Introduction:
Gender discrimination becomes an issue in the workplace whenever workers of different genders are not treated fairly. Wherein women and men are given different types of work even if both of them can actually do the tasks and get the same results. Gender discrimination is usually against women wherein they are not treated the same as men in terms of promotion and even in the salary received.
Why do organizations discriminate women?
Organizations discriminate women as the management feel that they are not efficient enough to perform some activities which men can perform well. This is discrimination as management will not give women a chance to prove themselves and would only base their decision on gender of their workers.
A dominant matter on the factors affecting efficiency of an employee in terms of their gender is their preference for work schedule and also finding it hard to address their roles in their respective families (Robinson 2013). Studies show that women have higher turnover rates and absenteeism than men do. The reasonable explanation for this is that the research was conducted in North America. Thus, the tradition in this place is that the women are the one who takes care of the family and is just a secondary breadwinner for the family. Men are more inclined to put their children in day-care than women who prefers their own effort to take care of the children. However, these instances are only small in number which makes it unfair to generalize it to all men and women. Examples of discrimination will be provided in the following part of the paper. This is to show how gender discrimination is becoming a problem for some organizations and illustrations of such actions. To give a clear ideas on how discrimination happens, the discussion will be specific and categorized.
Illustrations of Gender Discrimination
One reason why most organizations discriminate women is because the boss themselves are alpha males who would not want to take a woman’s capability the same with them. These kinds of bosses would not choose women over men as they feel that the latter are more capable physically and mentally to handle the work. Discrimination happens through the following instances in an organization:
- Payment of Salaries
An example is when men would gain higher pay because they are more physically able to perform the work. Pay equity is an issue in some counties as there is a gap of payment between different genders. This has been issues in some debates whether women should get higher pay than men even if sometimes women experience the most pressure in work. Some companies value the physical exertion rather than mental effort which is usually women offers for businesses. But in terms of tasks which involves intelligence and emotional stature, women can be considered more effective than men. However, payment will not differ as some companies usually consider the gender. This becomes a problem and a questionable action for some management.
- Responsibilities are lessened for women
An example is when women will not be tasked to carry things, wherein this responsibility will be given to men. Some companies believe that women will find it hard to do something for the company especially if it entails carrying things or doing something with technical methods. This kind of bias is not being pointed out as it became natural in some organizations where men are given more physical tasks than women. However, some women will feel discriminated as some men would think of them as weak and sometimes they become mean to the women.
- Promotional Bias
An example is when a woman is not given a promotion even if she is employed longer than her colleague which is a man. Promotional bias can become a problem because some bosses would actually choose men over women in terms of promoting work. This becomes a positional bias as men are usually given better positions with better pay than women. Another examples is when women are discriminated to work as security personnel as the company feels that men are more effective for this tasks. There are positions that women can actually fill up and can even be more effective. Such as in engineering positions where men are usually hired, but this can also be done by women and sometimes more effective than males.
- Termination
Terminations can also become biased especially if some companies would terminate women by reason of getting married, being pregnant or just gaining some weight. This is discrimination which should not be allowed by any government to happen as this will be detrimental to the disposition of women. A concrete examples, if employers would terminate women because they are pregnant, this is against the law as usually, the state protects the rights of the women for fair employment opportunities despite of their condition. Women who become pregnant in the middle of employment should not be terminated as this will not affect their performance in work. Females who are terminated due to getting married shall file complaint as this be against their rights.
Reference
Robinsons, D. (2013), Workplace Discrimination Prevention Manual: Tips for Executives, Managers, and Students to Increase Productivity and Reduce Litigation. Archway Publishing.
