Gender bias in the workplace Natalie Brown Bryant & Stratton College SOSC 102: Principles of Sociology Annetta Gad July 15, 2012 Abstract Women are represented as being underneath men in an organizational hierarchy. They do not earn as much money as their male counterparts, even though they may work as hard. Gender bias does exist in the workplace. It is the main cause for women not being able to break that invisible barrier, which keeps them from reaching senior levels. A woman can have the same degree as a man but will not be offered the same job as him, simply because of her sex.
Case #1- Forest Park Corporation The problems that the corporation face in terms of staffing are part of the reason why the Judge Paul Kimble’s plan to end practices of racial discrimination on hiring and promotion. I believe the biggest problem came from the company expanding so quickly without expanding their practice of hiring and promotions as well. The company’s employee numbers grew fifty percent along with the number of domestic locations. In a situation like that, it would only be business appropriate to revamp the processes of hiring new employees. Along with the hiring problems, the corporation also has a problem with promotions.
Many women in the United States are viewed as strong and independent people. However, women are also shown to be not as powerful and equal to men, women’s voices are still not heard equally today. The blunt truth is that men still run the world. Thirty years after women became 50 percent of the college graduated in the United States; men still hold more leadership positions in the industry and the government. It is a proven fact that “A man is selected for hire over a woman” (Yurkiewicz) while women should automatically be the ones to sit at home and be less help then a man.
Minorities use to be slaves, and had very little status in society, but that status was built up to the point where there now suppose to be equals. Although, many feel inferior to these immigrants therefore they discriminate against them through gender, age, religion and race. Despite the promotion of equality there are still many types of discrimination in today’s society. Discrimination visibly occurs in the workplace as well as in the mass media. Why are their still forms of discrimination in today’s society?
In an ideal world, this might work, however, for the most part in the United States; whites automatically have a leg up in society. People of color need more assistance than whites because they are automatically a step down from white people. If I walked into a store and applied for a job, even if I was very poor and had no experience, there is a good chance I would be more likely to get it than a black or latina girl of the same situation. This is unfair but true, and speaks of an inequality that our country is still struggling with and that we need these government programs to help balance out. Also, I find issue with his statement that “Those who came to this country in recent decades from Asia, Latin
Consequently, this may increase or reduce job opportunities for certain individuals in the workplace. “Never underestimate the halo effect,’” says Janice Guler, Ceridian’s director of staffing. “Attractive people are assumed to be intelligent and successful and it’s been said that as many as 50 percent of managers make their hiring decisions within the first 30 seconds of setting eyes on an applicant. While this is unfortunate, it’s human nature. People have a real tendency to trust their gut, rather than trusting the empirical data As well as limiting the pool of applicants, discriminating based on appearance allows for the creation of a biased environment in the workplace by reinforcing
At some point, we as women are bound to hit a breaking point. An article by Columbia University describes what happens when women try to balance all of this at once. The article explains that Johnathan Platt, a Ph.D. student in Epidemiology at Columbia University, created a survey and found that when women make less than their male counterparts not only are they two and a half times more likely to experience depression but also as much as four times more likely to deal with anxiety (“Wage”). As if disturbing our mental health is not enough, I believe the gender wage gap also affects our self-confidence as women. For women, we do not need another excuse to feel that we are inadequate, especially because we are told daily; however, the gender wage gap does just that.
Discrimination in the American Workplace Discrimination in the United States takes many different forms, it can be individual or institutional, and it can be intentional or unwitting; discrimination is the unequal treatment of various categories of people. Institutional discrimination can be positive by providing special advantages or negative by creating obstacles. (Macionis, 2010) These various categories of people include characteristics of a person’s race, sex, gender and age; people in all categories face different challenges in the workplace. Job discrimination occurs when: an employer decision harms or disadvantages an employee; decisions are based on a membership in a certain category, rather than their abilities to perform the job; and decisions based on prejudice, false stereotypes, or the assumption that a certain group is inferior and therefore treatment is unequal. (Shaw, 2010) Most of the job discrimination taking place in the American workplace is those against women and African Americans.
Many are not sure as to whether this should be a cause for celebration – or for concern. Many of the schools from the UC system have a wide gap between the numbers of men to women on campus. In 2008, UCLA………………need statistics………………. Many of the schools in the east, such as NYU and are also under the same predicament, with most of the campuses having a greater ratio of women to men. In Vassar College, a liberal arts school in New York, women outnumber men by a shocking 3 to 2 ratio.
This study deals with gender inequality in the modern society and looks at the difficulties women face when they strive for equal success as their male counterparts. About seventy-five percent of the jobs in well-paid professions are held by men and even if women are able to get equal jobs they are still paid considerably less . The central question posed is, are there any differences in the aspirations and career goals between males and females? However, in order to fully understand stereotypical social values about sex-roles in our society, an analysis of the broader context, in terms of the findings of the research of experts in the field, is needed. Thus, this Literature Review discusses the research on gender discrimination in the modern society as well as what drives women into the workforce.