Introduction
Throughout history, women had to endure being treated unfairly more than men in the workforce and overlooked for career opportunities. Women were always perceived as weaker than their male counterparts because they did not match the same intellectual or muscular development. For instance, in the 1950’s, it was expected for women to take care of the home and children, while the men went outside of the home to work. Women were raised to only have the expectations of becoming married and keeping their husband, or overall family happy. However, due to the changes in the legal system and the continuous fight for women equality, the times have significantly changed and women demanded greater, especially in the areas of their careers. But women continue to face discrimination on a daily basis even in the 21st century.
Statistics
“Over 30 percent of women have experienced some form of discrimination within their employer’s work environment and these numbers will continue to grow. It is believed that the higher the career role may happen to be, the more likely the discrimination will be” (Covert, 2013). Many women believe that they would be paid more money if they were a man, and many males also agree that they are paid more than their female work colleagues completing the same job functions. Women will continuously experience these pay gaps all throughout their careers. Even men who are freshly graduated from the same college major with women are proven to make more money. It is important to note that these issues affect all women in general and not just based on skin color, but the fact that it is a woman overall. Statistics show that “82 percent of men and 94 percent of women believe that the policies and laws surrounding this discrimination should make adequate changes to the challenges in equal pay, paid maternity leave and paid sick vacation time” (Covert, 2013). Men still hold higher numbers in CEO or managerial jobs. Women only hold about a low 25 percent of the CEO positions in the Top 500 companies. Out of thousands of these Fortune 500 companies, there are only twenty-two women in charge. Companies across the United States continue to discriminate against women despite the historical growth or advancements.
Glass Ceiling
The concept of the Glass Ceiling is considered to be an attitude which exists in these organizations that prohibits, even the most qualified women from advancing in their careers due to their gender. With this concept, women are only allowed to advance to a certain position within their company and then, not allowed to advance any further. The glass ceiling effect can be felt the hardest throughout the mid-level and senior management positions (Klingshirn, 2016).
Real Life Examples of Discrimination
Women who are pregnant and it becomes noticeable that she is expecting may face a serious risk of losing the very job they need to support themselves and their new baby. For instance, a pregnant woman could possibly become fired from her position if she is the only grocery store cashier and has to continuously run to the bathroom. Or another real scenario happened to a woman named Patricia Leahy, where in 2008, she decided to sue her employer because she provided them an official doctor’s note that she would be unable to lift any heavy objects or climb any ladders in her last month of pregnancy.
Therefore, she was making her employer aware of the situation months in advance, however, the employer decided it would be appropriate to just terminate her from her position altogether. The federal judge in this case sided with the employer because his final judgement consisted of “the termination of Patricia Leahy was fair because the employer was not under any obligation to accommodate her personal or health needs” (Fredrickson, 2015). This situation proves that the law still has a long way to go in these discrimination cases, while at the same time, there are laws which will protect women against discrimination which we will analyze in the next section of our discussion.
Laws and Women’s Rights
Discrimination against women consists of treating them differently within the employment sector specifically based on their gender. From a legal perspective, it is important to understand that the concepts of both sex and gender are perceived differently. “Social scientists utilize the term sex as the biological or anatomical identification of a female, while the term gender is the cultural definition that holds an association with femininity” (Klingshirn, 2016). But whether the discrimination is based on an individual’s sex or gender, it is illegal and should be reported immediately to the appropriate authorities. Then again, it is not always reported because the individuals who are experiencing the discrimination may not say anything due to fear of losing their job, afraid of being ridiculed by other co-workers, do not have the funds or resources to hire an attorney, and just do not want the unnecessary negative attention.
Women become discriminated in the workforce environment for a variety of reasons. Some of these may include not being hired, yet meeting all of the qualifications; and the employer hires a male prospective employee with less qualifications. Another example of discrimination could be a female employee whose been with a company for over a decade, then their pay grade was lowered due to a medical leave. While another male colleague had the same issue, and did not experience any problems.
The federal law which protects individuals from these discrimination experiences are the “Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prevents employers from discriminating against a woman, or anyone in general on the basis of their sex for hiring, termination, promotions and anything else pertaining to employment. This law applies to all employers, whether at the local, state or federal level who has a number of fifteen or more employees” (Klingshirn, 2016).
Unfortunately, transgendered individuals, or men who are converting into a woman is not protected under these laws. There are still many developments which are being regulated and created to serve the needs of transgendered individuals as well in the area of discrimination at work.
The particular agency who enforces this law to protect women against discrimination is the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission). The agency is a member of the federal government whose job is to investigate these sorts of cases. Many states across the country have their own particular branch which helps their citizens. In some instances, they will pay for the legal fees of a woman being discriminated against depending upon the severity of the situation. When a woman decides to take the discrimination matter in front of a federal or state judge, and if the court rules in her favor, then the outcome usually results in reinstatement back to the position which the woman may had been terminated from, work compensation or back pay, promotion, and other punitive damages depending upon the court case. Although the majority of discrimination against women cases may eventually end up in court, there are strategies which could be utilized to stop the discrimination before it even begins. We will analyze these strategies in the next section of our discussion.
Strategies for Change in Women Discrimination
Women feminist movements are pushing for more ways to stop the discrimination against themselves and other women around the world. Their goal is to implement female equality amongst their male counterparts within all sectors of the business environment. We will explore three of these proposed strategies. The first strategy is to stop focusing on the myths because these myths are existing to keep women in their place. If women decided to become creative and challenge these stereotypes, then the myths would gradually go away. For example, an organization who may had discriminated against a woman in the past could write a publication on the modern way of letting these old myths go and replacing them with more positive characteristics about women and how they are an essential part of the overall workforce.
The second strategy is a stronger push for the balance of gender between man and woman. It is believed that if there are more feminists in positions in power, then the decisions of hiring and terminating other female workers will be at their discretion, which will lower the cases of discrimination within an organization. Furthermore, the laws of gender balance must be implemented. Five states throughout the United States are already utilizing this law where this must be a 50/50 balance of both men and women workers in an organization to encourage fairness. This law needs to be passed in all fifty states. The third strategy is to always use the media and network with other female reporters who will use their positions to communicate or expose the discrimination issues within a company so the proper authorities will take notice to either investigate, join the cause, or cause the company to shut its business doors forever if the problem persists.
Conclusion
“Research shows that discrimination against women in the workforce will end in 2096, which is over a century from now. It is this specific year where women will finally have the same opportunities within the economic and career sectors as men. In addition, by the end of this decade, over 800 million women between the ages of 18-45 will enter the workforce (Branson, 2015)”. Women should not have to wait for another century to feel the full effects of equality because it does not allow them to give their full potential as employees and the overall work environment.
Business leaders, both domestic and international hold the responsibility to make changes to the political system so that females are no longer discriminated against. This may include the ultimate celebration of diversity among gender in particular to help bring out the creativity and innovation amongst organizations to focus on the positives instead, and not being negative. It is believed that when the playing field of the work environment is leveled, the business model will instantly transform into a more successful atmosphere which would instead focus on customers, relationship or network building, and profits to continue to thrive in the competitive business world.
References
Branson, R. (2015). On International Women's Day, Business Leaders Call for Action. The Huffington Post. Retrieved 22 June 2016, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-branson/on-international-womens-d_5_b_6816084.html
Covert, B. (2013). About A Third Of Women Have Experienced Discrimination In The Workplace. Think Progress. Retrieved 22 June 2016, from http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/08/19/2486721/about-a-third-of-women-have-experienced-discrimination-in-the-workplace/
Fredrickson, C. (2015). Why Is It Still So Hard for Women to Prove Workplace Discrimination, Even When It is Painfully Obvious? Alternet. Retrieved 22 June 2016, from http://www.alternet.org/books/why-it-still-so-hard-women-prove-workplace-discrimination-even-when-its-painfully-obvious
Klingshirn, N. (2016). Sex / Gender Discrimination - Workplace Fairness. Workplacefairness.org. Retrieved 22 June 2016, from http://www.workplacefairness.org/sexual-gender-discrimination
