The Women’s Rights Movement arrived at its climax in 1970s and 1980s. However, there is still gender bias against women in the workplace. Discrimination is visible in many ways, including in the areas of wage equality, career progression, and leadership. Furthermore, such discrimination exists all over the world, though the capacity that such discrimination takes varies from country to country. While there has been undoubted progress in achieving gender equality over the decades, the task has not yet been completed.
In her article, “The Glass Escalator: Hidden Advantages for Men in the “Female” Professions,” Christine Williams reports on studies which show that men do not face any disadvantages in entering “female” professions and, in fact, they experience many advantages in this circumstance. However, the same is not true for women. Williams discusses the difficulties faced by women who attempt to progress their careers in traditionally “male” roles. She claims that there is still a lot of discrimination against such women and they face many disadvantages. She says: “This discrimination has taken the form of laws or institutionalized rules prohibiting the hiring or promotion of women into certain job specialties” (Williams 254). It is interesting that while men find advantages in working in a profession where the opposite gender dominates, women experience the opposite. Even without going into details, this is important information in itself. As well as more obvious types of discrimination such as being held back from promotion or receiving less pay, Williams claims that “informal” discrimination can take place, “when women encounter sexual harassment, sabotage, or other forms of hostility from their male co-workers resulting in a poisoned work environment” (Williams 254).
Wage differences between men and women has been a long discussed and studied topic and a bone of contention, in equal measures. However, the gap between what men earn and what women earn, in the same role, still exists. According to Francine Blau, in all Western societies, on average, women earn lower wages than men (1). While the gender wage gap has seen some significant changes for the better over the years, studies show that there are gender inequalities still remaining (Blau 1). The Equal Pay Portal provides statistics of the status of gender equality, or inequality, regarding wages in the UK for 2016. According to the site: “In April 2016 the gender pay gap (for median earnings) for full-time employees was 9.4 per cent, down from 9.6 per cent in 2015” (Equal 1). The report goes on to say that when part-time workers were taken into account, “the gap decreased from 19.3 per cent in 2015 to 18.1 per cent in 2016” (Equal 1). Apparently, this was the most significant yearly reduction since 2010. This information shows that inequality has reduced quite dramatically over the years. However, the gap still exists and, therefore, discrimination against women is still taking place.
Another area in which gender discrimination against women is rife is in upward career mobility. This bias occurs all around the world, including in Pakistan. In their article, “Discrimination and Career Mobility Among Female Bank Employees,” Hussain et al report on a 2016 study into the connection “between gender discrimination and career mobility in a sample of female bank employees” (Hussain 468). The results of the research revealed that female bank employees are indeed still discriminated against as a result of their gender, and such discrimination related to upward career mobility (Hussain 480). A particularly interesting finding is that career promotion in jobs based on educational level or advancement is not consistent in the case of female bank employees. Even women who have higher or equal level qualifications to their male counterparts still do not seem to progress in their careers. Other results of this research reveal that: “work family balance, self efficacy and social norms also have influence on female staff mobility” (Husain 480). While this study was localized to Pakistan, it is likely that research in many countries would reveal similar results.
As well as general career mobility, women in high leadership roles tend to face discrimination in current society. According to Michele Paludi, this is largely due to genders being separated by differences in status. Because of this, she says, “with men as a group viewed as higher in status than women as a group, women leaders have to contend with perceptions of role incongruity based not only on gender but also on status” (Paludi 87). She goes on to explain that as role incongruity theory asserts, individuals whose qualities or actions match expectations are usually seen more positively than individuals whose qualities or actions go against expectations. In this way, men are seen as people of a high status, and are believed to be competent; therefore, it is more difficult for men to display incompetence than it is for women. On the other hand, because women are seen as individuals of lower status, they are expected not to be competent; therefore, conversely, it is more difficult for them to display competence than it is for me (Paludi 87). According to this theory, a man who makes a mistake is more likely to be given the benefit of the doubt, and maybe deemed as having been too busy to give the issue sufficient thought before making a decision, whereas a woman is more likely to be deemed a bad leader as a result of her mistake.
While there has been clear and significant progress in achieving workplace gender equality, there is still much evidence of inequality. Wage inequality, the difficulties women experience regarding career mobility, and the challenges women in leadership roles face, all demonstrate that discrimination is still alive and well.
Works Cited
Blau, Francine. “Gender, Inequality and Wages.” Ideas. 2016. Web. 11 Jan. 2017. https://ideas.repec.org/b/oxp/obooks/9780198779971.html
Equal Pay Portal. “Statistics.” 2016. Web. 11 Jan. 2017. http://www.equalpayportal.co.uk/statistics/
Hussain, S et al. “Discrimination and Career Mobility Among Female Bank Employees.” Research Gate. 2006. Web. 11 Jan. 2017. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Shabir_Hyder/publication/307138853_P AKISTAN_BUSINESS_REVIEW_JULY_2016_DISCRIMINATION_AND_ CAREER_MOBILITY_AMONG_FEMALE_BANK_EMPLOYEES/links/57 c2b80008aeda1ec391493d.pdf
Paludi, Michele. “Examination of Female Leaders: Stereotypes, Prejudice and Discrimination.” Why Congress Needs Women: Bringing Sanity to the House and Senate. 2016. Web. 11 Jan. 2017. https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Why_Congress_Needs_Women.html? id=X3sbngEACAAJ&redir_esc=y
Williams, Christine. “The Glass Escalator: Hidden Advantages for Men in the “Female Professions.” Social Problems. 1992. Web. 11 Jan. 2017. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3096961?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
