Women Suffer Gender Discrimination in Organizations (Essay Sample)

Women suffer gender discrimination in organizations
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Women suffer gender discrimination in organizations
Gender refers to the mere fact that we are either male or female. The femininity and the masculinity of people display unique characteristics that bring about several differences in the role played by each in the society. The unique and the innate personalities of both genders play a key role in various aspects that define our daily lives. This uniqueness that each gender demonstrates greatly influences the participation of people in assortment of tasks in the society. In this regard, research has shown that the working environment has been greatly influenced by gender biases leading to the emergence, persistence, promotion and transformation of gender discrimination where women are victimized in various organizations. According to Simpson (2004), women have been discriminated mainly due to the fact that they portray differing experiences compared to those encountered by their male counterparts. Working in the modern organizations is a proof enough that women are exposed to experiences that are demoralizing and humiliating due to the existing gender expectations and stereotypes describing what women should be like and how they should behave, which greatly denies them credit for successes due, devalues their performance and sometimes punishes them for their competence.
In several organizations, there is evidence to support the fact that, gender discrimination, which is highly denounced and illegal in some areas, is still prevalent. Indeed, according to Welle and Heilman (2005), women discrimination and stereotyping are common phenomena which take place in even the high-profile organizations. In this regard, women have been denied favorable working conditions, denied appropriate promotions and even suitable pay on basis of their gender. Many argue that women discrimination is nonexistent in organizations and other places of work. However, those opposed to the fact that women discrimination is common in organizations need to understand that the vice is promoted in various ways that denies women their right to promotion, reasonable pay for work done and exposure to discouraging environments that dissolves their optimism.
Women have been hindered from ascending up the organizational ladder owing to several gender stereotypes that exists in several institutions. Indeed, Heilman (2001) observes that there is existence of high levels of gender bias during evaluations. This constitutes to the low percentage of the number of women who appear at the high levels and in managerial positions in several organizations. Gender stereotypes are highly descriptive where there is creation of expectations that women are supposed to meet. Moreover, the stereotypical advances are promoted through prescriptions where standards are set which should guide the behavior of women. Supporters and promotes of these stereotypical advances usually disregard women who fail to oblige. As a result, the gender stereotypes promotes bias that erect obstacles that hinder women from advancing despite the fact that these women are competent and are proved to be capable. This supports the fact that gender discrimination is real and present in many organizations (Heilman, 2001).
Majority of the forms of discrimination are perpetuated in various ways. In some organizations, intense forms of discrimination that generate great attention are advanced whereas in others, discrimination is advanced in less visible ways. Welle and Heilman (2005) observes that most of the women in several high positions in many corporations point out that there is social exclusion which is an advanced form of discrimination promoted against women. Moreover, the social exclusion creates a barrier that hinders majority of the women to advance in their careers. In this regards, women lack appropriate mentors in their careers, they are constantly ostracized from the communication networks and exposed to inhospitable corporate culture. On the other hand, men hold a differing viewpoint on the factors above. Men hardly believe that these are important factors that hinder growth and development of careers that women pursue. As a result, the men, who are majority owners of the businesses that women work in, deny the women a chance to prosper by promoting less visible forms of discrimination that highly impact women’s progress in their careers (Welle, & Heilman, 2005).
Considering the oil and gas industry, women form the simple majority amongst the staff working there. The female engineers in the industry argue that they are treated well by their male counterparts who are said to be very helpful and supportive in these organizations. In such working organizations, the men promote gratitude and concern while working with the women. However, these interrelationships may seem appropriate but such come with greater challenges. According to Miller (2004), the society has labeled these women who are judged and treated may be due to their attractiveness. As a result, men tend to create cohorts that propagate divisions on the gender basis and which are foundations for discrimination against women. Hence, men tend to dominate such an industry and thus yield a lot of power that ensures that women remain in their usual place and do not rise to take the place that is held by men. This promotes discrimination against women and it would be wrong to assert that women are free to work in any organization or to say that women are at liberty to practice in all trades freely. This is not usually the case since men dominate some careers and women in the same field will have to oblige (Miller, 2004).
Discrimination based on gender in many organizations affects the optimal movement of talents up the available ranks in an organization. Moreover, the vice affects the quality of employees and their organizational experiences. In this regard, the working environment may be seen to be difficult for navigation for the women who are discriminated against. Moreover, such a working environment seems exclusive which makes the women embrace less-positive attitudes directed towards their jobs. The possibility of disengaging with the work supposed to be done is also a possibility with majority of discriminated women (Welle, & Heilman, 2005). Therefore, the dynamics of discrimination enhance logical processes that perpetuate decisions, attitudes and behaviors that are demonstrated at the work place.
It is a well known fact that both men and women yield creativity and intelligence levels that are equal for both genders. However, women basically shy away from science, mathematics and engineering. As a result, organizations that highly utilize skills in these areas perpetuate discrimination against women while at the same time promoting male dominance. This leads to gendered organizations where the working environment thus created is demeaning to women who findsuch organization undesirable for their development. Hence, in such working places, women suffer high levels of discrimination since ne gender’s supremacy is advocated for while the other is dissolved in pro-male advances (Simpson, 2004).
In majority of organizations, there are problems that are meted towards women when it comes to talent management. Women’s advancement is threatened greatly by the pro-male advances. These encourage a pool of employees that is less diverse where majority of the leadership consists of men who flood the organization and basically, they set the tone that determines the way talents are to be managed, this further complicates the women’s survival in such organizations. The masculine stereotypesdetermine the criteria that advocates for career development, meaning that opportunities that arise are usually awarded to other male counterparts indiscriminately. It becomes difficult for women to thrive in such organizations where they are constantly segregated and as a result, become underrepresented (Simpson, 2004).
In most organizations, there exist "a lack of fit" model that engender gender discrimination. This is evidenced in the irreconcilable difference on the variety of perceptions based on what attributes women posses that encourage success and what it takes to thrive in work settings. On one side, there are different perceptions of work where jobs are highly gender-typed and in the attributes that are taken to be necessary for remarkable success in these industries. In careers like nursing, women form the majority in the nursing career roles while women are the minority in most technical jobs. Success in these fields is attributed to portrayal of gendered traits, attributes and skills. These human makings form the basis in many organizations that lay the foundation for discrimination and establishment of gender-typed organizations. Such organizations are basically male-dominated. These jobs are perceived to require masculine characteristics and women will get discriminated in such organizations(Welle, & Heilman, 2005).
There are several jobs in organizations that offer most power to the bearer of such positions.Such positions in many organizations work in favor of men more than women. Such jobs are well compensated and many aspire for those jobs. For instance, leadership positions in organizationsare overwhelmingly dominated by men and they are classically described in masculine ways. In such inst...