Women Sex Gender and Work
This discrimination can come in the form of sexual harassment, withholding promotions based on gender, giving a different job title to a woman and preventing women from participating in training opportunities. The discrimination against females in the workplace can include diminished company revenue, high employee turnover, and low morale and reduced productivity. This entire situation is well elaborated in the telefilm ‘Her Brilliant Career’, directed by Lan McLaren in 2005. The film tells about the workforce discrimination and economic world in a unique way, which is based on the issue of the masculine identity and sex. The movie explains the fact that the males try hard for driving out and driving down females. The males adopt this attitude especially for the women that are reluctant to adopt the behavior and values of the identity associated with masculinity in the workplace.
The working women are discriminated in the workplace in a way that they are given forced works, they have to perform work under compulsion and they are given less pay, which does not justify their hard work. The same is shown in Her Brilliant Career; women are not given the quality tasks that help them to enhance their skills, rather they are pressurized for the performing the tasks that males are not willing to do. The telefilm also indicates the facts that men are encouraged for their participation in the decision making process but females are not even told about the decisions and their opinion is not considered. Furthermore, the work of women is devalued that has resulted in the lower pay of women as compared to men.
The film is also supportive of the workplace gender discrimination in a way that it describes the element of sex segregation. Males in the film do not have flexible attitudes towards women and they consider that same gender should work together, and all there is no need of different genders for a similar type of task. Furthermore, it can be seen in the film that men have dominating positions at the top levels and women are not considered even for the promotions. However, this can be analyzed from the fact, that in the film, the former prime minister of Canada named Kim Campbell has said that men have never questioned about the suitable role, and there is no reason for them to question about such matters as they majority males are at top positions, where they have power and authority. He further said that males do not have any divine right for the ruling in the organizations.
Further, he also explained that women have also made progress by getting through the glass ceiling, which prevents them from advancing. The fact is that women remain markedly absent whenever there is a combination of money and power, irrespective of their profession. But, in fact the problem does not lies in the glass ceiling, the problem is that men are dominating in the society that are not encouraging females to come forward and do jobs similar jobs like men and get equal pay and incentives. This is because, as also shown by the film, the males want females to adopt the same behaviors and cultural values, which are set by them according their own wants and needs.
However, the workplace is a place of disadvantages for certain groups because the group that has power and authority want to exercise their right to the fullest on the weak group, which do not allow the weak group to excel in life. The same is shown in the film where men want the women to follow their set rules and regulations without complaining about anything. Women face so many challenges when they try to make it to the top of their profession. Glass ceiling is still present in the societies, which is affecting 73% female (Snowdon). This is because, in the male dominating societies, it is considered that men are the real breadwinners, so they deserve high pay and are given priorities. While, women are house makers, so they do not have any need to go out and do jobs.
Furthermore, it is also considered that men invest for the acquisition of skills, which means that the jobs of men are skilled, and they become experienced and deserve higher positions and higher pay. This common thinking of society is not letting the women make progress and creating hurdles to attain higher positions in their profession. The situation of workplace gender discrimination can be controlled by improving the policies regarding hiring and promotion of individuals. Equal opportunities and chances should be provided to both the sexes. Workplace audits should be performed so that employers can approach the areas and can improve the internal practices and policies for abolishing sex discrimination.
Moreover, pay for performance and job should be ensured in the organization, this will serve as a motivational tool for both genders and help to ensure equality (Boachie-Mensah, and Dogbe). If male worked more and achieved all his targets, then should be paid according to his performance. If females do hard work and achieve their targets successfully then, they should be paid according to their work. Undue pressure should not be exerted on females. I have also seen a similar situation at my workplace. The females were not considered equal to men in any way, they are given less importance in the organization, and all they were even considered to responsible of all the mistakes in work. But, this practice should be stopped as females are do hard work and they also deserve promotion and top management positions just like males.
References
Snowdon, Graham. "Women still face a glass ceiling."Guardian. (2011): n. page. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2011/feb/21/women-glass-ceiling-still-exists-top-jobs.
Boachie-Mensah, Francis , and Ophelia Delali Dogbe . "Performance-Based Pay as a Motivational Tool for Achieving Organisational Performance: An Exploratory Case Study." International Journal of Business and Management. 6.12 (2011): 270-285. Print.
