Business: Diversity in the Workplace
In today's workforce in the USA, 51.7% of all employees are women, and this number is predicted to decrease by the year 2022. (Department of Labor, 2014). Out of this percentage, only about 26% work in the computer and mathematical fields which is a fact that is quite alarming. (Department of Labor, 2014). An analysis of the companies in Silicon Valley revealed that about 47% of 150public companies had no female employees in their executive positions. (Warner, 2015). Women in the workforce earn about $719 to men's $817 median weekly earnings. 70% of all women in the workforce also have children aged 18 and below. Finally, the rate of unemployment in women is at 6.1% which is 0.2% lower than that of men’s rates in the workforce. While women make up about 45% of the Fortune 500 companies in the country, only 4.6 % of them act at the CEO level and only 19% of them sit on the managing boards.
The landmark Griggs v. Duke Power Co. brought to light the gross inequalities in the workplace on a racial front. Before the Title VII was passed into law in 1964, employers were not under any obligation to provide equal opportunities and pay to all their employees and it resulted in the African American workers being relegated to menial, low-paying jobs while their white counterparts earned much higher wages. Once the Title was implemented, the company turned to a subtle way of discrimination that evaluated their employees’ abilities on IQ test scores and their high school diplomas. When the case was presented to the high court, it was unanimously ruled unconstitutional because the testing of the employees was not hinged on their ability to perform in their job capacity but the employers knew that they could discriminate against the blacks by hiding behind such tests.
This case and the issues it brought to light can be translated and applied in preventing gender-based bias in the workplace. While handing out tasks in the workplace, it is crucial that one evaluates each employee by their ability to do it. Such can be done by looking into their performance records and evaluation tests that companies carry out to ascertain how well they are fairing regarding their overall productivity. Each employee should be tested as an individual, whether male or female, and their gender should not weigh in on the decision to assign them to a certain task that is typical. For example, making coffee in the break room should not be assigned to only the women in a department, it should happen in a rotation manner.
One way to remove biases in the hiring process is to involve women on the hiring panels that understand the behavior of women. It has been reported that during interviews women often downplay their skills while men boast of their skills even when they are not as qualified as the women. If only men are involved in the hiring process then, they will not compensate for this difference and lose out on highly qualified female employees.
When introducing a new female employee to an all-male workforce, it is important that the human resource officer lets them know of the possible gender bias that may harbor unconsciously. Acknowledging the problem is the first step of the solution. The second phase would be to provide training to the male employees about the possible biases they could have and most importantly, they should be taught to appreciate and tolerate the behavioral differences between males and females. Finally, the officer should put in place policies that prevent any discrimination in the workplace and implement them to avoid any violations. He/she should stress that despite their differences in gender, the female employee was just as qualified as they were and she should be respected as so.
References
Warner, J. (2015). The Women’s Leadership Gap: Women’s Leadership by the Numbers. Center for American Progress. Retrieved online from www.americanprogress.org
Yakowicz, W. (2014). How to Remove Gender Bias from the Hiring Process. Retrieved online from www.inc.com
