Gender and Women in the Workplace

Contents

Gender diversity: Gender diversity and women in the workplace 1
Introduction 1
Literature Review 2
Gender diversity in a workplace 2
Women in the workplace 3
Conclusion 8
References 9

Gender diversity: Gender diversity and women in the workplace
Introduction

Gender diversity was not taken into consideration and most companies have very little knowledge on how to take advantage of it.

Despite the effort to increase diversity of workforce over recent decades, the number of female and minority executives has remained disproportionately low. (Celia & Antonio, 2007)

It may not be true for every country. In the USA women now represent approximately half of the working population, while in the UK women constitute just over 50 per cent of the total workforce and considerable evidence has been gathered that these women are mostly in the executive level positions (Cross & Linehan, 2006)

According to leading US research organisation Catalyst, there is a difference between companies that managed to take advantage of gender diversity and those companies that did not. (Robinson, 2008)

It is therefore important that an organisation should take a closer look at the issue of gender diversity internally within their workforce which could help see how it impacts their operation. (Farrer, 2004)

Literature Review
Gender diversity in a workplace

Heilman and Welle (1998) conducted a study whereby the effects of diversity initiatives on the perceptions of competence were examined. . This study was further revealed by Hartel (1998) that ‘telling people that gender diversity was a consideration in group member selection increases stereotyping’. Gender-role stereotype is a reflection of people’s perception of differences in personality traits and behaviors related to a person’s gender (Lueptow et al., 2001; Moskowitz et al., 1994).

While social change over the past 50 years has been widespread, research has shown that

References: American Management Association. (1998, August). Senior management teams: Profiles and performance. Research Report. Retrieved April 13, 2002, from http://www.amanet.org/ re search/ar chives.htm. Bass, B., Avolio, B. and Atwater, L. (1996), “The transformational and transactional leadership for men and women”, Applied Psychology: An International Review, Vol Birgit Weyer and Weyer und Hansen, (2007), “Twenty years later: explaining the persistence of the glass ceiling for women leaders,” GbR, Lindau, Germany, Women in Management Review Vol Catalyst, (2005),”Women “Take Care”, Men “Take Charge”: Stereotyping of the U.S. Business Leaders Exposed”, New York Celia de Anca and Antonio Vazquez,(2007),”Managing Diversity in the Global Organization”, Palgrave Macmillan, New York. Christine Cross, Margaret Linehan, (2006), “Barriers to advancing female careers in the high-tech sector: empirical evidence from Ireland”, Women in Management Review Vol. 21 No. 1, 2006 pp Federal Glass Ceiling Commission. (1995, March). Making full use of the nation’s human capital. U.S. Government Report. Accessed March 16,2003, from www.ilr.cornell.edu/library/e_archive/gov_reports/GlassCeil-ing/default.html Hartel, C Heilman, M., and Welle, B.. Perceptions of the members of diverse work groups. Paper presented at The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology conference, Dallas, Texas, 1998, April. McGregor, J. and Tweed, D. (2001), “Gender and managerial competence: support for theories of androgyny?”, Women in Management Review, Vol. 16 No. 6, pp. 279-86. Milliken, E. J., & Mar tins, L. L. (1996). “Searching for common threads: Understanding the multiple effects of diversity in organisational groups” Oshagbemi, T. and Gill, R. (2003), “Gender differences and similarities in the leadership styles and behaviour of UK managers”,Women in Management Review, Vol. 18 No. 6, pp Profiles of “successful managers” held by male and female banking managers across Europe, Isabelle Cames, Susan Vinnicombe, val singh, Women in Management Review, Volume 16, Number 3, 2001 108-117 Robinson Rosener, J. (1996), “Ways women lead”, in Nichols, N. (Ed.),Reach for the Top, Harvard Business School Press, Boston,MA, pp. 13-24.ader Society for Human Resources Management Survey Programme Impact of diversity initiatives on the bottom line. Society for Human Resource Management: Alex andria, VA. Also accessed May 13, 2004, from http://www.shrm.org/sur veys Vilkinas, T Vilkinas, T. and Cartan, G. (1993), “Competencies of Australian women in management”, Women in Management Review, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 31-5. Watson, W. E., Kumar, K., & Michaelson, L. K. (1993). “Cultural diversity’s impact on interaction process and performance: Comparing homogeneous and diverse task groups”. Academy of Man agement Journal, 36, pp.590-602.