This document aims to highlight the gender-based issues that are prevalent in the workplace from two points of view, the social constructionist and the essentialist.
The social constructionist point of view is based on the observation of how the phenomena pertaining to gender inequality take place and are generated fu to the development in the society and culture. It tends to depict gender inequality in terms of the traditional role of the genders in society and how they affect the personality and the perspective of the people in the current society. The historical and cultural aspect of the topic is taken into consideration through the social constructionist point of view. The main objective of the constructionist point of view is that it is aimed at uncovering how the individuals and the groups tend to participate in the creation of their perceptions of gender and women in the workplace.
The essentialist is actually the opposite of the social constructionist. The essentialist tends to take the entity or the phenomena as a characteristic of its traits. Essentialism tends to select only one source of the women’s identity, like the gender and based all its observations on that.
The different issues that are faced by the women in the work place pertain to the quality of work and responsibility assigned to them. Other issues specific to women in the work environment pertain to sexual harassment, the presence of the glass ceiling at directorial and executive positions, as well as the difference in pay that they received as compared to men in the same position. The opportunities available to women are also limited in quantity which increases the competition of women in the workplace.
The socio-economic proportion of the economy in even the developed countries is largely biased and favored towards the male gender. This is mostly because of the taken-in-granted view of the female gender as a contributor towards the increase in socio-economic growth. The education level of females in the developed country has increased multifold, which is enabling them to seek diversified jobs in all aspects of the economy. However, the limited choices available in the industries do not make way for the full exploration of the ability of the female population as a participant in the economic growth of the region.
Research pertaining to the inequality of gender in employment has depicted that preconceived criteria and gender expectations for a position ten restrict the job scope. They tend to put invisible limitations for the men as well as the women employed in these positions. This tends to modify the performance of the individual resulting from a rather decreased quality of performance. “Interactional sex categorization also biases the choice of comparison others, causing men and women to judge the rewards available to them differently. Operating in workplace relations, these processes conserve inequality by driving the gender-labeling of jobs, constructing people as gender-interested actors, contributing to employers’ discriminatory preferences, and mediating men’s and women’s perceptions of alternatives and their willingness to settle for given job outcomes” (Ridgeway, 1997).
From the constructionist point of view, this discrimination takes place due to the preconceived notions of society as to which jobs are suited for the female gender and what career paths are more suitable for the female professionals. From the cultural aspect, the job of the female is supposed to relate to nurturing and taking care of the children. As a result, the female working force tends to be concentrated in jobs that are related to nursing, teaching, or operating other services, especially for the female population, i.e., running a beauty salon, etc. Aside from this, the ethnicity of the woman also tends to define what jobs and career paths should be adopted by her. People rarely envision a black female as a doctor or a biochemist. They usually envision her to be running a small business or a beauty salon etc. The white women, on the other hand are considered to be a candidate for the positions of doctors and teachers. The Latino and Asian women, on the other hand, are usually considered to be more suitable for the entertainment and show business in terms of movies, modeling, television, etc.
The essentialist point of view depicts that because the job candidate is a woman, it is not possible for her to carry out certain aspects and duties of the job. She might not be able to handle the working hours, the stress, or jiggle the work and home environment. Her physical characteristic of being a female tends to put restrictions on her, even though this is only in the minds of the people responsible for the recruitment and placement of employees in the industry. As a result, the woman is considered to be suitable for certain jobs and not suitable for others.
Another issue that pertains to the increase in gender inequality in the workplace is the issue pertaining to the wage gap between men and women employees. Although the percentage of women employed in the workforce has increased from 30 percent in the 18950s to almost 47% now, discrimination in terms of pay and remuneration is still present in the industry. This discrimination tends to allot a higher degree of rewards to the male workforce than the female workforce. By 2001 the women in the workforce were earning about 76percent of what was being earned by the men. This put the ratio of women’s remuneration to be three forth that of the men. This was regardless of the fact that women were putting in overtime or more working hours. Women tend to be even paid lower than the men in occupations that are predominantly oriented towards females. “One of the things that make this development especially dramatic and significant is that the recent changes contrast markedly with the relative stability of earlier years. On the other hand, there is still a gender pay gap. Women continue to earn considerably less than men on average, and the convergence that began in the late 1970s slowed noticeably in the 1990s” (Blau and Kahn, 2007).
The females also have to suffer more harassment, tension, and stress in the workplace due to their gender, and yet still, their compensation is much lower than that of the men in the same positions. They tend to be exposed to more sexual harassment and assaults when compared to men; however, the compensation and remuneration of the females in the industry does not take this into account when devising wage levels for the women in the workforce. Aside from this, the women also experience lower-valued pensions. They are half as much likely as the men to have a retirement provision in their employment contracts. This is again due to the counterproductive characteristic of the female workforce having relatively lower pay as compares to men.
The argument that is put up against a higher remuneration of women, in this case, is that they tend to take more vacations and leaves. One highly stressing point is the leave for maternity taken by the female population in the workforce. However, the critics have pointed out that even men have now started to take maternity leaves when their partners are expecting, and somehow this is not considered to be of importance and value when establishing the wage rate and remuneration for the person.
From the social constructionist point of view, the supporting role of the women tends to be a main characteristic of the women. The female workforce is culturally supposed to support the operating of the household where the man is thought of to be the dominant role player in the family. However, in the real case, the man is usually simply responsible for providing the finance for the running of the household while all the managerial and supervisory of the operations are carried out by the female. However, from the constructionist point of view, the financial provider-based role of the man tends to be one of the main reasons as to why they are provided with higher salaries as compared to women. The supportive role of the woman is extrapolative and is carried forward into the work environment, where her contributions are considered as a supportive function. Therefore the pay level provided to them is considerably lower. The essentialists seem to argue that as the employee is simply a female, she is supposed to have a lower pay scale as compared to the men in the same position.
One of the main issues that are faced by women in the workforce pertains to the glass ceiling effect. The term glass ceiling was initiated in 1986. It is the concept that refers to the barriers to promotion and fathering of a female in the workforce simply based on her gender. These barriers are mostly faced by those women to aspire to atta9n senior positions in the corporate world. Originally it has been the belief of the employers and the companies that the senior positions are more appropriate for the men in the workforce as they tend to be more demanding, having a higher degree of authority and responsibility, and are critical in nature. One of the industries where this is most prominent is the law and regulation industry. Traditionally the founders of the law firms have been m men; however, due to equal employment opportunity being adopted by the business, they are now hiring females as well. However, when it comes to making decisions pertaining to promoting an employee to be a partner in the law firm, the other partners are usually biased towards promoting men rather than women. This clearly depicts the glass ceiling that is faced by women when striving to attain higher positions in companies. “Professional work involves three forms of uncertainty — problem variability, strategic indeterminacy, and dependence on autonomous actors — that weaken the association between performance and ability, leading organizational decision-makers to weigh gender more heavily in promotion decisions. Strategic indeterminacy also increases the need for trust, so decision-makers feel more comfortable promoting candidates of their own sex” (Gorman, 2006).
The different signs of the glass ceiling present in the industry pertaining to barriers for women are apparent in different forms. They are invisible, covert as well as overt in nature. From the constructionist point of view, these barriers to the glass ceiling are actually a result of gender stereotypes. However, aside from this, they are also affected by the type of leadership style in the company as well as the tokenism of the high managerial rank. One of the major signs that depict the presence of the glass ceiling is the gender-biased compensation provided in the industries. The discrepancies in salaries are largely favorable to the men in the workforce whereby making them the more suitable candidates in terms of employment. Other factors that add to it are the various experiences that are offered to the men in the positions, which make them liable and more suitable for promotion onto high-ranking corporate managerial jobs. The women are often not offered such opportunities to expand their skills. This results in a very obvious lower experience, and therefore they are rejected from further promotions.
From the constructionist point of view, the other factors that contribute to the promotion of women in corporate positions are related to the culture of the region and the company it self. “Corporate policies and practices can subtly maintain the status quo by keeping men in positions of corporate power. Boards of directors, which are mostly comprised of men, sometimes perpetuate the status quo by selecting CEOs who look like them” (‘The Glass Ceiling: Domestic and International Perspectives, 2004). Aside from this, the work/social and home life that is balanced by the female is also a large contributor to the glass ceiling experienced at times of pay increase and promotions.
The essentialist, however, state that as the candidate is a female she is not able to handle the stress, the long hours and the effort required in the demanding higher ranked positions. As a result they are experiencing the glass ceiling due to the nature of their gender.
In the 1990s the Wall Street was shaken by charges of sexual harassment. Countless suits were prosecuted against prominent companies pertaining to inequality of opportunities for women at the companies as well as sexual harassment in the work environment. Following such accusations “many firms on Wall Street implemented strict sexual harassment policies, and even family friendly work-life balance policies.” (‘Women on Wall Street’, 2007) However despite the presence of such rules, the inequality of gender in the work environment is still existent. The reason for this is mostly due to the fact that the rules and regulations that were devised by the authorities were centered mostly to favor the companies in the end. Moreover the culture has been predominantly male oriented all over the world as a result especially when opportunities pertaining to higher positions in the corporations and work abroad placements arise, the women are usually put aside as unsuitable candidates.
“Although women have made enormous gains in the business world–they hold seats on corporate boards and run major companies–they still comprise only 10% of senior managers in Fortune 500 companies.” (Meyerson & Fletcher, 2000) The companies have been able to employ women in managerial position and in the workforce by coercing them to be more like men. The comparisons in terms of efficiency, work performance and profitability for them are always made with men, and as a result they are taught to act more like men in order to compete in the corporate world. Aside from this special benefits and policies have been used to employ women in order to avoid the accusations for gender inequality ion the company. However, all these efforts have been focused towards providing a removal of the symptoms of the problem and not the solution. In order to make way for a truly equitable industry in which the gender inequality is not present. The culture of the people the centered perspective of the management has to be changes. This is not possible to do in a short period of time.
This is due to the fact that the reasons for the gender inequality as provided by the constructionists come from the culture and traditions that are inherent in the society. These opinions and cultural views provide for the issue of gender inequality in all aspects of life. As a result in order to tackle this, a cultural reform needs to take place. This is not a straightforward problem as a result it cannot be addressed to by making regulations or implementing simple procedures. However the following steps can be taken to ensure a more equitable position for the different genders in the corporate world.
In order to avoid gender inequality the HR professionals need to be trained in the aspect of focusing on being professional and not exhibiting favoritism towards their exes. They need to be aware of the present laws of employment and need to adhere to the equal employment clause. Aside from this they need to understand the effects of issues like sexual harassment in the workplace and the glass ceiling barriers which are faced by the female workforce. Aside form this the a constructionist solution would be to change the culture in the organization and the regions. This can be done by teaching children about gender equality at an early age. The students in professional business colleges should also be made to experience negative gender equality pertaining to the sex therefore giving all men and women an experience of how it can affect humans. From the essentialist point of view however the gender inequality can be solved by focusing not on the gender but on the efficiency of the person. The performance and the efficiency of the person should dictate the suitability of the candidate for the job, the level of pay that should be awarded to them as well as the promotion that it requires.
The above discussion has been able to conclude the points of view of the constructionists as well as the essentialists pertaining to the various issues to of gender inequality which are faced by the women in the workplace. Aside from this specific solutions for tackling the issues of gender inequality have been devised according to the different sources identified by the constructionists and the essentialism. These solutions are aimed at making both long term and short term reforms to eradicate inequality for the women as well as the men on the workplace.
References
“The Glass Ceiling: Domestic and International Perspectives”, HR Magazine 2004 -Research Quarterly, 2004, Vol. 49, pp. 2-10.
Blau, F.D., Kahn, L.M., “The Gender Pay Gap: Have Women Gone as Far as They Can”, Academy of Management Perspectives, 2007, Vol. 21 Issue 1, pp. 7-23.
Gorman, E.H., “Work Uncertainty and the Promotion of Professional Women: The Case of Law Firm Partnership”, Social Forces, 2006, Vol. 85 Issue 2, pp. 865-890.
Meyerson, D.E., Fletcher, J.K., “A Modest Manifesto for Shattering the Glass Ceiling”, Harvard Business Review, 2000, Vol. 78 Issue 1, pp.126-136.
Ridgeway, C.L., “Interaction and the Conservation of Gender Inequality: Considering Employment”, American Sociological Review, 1997, Vol. 62 Issue 2, pp. 218-235.
Roth, L.M., “Women on Wall Street: Despite Diversity Measures, Wall Street Remains Vulnerable to Sex Discrimination Charges”, Academy of Management Perspectives, 2007, Vol. 21 Issue 1, pp. 24-35.