Unbinding Working Women In The Workplace

Male or female; all you have to do is decide which gender you believe you fall under. But when making this decision, remember that being a male gets you way more than being a female. Males receive higher wages, more promotions, and aren’t stereotyped in the work force. So keep all this in mind when deciding what gender you side with. These workplace problems have been around for a long time, but nothing has changed. Gender divides the workplace based on unequal pay for equal work, job stereotyping, and the rate of advancement of men, leaving women feeling less respected and less valued in their job. It is pretty obvious that women do not earn the same about of money as men in an equal position. To me this makes absolutely no sense, if two
people have the same job they should make the same amount of money. When watching the news recently, I saw an entire segment about equal pay for women and in the segment they estimated that it will take until the year 2060 for women earn equal pay for equal work.
I do not understand why we need another forty-five years to figure out that this is completely unjust. In her article “Unbinding Working Women In A "Bindersfull-Of-Women" Nation” Lily Hall describes the unfair treatment of women in the workplace when she recalled “American women make twenty-three percent less than American men. In fact, American women are paid less than their male counterparts directly upon entering the workforce…U.S. Congress has blocked the vote on the same gender equality bill three times over the past four years” (641). Hall goes on to explain that Congress believes that there are larger issues to resolve than equalling wages. For me, I do not see many other issues that affect nearly half of the country’s entire population. Similarly, in her essay "Limitations To Equality: Gender Stereotypes And Social Change." Sophie Smith also described the equal pay issue when she explained “women in management positions received lower basic salaries and bonuses than men in equivalent roles.
Workplaces where women are in the majority (as cleaners, say, or careworkers or in the temporary sector) are some of the lowest paid and most precarious: as a rule, sectors traditionally seen as ‘women’s work’ command the smallest salaries” (144-145). Smith shows us, once again, the unexplained disrespect women face in the workforce. As she said, jobs that have a majority of women working in them are some of the lowest paid jobs. Take teaching for example, it is a job dominated by women and it is obvious to most that they get underpaid, I had numerous teachers throughout the years complain about their salary. I think equal pay for equal work is common sense, but clearly for reason, this issue is still not resolved. In conclusion, I still have not idea why females should get paid nearly a quarter less than male counterparts at the same job. Being that we are in the 21st century, I would expect a lot less stereotyping of jobs for women. In her essay “Lean In: What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid?” Sherry Sandberg described her mother’s options of careers when she said “she surveyed a workforce that she believed consisted of two career options for women: teaching or nursing” (643). In todays society, we still see women as a majority of teachers and nurses but that is about it. I feel fewer men are in those careers because they are “women’s work” and men can do better than that. But, when females try to explore other career options they are looked down on for trying to do a man’s job. I personally am going into engineering, a field largely dominated by men. Currently, I am the only female in my entire class and I just constantly feel that I am being judged. If a male asks ten questions it is okay, but when I ask one question it is because I do not belong in the field and I do not know what I am doing. Overall, I think that women can do any job just as well as men and vice versa. Based on what I have learned so far, it is no surprise that men advance must faster than women in the workplace.
In most offices a man is the leader of the office. In the rarity that a women is the head of the office, it most likely took her a lot longer to get that position. Sandberg explains, There’s no doubt that women have the skills to lead in the workplace. Girls are increasingly outperforming boys in the classroom, earning about 57 percent of the undergraduate and 60 percent of the master’s degrees in the United States… Career progression often depends upon taking risks and advocating for oneself—traits that girls are discouraged from exhibiting. The pipeline that supplies the educated workforce is chock-full of women at the entry level, but by the time that same pipeline is filling leadership positions, it is overwhelming stocked with men.(646)
I found it interesting that earn the majority of degrees and yet they are still a minority in power positions. In addition, this shows how bias the workplace is since, clearly women are more qualified for certain jobs with their degrees, and yet men still get promotions over them. Overall, I think this issue just adds to the larger conflict of being treated equally in all aspects of the
workplace. In conclusion, gender is creating a huge division in the workplace. With the noticeable wage difference between a man and women at the same job shows how a women’s time is less valuable than a man’s for no apparent reason. Women are also stereotyped in to a small list of jobs and if you venture out of that list many will think you are out of place. Additionally, men advance through the workplace a lot quicker than women, even though statistics have proven that women are usually more qualified. In today’s society there should be no reason why women are still facing these discriminations leaving them less respected and less valued in their jobs.