Gender Inequality In The Workplace Essay
Gender Inequality in the Work Place
Gender inequality has diminished compared to the past years, but women are still seen to be fragile, incompetent and belong at home where life is easy and safe. Men are the breadwinners while women are the homemakers, but this should not be because women are just as energetic and enthusiastic as men. According to Katherine Sobering, Jessica Thomas and Christine L. Williams in their article found in the Laurentian University Academic OneFile talk, identify that, “The workplace is an important source of gender inequality in society”, and that’s the gender inequality in the workplace is discussed in this essay.
During the first world war (1914 – 1918), the male citizens, were out in the war zone fighting for their country, but then, there was still work to be done at home, such as building ships, making bombs and aircraft part, ambulance and fire engine drivers, nursing the injured, etc. Women were required to do these jobs, but then after the war the …show more content…
women went back to their former jobs as housewife’s and mothers. Then the second world war (1939-1945) came and the women went back to helping out with the jobs, and after the war, they were expected to go back to their previous jobs, but then women continued to work because most managers wanted them to work, due to the enthusiastic and positive attitude they had while working, but the men came back home and had arguments that, women should not work, women should not do the same work that men do (which led to the argument; “what men can do women can do better”), and that even if they worked, they should not be paid the same wage men were paid.
Times have passed, the world has developed and these days’ women are engineers, lawyers, doctors and head of states. Though it’s hard to admit, the discrimination and gender inequalities are still practiced. In some underdeveloped and developing countries, women don’t work, cause they should take care of their children and their homes, also, in some companies, women are given the least work because they are women and are ‘fragile’, and because they are given the least work, they are paid lower wages than men.
At the beginning of a marriage, there are no children and at this point couples have no problem deciding who would or should take care of the children or the home, so both couples work and obtain payment, but when children or even a child comes into the situation, the couples become parents and now have a responsibility. At this point, who should take care of the child becomes an issue, and culturally, the woman/mother should stay at home and take care of their children and the home. An article written by Medora W. Barnes called, Gender Differentiation in Paid and Unpaid Work during the Transition to Parenthood, states that “when people become parents, their work and family behaviours become increasingly differentiated by gender” (Medora Barnes 2015), the article also talks about how some couples decide to share the childcare work, but the woman / mother is still expected to do most of the work. Due to this situation, the woman tends to spend all her leisure hours with her child, while the man allocates few of his leisure hours.
In most cases, spending all her leisure hours with her child would eventually make her stop working, because it is stressful having two jobs (childcare is detected as a job in the article by Medora Barnes), and in other cases, employers don’t allow mothers to work because, they expect full concentration at work and not divided attention, just like the article Gender In/equality in Worker-owned Businesses say, “employers' preference for hiring those with few distractions outside of work gives men an implicit advantage over women, who often hold primary care responsibilities for family members”. She is left with no option but to relinquish outside work and choose the child and home care work and this puts her in the ‘housewife’ position. Alternatively, if the childcare had been shared equally, the stress or dismissal would be avoided. In other words, mothers should not be expected to give all her leisure hours to childcare while fathers only give up part of theirs just because culturally the mother is the homemaker. Being a female, I have occasionally had arguments with my male friends about not working when I’m married, and like I always say, “I would not renounce education (which I have paid so much for), therefore I would not renounce the outside work (where I’ll be paid back in bits)”.
In an article called, “Race, Gender, Hollywood: Representation in Cultural Production and Digital Media's Potential for Change” and written by Maryann Erigha, gender inequality is expressed in the less work women are given in Hollywood, it states that “Although women accounted for more than half of the 2010 US population, there remains a substantial amount of gender inequality in Hollywood film and television production” (Maryann Erigha 2015). The article basically illustrates how women are given the least parts in different sections of Hollywood movies, from behind the scenes to directors, writers and the actresses. It further elaborates on how women are hardly leading role characters, quoting “In acting, women accounted for 26 percent of lead roles in theatrical films (Hunt et al. 2014, p. 6)”.
In addition, quoting from the article referred to above written by Katherine Sobering, Jessica Thomas and Christine L. Williams, called Gender In/equality in Worker-owned Businesses, the writers talk about how women are being marginalized in the workplace, in the sense that, they are not given as much work to do at work because they are women, the article also states that, “women in ESOPs have less access to power and authority than men. Compared to men, women are more intensely supervised, have less job security, and are less likely to hold management positions or be promoted in these firms”(Katherine, Jessica and Christine 2014). ESOP in the article stands for Employee Stock Ownership Plans. The writers also talk about gender in the work cooperatives, explaining more about how male employees have more status and pay in companies than women. They also talked about Gender in communes, where inequality was also discussed.
To illustrate the fact that the pay gap between men are women in the workplace is a form of gender inequality, considering the above points, if women are not allowed to work full time and are not given the opportunity to do the work men do, then they obviously won’t be paid the same amount men are paid. An article written by, Eileen Patten called “On Equal Pay Day, key facts about the gender pay gap”, discuses on how there is a pay gap between men and women in the workplace, it say that, “According to the White House, full-time working women earn 77% of what their male counterparts earn” (Patten 2015). This article also talks more on how women would have to work extra hours, which add up to 60 days, before they would earn what men earn. Though it talks about how things have changed since the nineties, there is still a pay gap. The article explains that women earn 84 cents of every dollar made by men.
Similarly, the article written by Medora W. Barnes called, Gender Differentiation in Paid and Unpaid Work during the Transition to Parenthood, stated that, “the economic opportunity costs for a woman's time at home are still often lower than for her partner due to the gender wage gap” (Barnes 2015). It also talked about how mothers are paid less than women that are single or don’t have children, but the fact still remains that women are paid lower wages than men, because men are given much more concentrated jobs, which is because women are regarded as weak and fragile. Paying women less than men is an act of gender inequality and gender discrimination, which makes the women, fell marginalized and isolated in the workplace.
Given the above points, and as stated already, the gender inequality in the work place started long time after the second world war, due to the fact that women wanted to work, the managers fancied employing the women, but then the men needed them at home and according to James Brown an artist, he sang in his song that “this is a mans world”, but then he also said that “it would be nothing, nothing, without a woman or a girl”.
As a matter of fact, all these points add up, if most women are not given the opportunity to work, then women are not strong enough to do the same work men do, which means that, they would be given less work than men, therefore, they wouldn’t get the same pay that men get. Due to these circumstances, there is a pay gap, and this is what really causes the gender inequality in the workplace. Gender inequality has been a problem in many situations and societies, and there shouldn’t be, because women and men should be treated as equals, especially in the
workplace.
Gender inequality has diminished compared to the past years, but women are still seen to be fragile, incompetent and belong at home where life is easy and safe. Men are the breadwinners while women are the homemakers, but this should not be because women are just as energetic and enthusiastic as men. According to Katherine Sobering, Jessica Thomas and Christine L. Williams in their article found in the Laurentian University Academic OneFile talk, identify that, “The workplace is an important source of gender inequality in society”, and that’s the gender inequality in the workplace is discussed in this essay.
During the first world war (1914 – 1918), the male citizens, were out in the war zone fighting for their country, but then, there was still work to be done at home, such as building ships, making bombs and aircraft part, ambulance and fire engine drivers, nursing the injured, etc. Women were required to do these jobs, but then after the war the …show more content…
women went back to their former jobs as housewife’s and mothers. Then the second world war (1939-1945) came and the women went back to helping out with the jobs, and after the war, they were expected to go back to their previous jobs, but then women continued to work because most managers wanted them to work, due to the enthusiastic and positive attitude they had while working, but the men came back home and had arguments that, women should not work, women should not do the same work that men do (which led to the argument; “what men can do women can do better”), and that even if they worked, they should not be paid the same wage men were paid.
Times have passed, the world has developed and these days’ women are engineers, lawyers, doctors and head of states. Though it’s hard to admit, the discrimination and gender inequalities are still practiced. In some underdeveloped and developing countries, women don’t work, cause they should take care of their children and their homes, also, in some companies, women are given the least work because they are women and are ‘fragile’, and because they are given the least work, they are paid lower wages than men.
At the beginning of a marriage, there are no children and at this point couples have no problem deciding who would or should take care of the children or the home, so both couples work and obtain payment, but when children or even a child comes into the situation, the couples become parents and now have a responsibility. At this point, who should take care of the child becomes an issue, and culturally, the woman/mother should stay at home and take care of their children and the home. An article written by Medora W. Barnes called, Gender Differentiation in Paid and Unpaid Work during the Transition to Parenthood, states that “when people become parents, their work and family behaviours become increasingly differentiated by gender” (Medora Barnes 2015), the article also talks about how some couples decide to share the childcare work, but the woman / mother is still expected to do most of the work. Due to this situation, the woman tends to spend all her leisure hours with her child, while the man allocates few of his leisure hours.
In most cases, spending all her leisure hours with her child would eventually make her stop working, because it is stressful having two jobs (childcare is detected as a job in the article by Medora Barnes), and in other cases, employers don’t allow mothers to work because, they expect full concentration at work and not divided attention, just like the article Gender In/equality in Worker-owned Businesses say, “employers' preference for hiring those with few distractions outside of work gives men an implicit advantage over women, who often hold primary care responsibilities for family members”. She is left with no option but to relinquish outside work and choose the child and home care work and this puts her in the ‘housewife’ position. Alternatively, if the childcare had been shared equally, the stress or dismissal would be avoided. In other words, mothers should not be expected to give all her leisure hours to childcare while fathers only give up part of theirs just because culturally the mother is the homemaker. Being a female, I have occasionally had arguments with my male friends about not working when I’m married, and like I always say, “I would not renounce education (which I have paid so much for), therefore I would not renounce the outside work (where I’ll be paid back in bits)”.
In an article called, “Race, Gender, Hollywood: Representation in Cultural Production and Digital Media's Potential for Change” and written by Maryann Erigha, gender inequality is expressed in the less work women are given in Hollywood, it states that “Although women accounted for more than half of the 2010 US population, there remains a substantial amount of gender inequality in Hollywood film and television production” (Maryann Erigha 2015). The article basically illustrates how women are given the least parts in different sections of Hollywood movies, from behind the scenes to directors, writers and the actresses. It further elaborates on how women are hardly leading role characters, quoting “In acting, women accounted for 26 percent of lead roles in theatrical films (Hunt et al. 2014, p. 6)”.
In addition, quoting from the article referred to above written by Katherine Sobering, Jessica Thomas and Christine L. Williams, called Gender In/equality in Worker-owned Businesses, the writers talk about how women are being marginalized in the workplace, in the sense that, they are not given as much work to do at work because they are women, the article also states that, “women in ESOPs have less access to power and authority than men. Compared to men, women are more intensely supervised, have less job security, and are less likely to hold management positions or be promoted in these firms”(Katherine, Jessica and Christine 2014). ESOP in the article stands for Employee Stock Ownership Plans. The writers also talk about gender in the work cooperatives, explaining more about how male employees have more status and pay in companies than women. They also talked about Gender in communes, where inequality was also discussed.
To illustrate the fact that the pay gap between men are women in the workplace is a form of gender inequality, considering the above points, if women are not allowed to work full time and are not given the opportunity to do the work men do, then they obviously won’t be paid the same amount men are paid. An article written by, Eileen Patten called “On Equal Pay Day, key facts about the gender pay gap”, discuses on how there is a pay gap between men and women in the workplace, it say that, “According to the White House, full-time working women earn 77% of what their male counterparts earn” (Patten 2015). This article also talks more on how women would have to work extra hours, which add up to 60 days, before they would earn what men earn. Though it talks about how things have changed since the nineties, there is still a pay gap. The article explains that women earn 84 cents of every dollar made by men.
Similarly, the article written by Medora W. Barnes called, Gender Differentiation in Paid and Unpaid Work during the Transition to Parenthood, stated that, “the economic opportunity costs for a woman's time at home are still often lower than for her partner due to the gender wage gap” (Barnes 2015). It also talked about how mothers are paid less than women that are single or don’t have children, but the fact still remains that women are paid lower wages than men, because men are given much more concentrated jobs, which is because women are regarded as weak and fragile. Paying women less than men is an act of gender inequality and gender discrimination, which makes the women, fell marginalized and isolated in the workplace.
Given the above points, and as stated already, the gender inequality in the work place started long time after the second world war, due to the fact that women wanted to work, the managers fancied employing the women, but then the men needed them at home and according to James Brown an artist, he sang in his song that “this is a mans world”, but then he also said that “it would be nothing, nothing, without a woman or a girl”.
As a matter of fact, all these points add up, if most women are not given the opportunity to work, then women are not strong enough to do the same work men do, which means that, they would be given less work than men, therefore, they wouldn’t get the same pay that men get. Due to these circumstances, there is a pay gap, and this is what really causes the gender inequality in the workplace. Gender inequality has been a problem in many situations and societies, and there shouldn’t be, because women and men should be treated as equals, especially in the
workplace.