Types of gender discrimination in Labor markets
- Allocative discrimination
- Evaluative discrimination
- Within-job discrimination
Allocative discrimination is the unjust treatment of women in the workplace in terms of recruitment policies or promotion opportunities. Here women are generally provided with jobs which are relatively low paying (Hultin & Szulkin, 1999). For example a woman who is highly qualified might end up in a management position but in the HR department where there isn’t much scope for further promotion or exposure whereas a man with the same qualifications might start from the marketing department where he gets a lot of exposure as well as chances of being promoted and reaching a position of power. This type of discrimination supports the glass ceiling a phenomenon which has been discussed before.
Evaluative discrimination is when women workers perform work which was primarily considered to be a man’s work but are paid relatively less than the males even when they possess the same skills and abilities as men and perform the same tasks just as efficiently. This has also been linked to the wage setting process whereby the high presence of females in an occupation is said to relative lower the wages of that particular occupation. This has been shown by studies which reflect that the occupations with high concentration of women workers have relatively lower wages when compared to male dominated occupations which require the same level of skills and work. Thus evaluative discrimination does not target an individual but the whole occupation. (Hultin & Szulkin, 1999).
On the other hand within-job discrimination targets individuals rather than the occupation. Here women performing the same job as men, within the same organization are discriminated against with lower wages. Though unjust treatment like this is illegal in most of the developed countries it still exists in third world countries where women are paid less than men when they are performing the same work (Hultin & Szulkin, 1999). This is exactly what the conflict perspective states about gender stratification. Men have devised the sexual division of labor which lets them have an upper hand in their relations with women due to the higher prestige and income men receive.
A lot of corporations around the world have identified the problem of discrimination and to some extent are working towards making fair and bias free policies. There has been a certain issue about pregnancy leaves for women workers. Traditionally it wasn’t thought of as normal disability for which the employee should be given grants and leaves because according to them it was in the employees hands when she wanted to be a mother. In some corporations like IBM, female workers are given grants for up to a year when they are on pregnancy leave. Even though a lot of corporations have already adapted this policy, when this amendment was proposed in the U.S House of Representatives the chambers of commerce representative argued that this would work against the equal hiring of women and male workers because it would raise the cost of hiring women workers for the firm (Berch, 1982). This develops into a Catch-22 situation where on one hand the corporations are trying to give equal rights to women workers by granting them paid pregnancy leaves and on the other hand discouraging the hiring of women workers as it increases the cost for the organization and would result in lower pays for them.
Sexual Harassment
One of the major issues plaguing the workplace is sexual harassment. It is not unusual for a woman to be the target of sexual advances, unwanted request for sexual favors and offensive conduct of a sexual nature. All this comes under the definition of sexual harassment. More importance is being given to this issue as more and more women have started to move into the corporate world and into the offices.
The high number of women in the corporate world is considered a threat by the men. They think of the workplace as their turf and women as intruders (Williams, 1999). This is especially true in developing countries like Pakistan where there are fewer job opportunities. Once again this conforms to the conflict sociological perspective as both men and women try to outdo each other for control over scarce resources which in this case is the limited number of jobs. Instead of leading to healthy competition this leads to aggressive behavior by the men towards the women, which in turn leads to a negative attitude and harassment.
Whenever the notion of sexual relations in the workplace arises there are two opposing views to it. There are the “pro-sex” feminists which argue that women should be allowed to enjoy sexual freedom, even in the workplaces where they should not be oppressed in expressing themselves (Williams, 1999). Opposing the “pro-sex” feminists are the people who are associated with “radical feminism”. These people work towards removing sexual harassment from the workplace as they argue that there can be no mutual sexual relations in the workplace because of the inequality and discrimination already present in the workplace (Wiliams, 1999). According to them women are oppressed by men in the workplace because of their higher incomes and status. Both of these extreme positions are unsustainable because sexual relationships at work are not always troublesome or sexually harassing neither are they always mutual, the people themselves are able to differentiate between them.
The most common kinds of harassment encountered in workplaces are:
- Hostile Environment Harassment
- Quid-Pro-Quo Harassment
Hostile Environment Harassment occurs when unwanted sexual conduct interferes with a person’s work. This interference doesn’t necessarily have to be of a material nature which can be valued in monetary terms but it can be anything which makes the work environment intimidating. Hostile Environment Harassment is also often associated with verbal misconduct which embarrasses or humiliates a victim, which in turn could lead to lower job satisfaction and performance. (Barry & Shaw, 1998)
Quid-Pro-Quo Harassment is when a person uses his authority in the workplace to seek sexual favors from other employees. In this case rewards and punishments are associated with the compliance the victim (Barry & Shaw, 1998). This again leads to a very negative outlook towards job motivation because here the way to the top is not portrayed to be hard work but rather the sexual favors one can do for their supervisors or managers.
Besides lower job satisfaction and reduced productivity, sexual harassment hampers the target mentally as well. They lose their self-esteem and blame themselves for what has happened to them (Ackroyd & Thompson, 1994). In Pakistan, considering the patriarchal social structure where most companies do not even have policies regarding sexual harassment and some which do, are not implemented or observed properly, women do not even come forward with their problems. They feel shame for what has happened, and might fear seclusion from the society which blames the woman for what has happened and ostracizes her. There is always the matter of ‘honor’ which is one of the leading causes for suicide in Pakistan.
The biggest problem in our society is that we don’t accept the fact that sexual harassment exists. Pakistani society, being an Islamic society should be more concerned about this because of the rights and the status Islam gives to women. In Islam women and men are given similar rights and duties. Women are allowed to own property, earn money and to express their opinion. What our society needs is for companies to have strict policies regarding sexual harassment. Sexual harassment should be clearly defined and the ways to proceed with a complaint should also be outlined. Most importantly the policy should also respect the privacy of the victim so that people don’t have too much trouble coming forward with their complaints.
Mentorship in organizations
A mentor is “an experienced or more senior person in the organization who gives a junior person special attention, such as giving advice and creating opportunities to assist him or her during the early stages of his or her career” (Johns & Saks, 1996). From an organizations point of view mentoring makes sure that the company culture and beliefs are transferred from one generation of employees to the next. It provides new employees with the information he needs to know so as to excel within the organization and in the process be an important asset to the company. At the same time she/he learns how to deal with his superiors, peers, etc (Vinnicombe & Colwill, 1995). Proper mentorship has been linked to lowered levels of job stress (Johns & Saks, 1996).
According to Gary Johns and Alan M. Saks mentors perform the following functions:
- A mentor might nominate the new employee for promotions, etc.
- Provide opportunities to work with important people and see all parts of the organization.
- Suggest work strategies and provide feedback so that the employee can find out his own strength and weaknesses.
- Provide challenging work which is positively correlated with job motivation and helpful for career development.
- Portray himself as a role model.
- Help the new employee to gain self-esteem and confidence.
- Provide emotional support by discussing personal concerns, etc which also help build trust between the mentor and the new employee which could lead to a productive relationship.
Once again this poses a problem for women because most of the senior people in the organization are men. The problem arises as most of the male mentors are inexperienced when it comes to dealing with women. The problems they faced as they moved up through the organizations hierarchy might be quite different from the ones a woman would face thus the mentors would not be able to provide much help. When mentors undertake an apprentice under their mentorship its usually because they can reflect back to the time they had started work in this organization and they see their own past in the new young employee. So if the new employee is a woman, it is difficult for the mentors to identify themselves with the new employee. (Vinnicombe & Colwill, 1995)
Besides this whenever there is a lot of interaction between a senior man and a young new female employee people start perceiving their relationship as having a sexual nature (Johns & Saks, 1996). This hinders the development of a productive working relationship which could benefit the organization and at the same time provide promotion opportunities for the woman worker.
Another problem which is quite prevalent in our society is the father-daughter relationship. Females are always considered as ‘Daddy’s little girl’ (Vinnicombe & Colwill, 1995). They are always pampered and not made independent as is the case with males. This problem creeps up into organizations as well when senior male mentors consider their young female apprentices as their daughters and continue to pamper them and not really make them independent enough to handle the work without the presence of the mentor himself.
It is often heard that behind the success of every man, there is a woman. This belief has led to an inherent bias in people’s mind which makes them think that there’s a hard working man with a woman assisting him. This is labeled as the “the assistant-to” effect (Vinnicombe & Colwill, 1995). Here if there is a male mentor and a female apprentice, the roles are often seen shifting from a mentor-apprentice relationship to a worker-helper relationship where the apprentice does learn the work, but once again not well enough to take over the work of the mentor when he’s no longer there.
According to a study it has been proved that mentoring plays a major role in career development of men and women both. Studies have shown that 61% women who have made it to top management positions have had a mentor somewhere along their career path and out of these 99% admit that their mentor played an important role in their progress through the organizational hierarchy. (Johns & Saks, 1996)
Conclusion
Although the participation rate of women in the labor force has increased over the years. Being only 43% in 1970 and rising to 61% in 2003 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Fig. 2). The working conditions or the workplace still has to undergo some major changes before they are completely free of gender biased thinking. For the women to be on the same level as men in the workplace they will have to move on from the expressive roles that the functionalists argue as an important function of the society. According to Marx and the conflict perspective, it is the constant struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeois, in this case between the women and the men accordingly, which will lead to the necessary reforms being made in the workplace.
Increase in the number of woman managers (Fig 1):
Participation Rate of men and women in the labor workforce (Fig 2):
Women’s earnings as a percentage of men’s (Fig 3):
Bibliography
Books
Ackroyd, S., & Thompson, P. (1994). Organizational Misbehavior. New Delhi: Sage Publications.
Barry, V., & Shaw, W. (1998). Moral Issues in Business. USA: Wadsworth publications.
Berch, B. (1982). The endless day: the political economy of women and work. : Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Inc..
Jacobs, J. (1995). Gender inequality at work. : Sage Publications.
Johns, G., & Saks, A. (1996). Organizational Behavior. USA: HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
Konek, C., & Kitch, S. (1993). Women and Careers: Issues and challenges. USA: Sage Publications.
Rowe, M. (1996). Dealing with Harassment: A Systems Approach.
Vinnicombe, S., & Colwill, N. (1995). The Essence of Women in Management. Cornwall: Prentice Hall International (UK) Ltd.
Journal Articles / Online Articles
Bielby, W., & Baron, J. (1986). Men and Women at Work: Sex Segregation and Statistical Discrimination. The American Journal of Sociology, 91, 759-799. Retrieved: January 15, 2005.
Dieter, H. How do Investments in Human Capital Differentially Affect Gender Income? An Analysis of the Gender Wage Gap. Retrieved: January 22, 2005, from titan.iwu.edu/~econ/ppe/2000/dieter.pdf.
Hultin, M., & Szulkin, R. (1999). Wages and Unequal Access to Organizational Power: An Empirical Test of Gender Discrimination. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44, 453-472. Retrieved: January 13, 2005.
Legal Definitions of Sexual Harassment. Retrieved: January 20, 2005, from .
Powell, G. (1994). Investigating the “Glass Ceiling” Phenomenon: An Empirical Study of Actual Promotions to Top Management. The Academy of Management Journal, 37, 66-86. Retrieved: January 14, 2005.
Reskin, B. (1993). Sex Segregation in the Workplace. Annual Review of Sociology, 19, 241-270. Retrieved: January 15, 2005.
Williams, C. (1999). Sexuality in the Workplace: Organizational Control, Sexual Harassment and the Pursuit for Pleasure. Annual Review of Sociology, 25, 73-93. Retrieved: January 14, 2005.
Wolf, W. (1979). Sex and Authority in the Workplace: The causes of Sexual Inequality. American Sociological Review, 44, 235-252. Retrieved: January 14, 2005.
