Gender bias goes against the growing spirit of women. With females scaling heights in almost every field, subtle forms of discrimination as glass ceiling obliterate the very nature of a transparent and healthy business ambiance. While the induction of three women combat pilots for the first time in Indian Air Force speaks of their grit, changing entrepreneurial landscape in the America and the rest of the world well reflects the growing potential of the fairer sex. Ironically, a significant gender gap still exists in employer firms despite increasing numbers of women as owners of small businesses. In addition to that, women are more likely to being discriminated as their capabilities are often mistakenly associated with gender stereotypes. In a $16 million lawsuit, Ellen Pao sued her employer for overlooking her for promotions because of the gender and terminating her when she raised the matter. Several stories of this sort hit the headlines in 2015 thereby confirming the existence of gender orthodox images that still exist in a so-called modern era.
Wal-Mart faced issues when its six females employees filed a lawsuit citing the discriminatory policies in salary, training, and bonuses. A thorough investigation revealed that the discrimination was systemic and affecting other women employees also. However, the organization has reached a long way in promoting gender equality by increasing the numbers of female workers. Against 14 percent female store managers a decade ago, the organization houses nearly 40 percent female store managers currently. Wal-Mart is not an exception. Several big names including Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft have faced lawsuits for gender discrimination. Diversity initiatives, though, have boosted female presence in Wal-Mart and other organizations as well. Second career initiatives by Unilever have also earned accolades by corporate honchos.
Though efforts by Wal-Mart and a few other companies are imitable, only a small chunk comprises top level positions in the corporate as a whole. While their presence is more tilted towards low earning industries, significant differences in earning seem to exhibit the hollowness in the notions of women equality and empowerment. Though comprising of 50 percent of the total workforce, they occupy only 30 percent of salaried managerial positions. Only 20 percent of middle-level managers and 5 percent of executives are women
Not only the United States but also the whole world is grappling with the issue. Despite enacting legal laws and acts( e.g., The sex discrimination act of 1975 in the UK, The Canadian human rights act) to prevent the discrimination, it continues unabated thereby affecting women’s power, position, decision-making, and influence at the workplace. The available literature well documents that there is a strong linkage between discrimination, harassment, and glass ceiling. There are multiple factors, overt and covert, that might prevent women reaching the place that they deserve.
Occupational sex segregation, though declining since last three decades, still marks its presence. Research reveals that 7 out of 10 jobs are still sex-segregated, and there is a majority of women nurses, flight attendants in support of their male counterparts who constitute the majority of pilots, physicians, and executives. Most of the women-specific profiles have a low career ladder, low status, and lesser pay than male counterparts.
Sexual harassment is another major issue that falls under the ambit of overt discrimination. The research estimates that at least 50 percent of women face harassment at some point in their career. Statistics highlight that sexual harassment is a global malady that also perpetuates the occupational sex segregation. It might be because of the fear of harassment and unfair treatment that women voluntarily enter occupations having lesser pay and fewer opportunities. O’Farrell and Harlan(1982) identified that women who work in non-traditional occupations face frequent harassment. Explicitly, sexual harassment forms one of the important factors for occupational segregation.
The glass ceiling, by contrast, is a subtle form of discrimination referring to invisible or hidden barriers that put obstacles to women’s professional advancement. Top newspapers and scholarly articles confirm that women encounter numerous barriers because of prevailing stereotypes, gendered norms, and pigeonholed mindset of employers. However, some opinions point towards the cultural factors that might put women in a comfort zone. The responsibility of children and work are some of the aspects that might hinder them towards optimizing their professional skills. Without going into the controversy of whether glass ceiling is the result of stereotypical images or women’s own reservations to come out of the comfort zone, it is worthy to mention that the ceiling still exists. The representation of women in top tier job roles is far less than their male counterparts. For instance, women, in the European Union, make up just ten percent of top executives in 50 public organizations. The similar is the case with the United States where women constitute less than 15 percent on the board of directors of Fortune 500 companies. Undoubtedly, women, at times, do not dare to come out of the pink ghettos, but that is again because of cultural, social, and organizational bias towards them. In substance, male dominance still rules the world and the fairer sex is left with limited options compared to their potential.
Habib(2000) studied the impact of Brick Wall in the arena of public administration in Bangladesh. Results suggested a strong role of social and cultural factors that prevented the entry of women in civil services. Legal laws and regulations were also found to be ineffective in front of systemic and attitudinal reasons. However, not all factors of discrimination are clearly visible in the workplace. A series of recent studies revealed that many women working in top positions admit that subtle factors as social exclusion, lack of mentoring, inhospitable corporate culture, and being excluded from the informal communication networks are barriers to professional advancement(Catalyst 2004).
Social psychologists aver that gender stereotypes stay at the core of our perception. Descriptive stereotypes describe the differing traits about men and women at work so strongly that it guides the behavior of individual A concerning individual B even if both haven’t met. In contrast to descriptive stereotypes, prescriptive stereotypes refer to the set of characteristics that state how man and woman should be. Literature affirms that the existence of these stereotypes hampers the objective decision making. At the same time, these obliterate the accurate processing of employees’ skills, attitudes, and motives. Delving deeper into the notion of stereotypes can uncover the reasons for prevailing gender inequality at the workplace. However, current research suggests that there are some faulty perceptions regarding actual attributes of women. These discrepancies have been accommodated into the lack of fit model of gender discrimination. On the one side of this model lies the perception and the other side is occupied by descriptive stereotypes. Undoubtedly, sex is a salient feature of the society and different attributes associated with men and women shape the view of employers regarding workers' skills and knowledge.
Though companies are making required initiatives to include women, the situation at the top has not ameliorated to the desired level. Scholars have aptly stated that gender stereotypes play a major role in discrimination against women. Imbibed in the culture as well society, gendered notion has not taken a beating though 21st century has witnessed much betterment than previous eras. It is necessary for the employers to shed the gendered prism if they have to make the workplace healthy and women-friendly.
References
Bilkis, A., Habib, S. B., & Sharmin, T. (2010). A Review of Discrimination in Employment and Workplace. ASA University Review .
Bose, C., & Whaley, R. (2001). Sex Segregation in the U.S. Labor Force. Los Angeles, CA.
Catalyst. (2007). 2006 Catalyst Census of Women in Fortune 500 Corporate Officer and Board Positions. Retrieved June 25, 2016, from catalystwomen.org: http://www.catalystwomen.org/knowledge/wbd.shtml
Catalyst. (2004). Women and Men in the US Corporate Leadership: Some Workplace Different Realities. New York: The Catalyst.
Crosby, F. J., Stockdale, M. S., & Ropp, A. S. (2007). Sex Discrimination in the Workplace: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. Wiley.
Eagly, A., & Karau, S. (1987). Role Congruity Theory of Prejudice Toward Female Leaders. Psychological Review , 573-98.
Farrell, O., & Harlan, S. (1982). Craftworkers and Clerks: The Effect of Male Cowerker Hostility on Women's Satisfaction with Nontraditional Jobs. Social Problems , 252-264.
Kim, M. (2000). Women Paid Low Wages: Who They Are and Where They Work. Monthly Labor Review , 26-30.
Zafarullah, H. (2000). Through the Brick and Wall Glass Ceiling: Women in the Civil Services in Bangladesh. Work and Organization , 197-209.
Zhou, L. (2015, December 31). The Biggest Stories About Gender Inequality at Work. Retrieved June 25, 2016, from theatlantic.com: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/12/gender-equality-workplace-2015/422328/
