The claim of this paper is female workers are lower paid than male workers in Malaysia with the same education level. With the changes in demographic, social and economic forces, it has resulted in a large increase in the number of females in paid employment in manufacturing, agricultural and services sectors. Despite females’ earning have improved over the years, males still earn more than females. Male workers are still observed to be in an advantaged position which is earning more than their female counterparts. The three main key points, perception of the female’s role, gender discrimination in the workplace and “Glass Ceiling” effect was identified as the factors that affect female workers are lower paid than male workers. Although Malaysian society is undergoing rapid changes from its strong traditional religious and cultural norms in modern value about female, the responsibility of females is still strongly engaged in household.
Literature Review
The literature offers many explanations for the factors that contribute to female workers are lower paid than male workers. According to Wernick (1994:40), “there is still a perception that there is lack of suitably qualified females for senior management positions”. The author attributes this to the fact that women have limited access to the wide range of development experiences and activities that build to credibility needed to advance. Female’s basic roles are still remaining the same as housewife since ancient time. Thus, female workers are always involved in work-family conflicts that affect their work performance and productivity in the workplace because the perception of females are normally borne household responsibility. Although male and female workers contribute the same level of production but still receive different pay from the employers because of the employer’s discrimination.
Gender discrimination in the workplace was observed in all around the world. An American economist,
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