Impact of Gender on Career – Literature Review
Introduction
Gender inequality is a major problem in the workplace. For numerous reasons, women face discrimination at the workplace and they are treated in ways that prevents them from building and growing a meaningful career. This literature review hypothesizes that the prominence of gender inequality in the work environment creates an atmosphere where women cannot advance in their careers and rise to top-level positions where they take decisions.
Although the Nineteenth Amendment was passed almost 100 years ago, there is a general lack of equality in the workplace in America and the main source of this and the topmost evidence of this is that there are barely 20% of women in the topmost positions in Congress. This means that although America cannot guarantee equality and fairness at the topmost level of the country’s social order, there is bound to be a reflection of this in different branches and different arms and aspects of the economy.
Aside a general lack of women in top positions, there is evidence of income generation limitations. A survey of the American workplace in 2013 showed that the average income of a woman is $49,591 and the mean income of men is $71,442. This shows that on the average, a man ears 70% extra for every payment made to a woman and this indicates that there is evidence of inequality in the workplace, where men are encouraged or allowed to do more whilst women are discriminated against and hence, earn far less.
Aside this, there are various forms of discrimination which manifests itself in unique and subtle ways. For instance, women from minority groups are shown a lot of incivility in the workplace and this goes on to define the limit and the inability of women to compete. This is because there is a general trend of rejecting minority women and this reflects in the promotion and the statistical presence of women in these work environments.
In spite of the apparent limitations and discrimination against women in the workplace, there is a trend towards improvement. However, this trend is rather slow and is not taking effect at a sufficiently fast pace to cover all the differences and limitations.
Inequality of Women and Lack of Opportunities for Career Success and Career Development
Career development is about progression from one position in the workplace to the other. Ultimately, the career development paves way for career success because it enables workers to gain promotion and in most cases, move a person from a basic position to a more managerial or senior position.
There are biological and social factors that stands in the way of women in developing their careers. This relates to the natural situations that comes with the order of women. First of all, women are by nature bound to get pregnant and form family units when they have children and due to this, they are less likely to take off time in order to take care of children and also deal with the needs of their children and the family. This means that women are bound to have limits and breaks in the workplace and there is little or no arrangements by employers to deal with these limits and issues.
Furthermore, women are often tied to families and show higher levels of geographical mobility because they cannot easily move around and find new places to work. Due to this, there is a trend whereby women are not promoted and encouraged. This is because most women are not willing or able to move to different places and learn and also develop their careers.
Until recently, there was a general lack of mentoring and guidance of women in their career development at top level positions. The lack thereof of networks and systems of protecting the interests of women and female managers in top positions mean that women’s needs are often overlooked in the workplace. Therefore, with the growing trend of promoting women’s inclusion and the enhancement of women’s interests and women group is changing the trend. However, women still find it difficult to build and grow their careers in the workplace.
Financial challenges for career development is also overt and common amongst women because most organizations view financial support for career development as an investment. The investment into women is often viewed with a degree of suspicion because women are believed to be people who might change their minds or are weaker. As such, investment in women in career development is meant to be modified and changed. Therefore, women are not treated in the same way in the work place. Due to this, women are fewer in the top managerial positions and they hardly get into executive positions. This makes it difficult for women to make a meaningful life and build a positive future for themselves in the workplace.
Evidence shows that there is a limitation in career success and there are various obstacles that stand in the way of women and their attempt to grow and enhance their careers. Where female workers cannot achieve career success, they are limited in career development and as such, they are treated at the transactional development level. This is because the skill of women is often paid for until they are not needed. However, if the limitations on women is to be removed and leadership in organizations is transformational rather than transactional, women can be encouraged on their own unique level to work and achieve the best levels of results in whatever they do and how they are involved in the workplace.
Causes of Lower Pay, Negative Feedback, Exclusion from Decision Making & Promotion
In some fields, like new fields or fields that require specialized knowledge, women join the sector quite late. Therefore, women are generally underrepresented and as such, they have to take up lower and unspecialized jobs. However, women are being educated in most fields and in these areas, there are high contests and competitions that put women out of work and prevent women from achieving the highest and best results in everything they do.
Traditionally, women are excluded from quantitative decision-making in the workplace because they are seen negatively by masculine dominated jobs where women are viewed as experts in some quality-oriented positions. Through this mindset, women are most likely to be kept out of executive positions and this becomes a norm in most organizations.
There is also an issue with stereotyping and this means that most top positions – executive and managerial is presented in a context of quantitative pointers. This therefore means that a woman is going to have to work within the context and judgement and assessment standards that is designed primarily for men. This explains why men are twice as likely to succeed in top executive and management positions and this means that men have a greater probability of being chosen and being made to thrive through the ranks. Women, on the other hand face a lower probability and there is a high degree of discrimination in the top executive position.
Another school of thought identifies that top positions in some of the most lucrative sectors – finance and innovation oriented jobs is characterized by three main things:
Frustration
Change and
Choice
Thus, to get into these top positions and stay in such positions, there is the need for stress and difficult decisions to be taken. In a world where women face discrimination in their career development, they are often deprived the opportunity to genuinely develop their careers and improve their skills. Thus, when they are promoted and they get to top positions, there is a general challenge and difficulty that comes with the roles and jobs. Therefore, it is difficult for women to stay up in such positions and achieve optimal results in the things they do in top executive positions.
Conclusion
The research confirms the hypothesis. It is therefore conclusive that gender inequality is a major problem in the workplace and this creates an atmosphere where women cannot build their careers to managerial and executive roles and positions. This is due to the fact that little or no adjustments are made for some of the natural trends in women like childbearing and building family units. This has led to discrimination which has been accepted as normal. Thus, there is a challenge in women entering the workforce and when they do, they are less likely to rise to executive positions. If they ever get to executive positions, they are expected to think and act like men and the general challenges and demands of such positions make it difficult for women to succeed in top executive positions.
References
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Fletcher, S., & Mullen, C. A. (2014). SAGE Handbook of Mentoring and Coaching in Education. Thousand Oakes: SAGE.
Harnois, C. E. (2015). Age and Gender Discrimination: Intersecting Inequalities across the Lifecourse. Advances in Gender Research, Volume 20, 89-105.
Heward, C., & Bunwaree, S. (2012). Gender, Education and Development: Beyond Access to Empowerment. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Karsten, M. F. (2016). Gender, Race, and Ethnicity in the Workplace:. Santa Barbera: ABC-CLIO.
McGuire, D., & Jorgensen, K. M. (2014). Human Resource Development: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oakes: SAGE.
Neck, C. (2014). Disappearing women: Why do women leave senior roles in finance? Australian Journal of Management 40 (3), 488-510.
Sanders, J., Koch, J., & Urso, J. (2012). Gender Equity Right From the Start. New York: Routledge.
Trauth, E. M. (2013). Encyclopedia of Gender and Information Technology. New York: IGI Publishing.
Wajcman, J. (2014). Managing Like a Man: Women and Men in Corporate Management. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and SOns.
