Gender Discrimination In Organizations Marketing Assignment (Essay Sample)

Current Business Problems: Case Study
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Introduction
About 75% of women across the globe are suffering gender discrimination. Most of the organizational efforts have failed to recognize the significance of women CITATION Ste13 \l 1033 (Horwitz, 2013). The women not only suffer the glass ceiling effect but also receive less pay for their work done as compared to men. This is regardless of the similarity in the jobs done. Most organizations are finding it hard to define gender discrimination and this has rekindled controversies among employees. Therefore there is need for proper understanding of gender discrimination in organizations.
Ordinarily, the success of a business organization is determined by how effective it makes it decisions. Ethics concerns all levels of life starting from individual level, through the organization and finally the whole society. Ethics surpasses decision making and highly determines how far an organization can go in terms of gender and religious discrimination. In this article we are going to use the utilitarian ethical theory in resolving the issue of gender based wage gap in Goodyear Company CITATION Han131 \l 1033 (Bader, 2013).
In the case of Ledbetter v. Goodyear, there is an element of gender discrimination. It is assumed that Goodyear is on the forefront in propagating sexism. Ethics requires workers to be treated fairly according to the international work standards and work policy. Normally, good work policy with no discrimination boosts the morale of the workers in an organization. This makes them hardworking thus increases efficiency and productivity in the company in the long run. Ledbetter sued the company of gender discrimination. According to her, she had worked for the company for two decades without noticing the courts that she was being discriminated. During the last five years of work before retiring, she heard her friends claiming that she was being paid less as compared to other managers in the same position. However, she trivialized the claim of less pay CITATION Han131 \l 1033 (Bader, 2013).The discrepancy of pay in comparison to other managers revealed that Goodyear Company paid less salary to Ledbetter . The court ruled in favor of the company because she failed to present the case 180 days after the pay discrimination occurred. It was noted that she would have won the case if she would have presented the case within the time span. However, the question of whether this is discrimination is debatable.
Basically, utilitarianism theory asserts that best action is what maximizes on usefulness of an individual in the company CITATION Van14 \l 1033 (Hamilton, 2014). Since this theory will oversee the consequences before a decision is made, it is necessary that the decision be scrutinized. The law of utilitarianism also known as the theory of consequentialism somehow contrasts the social virtues and therefore any decision made based upon this theory, has to be critically evaluated. Utilitarianism requires that all interests be evaluated equally. Therefore, there is need to understand why the company paid Ledbetter the low salary CITATION Cor07 \l 1033 (Cornell, 2007).
* Nature of women.
The disparity of salary could be because of various reasons that are exempted in the Equal Pay Act. It is not fair for the woman to compare her salary with other men managers who are working on the same position but different work conditions. Ordinarily, women will work less hours compared to men. This is because of their cultural expectation in taking care of the children and family. The fact that women are family oriented makes them use less time in the production activity of the company thus less efficiency. This is because their minds might fail to be innovative and creative as compared to men. Men are not concerned much about their families and thus tend to put concerted efforts in the companies than women. In addition, men are more muscular and therefore are able to work in a more uncomfortable and isolated place as compared to women. This includes places such as steel sites and construction places which are only suitable for men. This makes them to earn more as compared to women because they men are paid for the risks in addition to the salary CITATION Ste13 \l 1033 (Horwitz, 2013).
* Work conditions
Arguably, Ledbetter works in a less risky non industrious company and therefore not susceptible to harm and injuries. Besides, she might not accept working in noisy industrious places when given choices of companies. Therefore, her pay is justifiable by the fact that she spends a lot of her time thinking of her family rather than the company. The level of efficiency and profitability would obviously vary when a man takes that position. The high level of efficiency in the company often brings high profits that make people to receive high pay. Goodyear Company has no intention of showing discrimination to Ledbetter because it pays her according to her effort and performance.
* Economic status of company and state
Furthermore, it is true to conclude that different companies have varied levels of efficient or economic status. Comparing salaries of workers in different companies might not be logical. The operation efficiencies in various companies cause varied profitability causing different pay. In addition, the state has also different economic implications. For example, Atlanta has been known over the decades to pay more salaries to women workers due to its good economy CITATION Cor10 \l 1033 (Dougherty, 2010).Goodyear company falls in a geographic area that has low levels of economy and this makes it receive less profitability due to low sales. Ordinarily, a state that has poor economy impli...