Introduction
Attaining equality in the workplace environment goes a long way in ensuring meaningful relationships that bolster the employees’ productivity. Specifically, equality in the workplace environment means treating individuals similarly regardless of their differences based on sex, gender, age, race, sexual orientation, physical disability, religion, or nationality (Acker 446).
Notably, the elements of gender and racial disparity in the workplace atmosphere are critical contemporary issues owing to their influence on interpersonal and inter-professional relationships. For this reason, through the continued efforts of the management, organizations endeavor to realize the parity of the two critical aspects of equality that entail gender and race (Mullings 49). However, several barriers derail the move towards achieving racial and gender equality within the workplace atmosphere. In this light, this paper seeks to identify the prevailing obstacles to the full attainment of racial and gender equality in the workplace setting.
Barriers to the Attainment of Racial and Gender Equality in the Workplace
In the US, Title VII of the 1964 federal Civil Rights Act stipulates against any forms of inequalities in the workplace setting. A diverse workforce contributes to the productivity of an organization to a considerable degree. However, existing barriers have made it challenging to treat employees in the same way thus, undermine collaborative working. Concerning the issue of gender equality, some disequilibrium still manifests as women continue to experience discrimination in the form of sexual harassment besides other forms of victimization based on their gender. Additionally, individuals from different racial backgrounds have not yet acquired equal treatment as portrayed in employment and promotion biases among other notable aspects of discrimination (Kabat-Farr and Cortina 122).
Axiomatically, the career choices and pay gaps existing in the workplace environment considerably undermine the full attainment of gender equality. In this regard, the fields of study chosen by women and men in their higher learning endeavors influence the career areas they enter which translate to income disparities. Today, as women and men get into employment, some occupation areas get skewed by gender owing to the existing stereotypes about the kind of roles pursued by women and men besides the flexibility associated with the different functions. Consequently, women have become considerably represented in the sectors of the economy that remunerates them poorly, thus subjecting them to vulnerability, dependence, and financial insecurity as compared to their male counterparts or coworkers (Zanoni et al. 18).
What is more worrying today, women in the same type of work or job description with men irrespective of the industry continue to earn lower salaries compared to the latter as the trend also manifests in the bonuses, performance payments, performance rates, and overtime. As such, the existing unfavorable nexus between occupation and pay regarding men and women goes a long way in inhibiting the full consciousness of gender equality in the workplace (Kabat-Farr and Cortina 125).
Undoubtedly, ethnic and cultural diversity in the workplace fosters the quality of work (Barak 92). However, in the US, African American men offering their input on a full-time basis and throughout the year in similar occupations as their White counterparts get an average of 72% of the latter’s income. Shockingly, the wage ratio between African American and White women in the workplace environment stands an average of 85% thereby unmasking the existing inequalities (Mullings 78).
The primary barrier that contributes to discrimination based on race rests in the policies that are perceived neutral to racial differences at the institutional level. Nonetheless, neutral racial policies have considerably disadvantaged Black Americans in the workplace setting since race-associated biases still exist without conscious wakefulness thereby affecting cognition and behavior. Further, some employers encourage organizational cultures that disregard individuals for employment based on their race thus, hindering the efficiency of corporate and statutory policies that foster equitable opportunities for employment.
Strategies to Remove the Barriers
The identified barriers to gender and racial equality within the workplace atmosphere requires the development of approaches that would curtail the prevalence of the existing disparities. In this concern, the need to raise awareness on the issue regarding the abandonment stereotypes associated with career paths suitable for men and women holds water in combating racial inequality in the workplace (Huffman, Cohen, and Pearlman 258).
Additionally, to combat the barriers to racial equality at work, employers need to embrace the essence of cultural diversity implying that there in need to provide equal employment opportunities and reasonable remuneration regardless of one’s racial background (Barak 112). Further, ensuring that employees observe the provisions of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, as well as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, would considerably mitigate the barriers to gender and racial inequality within the workplace surroundings.
However, the identified strategies that seek to bring about change at the workplace could face several obstacles and thus, further undermine the attainment of equality. The main obstacle to such initiatives would probably emanate from the senior leaders’ inadequate support, employees’ resistance to change, weak support and compatibility with middle management, and inadequate planning and change management resources (Acker 449). Therefore, implementing the strategies for change towards fully realizing equality in the workplace would require considering the potential obstacles revealed when engaging in the planning aspect of change management.
Conclusion
Gender and racial inequalities as seen in the various forms of disparate treatment at work hinder the attainment of a diverse workforce geared towards productivity. As such, the engaging in awareness-raising approaches besides enforcing the legislations pertaining equality would significantly eradicate the vice at the workplace. Nevertheless, change managers need to identify the foreseeable obstacles that would undermine the full embracement of racial and gender equality in the workplace environment.
Works Cited
Acker, Joan. “Inequality Regimes Gender, Class, and Race in Organizations.” Gender & Society 20.4 (2006): 441-464. Print.
Barak, Michàlle. Managing Diversity: Toward A Globally Inclusive Workplace, Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, 2013. Print.
Huffman, Matt, Philip Cohen, and Jessica Pearlman. “Engendering Change: Organizational Dynamics and Workplace Gender Desegregation, 1975–2005.” Administrative Science Quarterly 55.2 (2010): 255-277. Print.
Kabat-Farr, Dana, and Lilia Cortina. “Selective Incivility: Gender, Race, and the Discriminatory Workplace.” Gender and the Dysfunctional Workplace 39.6 (2012): 120-134. Print.
Mullings, Leith. On Our Own Terms: Race, Class, and Gender in the Lives of African-American Women, Oxford: Routledge, 2014. Print.
Zanoni, Patrizia, Maddy Janssens, Yvonne Benschop, and Stella Nkomo. “Unpacking Diversity, Grasping Inequality: Rethinking Difference through Critical Perspectives.” Organization 17.1 (2010): 9-29. Print.