Gender Discrimination in the Workplace Business & Marketing Essay (Essay Sample)

Words: 2000
Essay Question:Have attitudes towards women in the workplace changed since the 20th century? Assess the current figures for over 500 hundred firms to see the extent to which the gender pay gap has worsened.
Using this link, base your answers on the figures shown.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42580194
In your essay you should provide an informed, critical commentary on the issues raised in the news story. Please note that this should not take the form of a case study analysis. Rather, the news article should act as a catalyst for a more general commentary on the salience of the issue, its evolution, and its implications for managing diversity in the workplace.
Must include:
• The theory of the ‘Glass Ceiling’
• Must compare Current trends with trends from the beginning of the 20th century
• Include the following theories in support/opposed to the question.
• Classical theories of gender segregation at workplace
o Marxist theorists argue that women comprise a ‘reserve army of labour’ (Bruegal 1979)
o Radical feminists argue that all kinds of oppression are derived from a system of patriarchal relations (Walby 1990).
o Dual System theory explains the dual role of capitalist system and patriarchy in producing and sustaining gender segregation in labour force.
o Feminist post-structuralism looks philosophically at the way in which women are treated in the world and attempts to break down barriers by identifying how societal influences have led to the status quo.
• Approaches to promote gender equality at workplace
o Liberal approachesaims at achieving the removal of discriminatory policies and practices in employment.
o Radical approacheschallenges the existingorganisational and social structures
o Transformational approachesaims at ‘combating day to day inequalities in organisational life’ & change the organisational structures and cultures to form a democratic organisation
o Multilevel approachesfocuses on a relational framework that bridges the divide between macro-societal, meso-organisational and micro-individual levels