by another study which states that about ninety-five percent of the positions of senior executives are taken up by men in all the thousands of publicly owned firms in the USA, thereby evidently highlighting the role of gender in workplace discrimination (Trentham & Larwood, p.1). Other research studies further make it evident that gender discrimination is a major contributor in compelling women to feel much more pressured and disturbed at the corporate level than men.
America is a country where people of different ethnic backgrounds usually face a lot of discrimination at times. These people face discrimination in nearly all walks of life including employment, health care, etc. This can be proved by the fact that “ethnically and racially plural societies, like the United States of America, customarily are characterized by a high degree of intergroup inequality. Whether indexed by disparities in income, wealth, or occupational status, wide differences continue to be observed across ascriptively differentiated groups. Most research has addressed gaps in economic outcomes between blacks and whites, but the decennial censuses for 1980 and 1990 facilitate a more intricate look at America’s ethnic heterogeneity. Respondents to both censuses were asked to provide answers to questions about both their race and ancestry which enable researchers to sketch in fine detail the extent of intergroup disparity in America in the late 20th century” (Darity, Guilkey and Winfrey, p.1). Although the country United States of America claims to be “color-blind” is pretty amateur to believe in because there are a vast number of researches and studies, which have proved this statement wrong. Discrimination is faced by these people in nearly all walks of life including housing, employment, daily transactions, public accommodation, development, etc.
“Evaluative discrimination” on grounds of gender disparity at various organizational levels has also been reported. Studies by England and Farkas (p.1) along with a vast number of other studies indicate that more than often when women perform jobs of similar worth they are paid less than what men receive when they carry out the same jobs. Research findings by other experts further indicate another type of gender discrimination in the workplace and have named it “allocative discrimination” which hampers the career growth of women in the American corporate environment. Women are to date allowed limited entry to top managerial and executive posts within organizations “either at the time of entry or in terms of career advancement within the establishment. Allocative discrimination thus denotes unequal treatment of women in decisions about recruitment and promotion that in turn lead to women generally being employed in occupations, establishments, and jobs with relatively low earnings levels. Typically female jobs are characterized by low earnings as well as by limited career growth in earnings. Hence, segregated employment is almost always the same as unequal employment” (Tomaskovic-Devey, Kalleberg, and Marsden, p.1).
Also, when gender-based discrimination in the workplace augments, it further paves a smooth way to sexual harassment and thus women are treated as sex symbols or sex objects than as versatile or equally capable workers of an organization as compared to men. On the same account, “research suggests that although approximately 70% of women have been subject to behaviors that legally constitute sexual harassment in the workplace” (Montemurro, p.1). Nonetheless, empirical studies further highlight that organizations, where women are in good proportion at the managerial level, thrive and are less infected with gender discrimination.
Thus, gender discrimination in the workplace still exists very much to date thereby posing a challenge for the managers to plan and implement strategies to address this issue significantly.
Cause-and-Effect Chain of Workplace Discrimination
Workplace discrimination causes various physical and psychological breakdowns. Victims often tend to complain of unnecessary fatigue, stress due to constant demoralization and prejudiced environment, frustration as a result of injustice at the corporate level, and most often victims of workplace discrimination end up leaving the job in hopelessness or continue being the victims of discrimination so long as they choose to remain associated to that particular field or firm.
Lack of motivation from colleagues on one hand and lack of support to take a stand for the prejudiced wage gap from the authorities on the other hand have been reported to be the possible causes for the female and culturally diverse workforce to remain a victim of workplace discrimination to date.
Thus authorities in charge must take appropriate action to curb this professional as well as a social dilemma. According to sources, “as the United States demographic canvas continues to change, students in fields such as family studies, child development, social work, psychology, sociology, anthropology, and other fields will be expected to understand the importance of cultural diversity. Future helping professionals will be expected to be active participants in serving culturally diverse individuals, families and groups” (Anguiano and Harrison, p.1). Diversity is a fact that a person has to accept. Even school-going children are aware of the differences that persist in our society at large, which makes them even more prejudiced and suspicious towards people of different backgrounds. To make people feel comfortable while working with others and appreciating the differences that persist between them, they need to be taught multiculturalism.
Conclusion
Hence from the above discussion, we may culminate that the United States of America is a very culturally diverse country, where discrimination still prevails even though the leaders might claim to be “color-blind”. The ever-growing cases of discrimination show that people are facing discrimination at large. Culturally diverse people and women are largely discriminated against in the corporate environment thereby depriving them of the well-deserved career growth that results in their affected person well being too.
Works Cited
Anguiano, Ruben and Harrison, Sarah. Teaching cultural diversity to college students majoring in helping professions: the use of an eco-strengths perspective. College Student Journal.March, 2002. Pp.1.
Darity, William. And Guilkey, David. And Winfrey, William. Explaining differences in economic performance among racial and ethnic groups in the USA: the data examined. The American Journal of Economics and Sociology. 1996. Pp.1.
England, P., and Farkas, G. (1986). Households, Employment, and Gender: A Social, Economic and Demographic View. Aldine de Gruyter. Pp.1. Glossary. 2008. Web.
Montemurro, B. (2003). Not a laughing matter: sexual harassment as “material” on workplace-based situation comedies. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research. Issue: May. Pp.1.
Tomaskovic-Devey, D., Kalleberg, A. L. and Marsden, P. V. (1996). Organizational patterns of gender segregation. Sage. Pp.276-301.
Trentham, T. & Larwood, L. (1998). Gender discrimination and the workplace: an examination of rational bias theory. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research. Issue: January. Pp.1.