Today, the necessity of finding a good job is discussed in all countries. People need to understand how to apply their knowledge and skills, be employed, earn a living, and continue developing personally and professionally. Despite the intention to create fair and democratic conditions, the gender gap in employment is still hard to ignore. The future of work for men and women differs in multiple ways, depending on their age, care work, wealth, and preferred positions (World Economic Forum, 2022). Across the globe, women get fewer opportunities to work in formal employment and gain career progression: male participation is about 80%, while female participation is notably lower (World Bank, 2022). In this paper, attention will be paid to the causes and consequences of low participation and under-representation of women in the formal labour force in the context of science, engineering, and leadership. The recognition of causes like unfair mother-related biases, segregation, and sexual harassment will help predict the consequences of unequal pay, promotion disparity, and occupational vulnerability by supporting diversity programs, flexibility, and inclusive organisational cultures.
There are many employment fields where gender gaps remain evident and unforgivably unfair. For example, while about 24.6 % of men have degrees in engineering and science, only 6.7% of women are interested in the same area (World Economic Forum, 2022). At the same time, leadership positions of women have significantly increased during the last several years: from 33% in 2016 to almost 40% in 2022 (World Economic Forum, 2022). Still, these numbers prove the prevalence of men in such positions in engineering and science. One of the reasons for such low participation of women in the formal labour force is the role of parental status among employees (Balliester & Elsheikhi, 2018). Employers need guarantees about their continuous cooperation with workers, while current or future mothers may introduce unexpected personal explanations affecting their job performance. In addition to motherhood-based judgments, female employment depends on the inevitability of segregation and sexual harassment. Leaders and engineers usually need physical and emotional strength to complete their tasks. Biological female weaknesses and physiology promote unnecessary but unavoidable judgments and comparisons. These are not all causes of employment diversity, but they mostly affect the quality of the labour force globally.
The consequences of the under-representation of women vary, including low payments, promotion disparity, and occupational discrimination in science, engineering, and leadership. The overall share of women in leadership in manufacturing and engineering is about 19% (World Economic Forum, 2022). The major outcome is the inability of women to earn a lot in the preferred sphere and remain dependent on men. Even if females get a chance to find a job, their road to leadership is longer than the one of men. In some regions, working women are defined as vulnerable workers, where restructuring and poor employment conditions are observed (World Bank, 2022). Thus, promotion and high salaries are hardly achievable in short periods.
Although multiple attempts and legislation have been offered to the global population to eradicate gender gaps in employment, more solutions are required to increase female participation in the formal labour force. First, new diversity programs will help create similar working opportunities and avoid gender discrimination in the workplace. Second, flexible working hours are not a challenge but a chance for employees to be satisfied with their responsibilities and tasks and maintain their work-life balance. This step is necessary to remove motherhood biases and prejudices. Finally, inclusive organisational cultures in such industries as engineering and science can be implemented to support women in choosing positions relying on their knowledge and skills, not biological gender and appearance.
In general, scientific, engineering, and leadership positions are not the best choices for modern women. The explanation of such under-presentation of females in the formal labour force lies in their parental statuses, physical weaknesses, and sexual conflicts. Such controversies lead to unequal pay, difficulties in promotion, and increased vulnerability. Instead of discussing why such diversity emerges, it is high time to implement new programs and eradicate gender gaps with the help of flexibility and inclusive cultures.
References
Balliester, T., & Elsheikhi, A. (2018). The future of work: A literature review. International Labour Office. Web.
World Bank. (2022). Feale labor force participation. The World Bank. Web.
World Economic Forum. (2022). Global gender gap report 2022 [PDF document]. Web.