Introduction
Current Problem: Living in a society that claims to have eliminated inequality, we still face the problem of labor discrimination against women.
Population/Area of Focus: adult women
Key Terms: gender discrimination, wage level, gender pay gap, sexual harassment at work, unequal ethical attitude
Research Question: How does a woman’s gender identity affect her career?
Thesis: The considerable differences in wages, promotion rates, and treatment in the workplace between women and men occupying the same positions demonstrate that gender stereotyping is still prevalent in the United States.
Background
The Notion of Gender Discrimination: Gender discrimination is the act of giving some special privileges or denying rights to a person due to his or her gender. The exact forms of discrimination may differ depending on the characteristics of the society in question, but there is no place in the world where it has been completely eradicated (Tschalaer, 2009, p.42).
Women Were Promised an Equal Wage: In the United States, there is a law designed to prohibit wage discrimination between male and female employees performing work that requires “equal skill, effort, and responsibility” under similar conditions. However, women continue to earn less than men occupying the same positions (Stanberry & Aven, 2013, p.194).
The Role of Gender Socialization: Women and girls are taught, either passively or actively, that they should be nurturing, deferential, affiliative, and passive—in other words, they should be communal—and that boys and men should be autonomous, aggressive, dominant, and achievement-oriented. Due to the tremendous power of gender socialization, women tend to see themselves as lesser human beings compared to men; obeying these prescribed features, they fear the idea of competition between a man and a woman (Nadler & Stockdale, 2012, p. 233).
Women Have to Live in a Society Where Men Rule the Day
Men Earn More than Women: The existing discrimination against women is illustrated by the fact that they are typically paid about 80% of what men are paid, despite having the same level of education (O’Brien, 2015).
Women Are Not Bent on Working in Male-Dominated Industries: Historically, women have overwhelmingly held occupations in industries (e.g., administrative support and service) that pay less than those historically dominated by men (e.g., managerial and high-wage craft positions).
The Gender Role Stereotypes at Work
What the Numbers Tell Us: According to credible sources, women occupy only eight percent of all top leadership positions in the world; for chief executive officer positions, women occupy just two percent. Due to the predominant gender stereotypes that portray a happy family as the most important goal for women, women tend to take more time off from work due to pregnancy or the need to care for children or older relatives who are sick.
The Pay Gap and the “Traditional” Role of a Woman: The pay gap between men and women is a result of the historically promoted image of a woman whose main duty is to take care of her home and children while her husband serves as the breadwinner in the family and has the sole right to make all decisions. The power of custom is so strong that many people are almost incapable of crossing the line of traditional gender roles (Merry, 1988, p.875).
Unequal Treatment of Men and Women at Work
Sexual Harassment at Work: More than half of all workers in the United States have experienced at least one unwanted social-sexual incident in the workplace; approximately a quarter of them claim to have been sexually harassed at work at least once. Noted theories of sexual harassment indicate that harassers are typically men who seek to improve their status among other men by harassing women or who simply fear that women may appear to be better specialists.
Removal without Proper Cause: Women are often fired for reasons that have no connection to their work performance. For example, some women are fired for being “too attractive” to be a good worker or “too ambitious for a woman.” These prejudices are yet more proof that women today are seen as bodies but never as personalities.
Conclusion
Living in a society that claims to have established gender equality does not guarantee equal and just treatment at work (Cowan & Schwab, 2016, p. 103). The problem of gender role stereotypes that are imposed on women in the United States is expressed through unequal pay, low promotion rates, and unethical treatment at the workplace involving sexual harassment.
Despite holding similar occupations, women are still making only eighty cents for every dollar that men earn. Promoting traditional gender roles restricts women’s access to managerial and executive positions within companies all over the world (Lips, 2013, p. 170). Moreover, modern culture tends to represent women as objects created to amuse and please men; as a result, women are forced to tolerate sexual harassment and poor treatment at work. Overall, gender stereotyping is most vividly applied towards women and still presents a significant problem for the country.
Solving the problem of gender discrimination at work involves dispelling the common myths about gender-related differences in mental capacities. It also requires a serious reconsideration of the values of a modern culture that assigns women the role of decorative objects. To have men treat women with respect, we have to increase their levels of personal development using all possible means.
References
- Cowan, B. & Schwab, B. (2016). Employer-sponsored health insurance and the gender wage gap. Journal of Health Economics, 45(1), 103-114.
- Lips, H. M. (2013). The gender pay gap: Challenging the rationalizations. Perceived equality, discrimination, and the limits of human capital models. Sex Roles, 68(3), 169-185.
- Merry, S.E. (1988). Legal pluralism. Law & Society Review, 22(5), 869-896.
- Nadler, J. T., & Stockdale, M. S. (2012). Workplace gender bias: Not just between strangers. North American Journal of Psychology, 14(2), 233.
- O’Brien, S. A. (2015). 78 cents on the dollar: The facts about the gender wage gap [Blog post]. Web.
- Stanberry, K., & Aven, F. (2013). Unequal pay for equal work: Why women still lag behind after the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Equal Pay Act. Compensation & Benefits Review, 45(4), 193-199.
- Tschalaer, M. H. (2009). Women entering the legal landscape: Negotiating legal gender reforms in a ‘tribal’ women’s forum in South Rajasthan, India. Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law, 42(60), 41-72.