Stereotypes Of Women In The Workplace Essay

Several women throughout history such as Rosa Parks, Hillary Clinton, Joan of Arc, and Sojourner Truth have paved the way for the shape of society through actions and writing; however, the legacy these women left has not been enough to influence the way that society views the role of women. Although most people unintentionally prejudice females, it occurs in several aspects of everyday life. The different forms of discrimination faced by women on a daily basis have relegated them to a status inferior to that of a man’s (King). Stereotyping in society, glass ceilings in the workplace, and sexism in sports are significant areas where discrimination against women manifests.
On a societal level, women face a broad spectrum of inequities. They
are unfairly judged based on a range of physical traits including weight, height, and age; additionally, not all of the judgement comes from physical traits (Sexism). Women are also judged on characteristics such as their level of education, the clothing they wear, and their economic statuses (King). Many people may say that men might be judged by these same qualities, but the extent to which a woman is judged by these characteristics is extreme. According to Julia King, “Abercrombie & Fitch, a U.S. based clothing retailer, has unabashedly excluded plus-sized teenagers from wearing their clothing by only carrying up to size 10 for girls, furthering the misled concept that women need to fit a certain size to fit in.” Some of these traits are out of a woman’s control, and it is absolutely unacceptable for society to eat away at a woman’s confidence based on the way she looks, the clothing she wears, what level of education she has achieved, or how much money she makes.
Within the workplace, there are several unequal opportunities and disadvantages for women.
According to Michelle Johnson, “Women earn about 77 cents to the white man’s dollar… The wage gap for women of color- black women earn, on average, 68 cents for every dollar a white male makes, Hispanic women, 59 cents.” Although the wage gap between men and women is closing, Johnson predicts that, at the present rate, women’s earnings will not catch up to those of men until 2056. An additional issue comes about when discussing the ratio between executive positions that men hold to those that women hold. “In 2012, women held executive officer positions at only 14.2 percent of Fortune 500 companies” (Johnson). That means, at 85.8 percent of those companies, only men held executive officer positions. Some argue that these positions are held by men because of their level of education compared to women, but women are attending college- and graduating- in such great numbers that some schools have quietly begun practicing affirmative action for men (Johnson). In fact, “in the 2012-13 academic year, women earned slightly more than half of all doctorates” (Johnson). These facts validate that the excuses men are making to justify why they are able to achieve a higher job title are, in fact, invalid. There are not any excuses or justifications to present a woman with subsidiary job opportunities or pay her less just because she is a
woman.
On top of harsh judgement within society and and mistreatment in the workplace, women also face stumbling blocks in the arena of sports. Women’s ascension to administrative positions in college athletics is very uncommon: “Only 19.3 percent of college athletic directors are female. In absolute numbers, that means 201 females versus 850 males” (Tigay). The customary role that women play in a family most likely influences the reason why women are not afforded these positions of power, but who fits the description for a director of sports better than one who has spent every day encouraging, motivating, and upbringing her family? Women continue to reach milestones and change history in sports on a daily basis around the world. With continued intoleration for prejudice, women will overcome the hurdles that hinder the equality of men and women in sports.
Opportunity for women is slowly revolving from the time when the women’s rights revolution began in the 1960’s. A massive breakthrough of females consistently achieving high success is needed to help women move closer to true equality to men. It will take a colossal amount of time and patience, but as people learn more about sexism and consciously reject it, stereotyping and unequal opportunity will begin to curtail and eventually recede from existence.