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Gender Workplace Diversity
Introduction: Gender Workplace Diversity
The commitment towards diversity in the workplace and especially in the boardroom has remained one of the profound social issues in America. Interestingly, companies suggest that they are highly committed to gender diversity (Krivkovich et al. 1). However, the proportion of commitment to the proportion of meaningful progress is unequal. The progress of attaining equality in corporate America has not slowed down, and it has stalled. According to a McKinsey report in 2015 regarding women representation in corporate America, two facts remain (Krivkovich et al. 1). The first is that women are still underrepresented and, social concepts of race, feminism and class exasperate the need to boost women to the level of recognition (Grogan 1). The stereotypical idealization masks the growing efforts that women have perceived in the last three decades. Reports suggest that women are playing their part: earning higher learning degrees and improving their portfolio in career training by attaining mentors. Regardless of this, the stride in ensuring gender workplace diversity remains a conundrum and unachieved goal in the modern progressive society. Assessment of how America’s social issue, gender workplace diversity and how concepts such as race, feminism and class are barriers towards the achievement of diversity requires an in-depth assessment. The following report succinctly describes the social issue with parallel reference to the social concepts as a means of understanding the reverse-progress that workplace diversity has achieved so far.
Social Concepts
Race, feminism and class are the key social concepts that greatly affect the success of achieving gender workplace diversity in corporate America.
- Race and Ethnicity
The concept of race, derived from the American perception, is defined as the decentralization of social meaning that is formed as a result of constant pressures of political struggles (Liu 168). The compounding definition of race in America is based on dominant social constructs that involve the allocation of privilege and status in addition to tangible benefits such as employment (Liu 168). It is not a mental predisposition; it is also a physical one. In the United States of America, mental disposition includes the beliefs and attitudes on the difference between minorities and the majority. The significance of the mental perception correlates with the physical attributes on racial disparities including employment, housing, healthcare access and policing, among others. Sociologist view of race theory, according to W. E. Du Bois expounds on the ideology of double consciousness (Chapter 1 10). On one end, there is the perception that being American is a status conferred under the rights and privileges (Chapter 1 10). On the other hand, it is the subjective thinking of the significance of social status linked to the history of slavery and segregation. African American individuals alongside other minorities have the double consciousness that they are rightfully American, but, rights regarding equality and freedom are elusive.
- Feminism
The concept of feminism has been subjected to various misinterpretations in American society. What truly remains is the overpowering concept of patriarchy system in the world today. Capitalist theorist, Karl Max identified that women are severely disadvantaged in a capitalist economy (Chapter 8, 7). For this reason, conflict theorists suggest that modern-day unequal distribution of work opportunities translate to unequal distribution of salaries and wages. It demonstrates the oppression and sexism that women endure in modern capitalist economies, especially in America. The idealization of sexism allows the social structure that one gender is superior to the other in the form of social, economic and or religion (Chapter 8 8). The establishment that the ideological thinking has placed on women is that society is male-dominated within each social structures and women are perceived as the inferior beings (Chapter 8 8). As such, influential structures such as institutional discrimination are rampant in America.
- Class
The sociological understanding of class is the grouping of individuals based on their socio-economic status. Social class theory expounds on the differences in political and social behaviour within the economic system (Chapter 1 8). Karl Max conducted in-depth research highlighting the differences in social class structures under the capitalist economy. In his defence, Max indicated that proletariat –owners of production- often manipulate workers for their benefit (Chapter 1 8). The consequences, according to the theorist, are that social upheaval would result. Combination elements of alienation and loss of control are among the issues surrounding social class hierarchies in the capitalist world.
Analysis of Social Concepts with Social Issue on Gender Workplace Diversity
The aspect of women being represented in top-level management in corporate America is a phenomenon that is met with mixed reactions. Madera et al. show that organizations that have few women in executive boardrooms have a higher tendency to have a negative approach towards women empowerment and diversification in the workplace (92). Contrary, the same studies indicate that in organizations with high numbers of women in the boardroom are associated with positivity regarding women in power positions (Madera et al. 93). The aspect of feminism, therefore, plays a crucial role in how women representation is observed in the top-level management within organizations in America.
Feminism stands for equal representation of women in society, requiring an equal perpetuation of women at any level in an organization (Chapter 1 8). In the workplace, it means that women should be given the same opportunities and challenges accorded to men. But, with the standalone patriarchal system America enjoys till date, it has impeded the progress that women desire regarding equal representation. It might explain why there is an increase in women movement across the country regarding equal representation. For instance, former Facebook employee, Sheryl Sandberg, wrote the book Lean In. It elucidates on the issues that women face regarding top-level management. Other numerous publications exist in the market today that explain how top-level management equal representation is far from achieving equal representation.
Concepts of patriarchy system are identified as barriers towards achieving equal representation. The male perspective about women and their capabilities dominates at top-tier levels compared to other subordinate levels within organizations (Madera et al. 93). It is an indicator that marginalization against women is still predominant even in the progressive world of today. The stereotypical identification of females on feminine features and male dominance on masculinity segregates women on their potential to have a seat at the table. As a result, women remain the minority group in top management levels.
With this reality in mind, another influential social concept is race and ethnicity. Racial diversity and equality play a crucial role in the workplace. On the one hand, companies such as Oracle and Facebook as well as Google are investing extensively in ensuring that there is diversity in the workplace (Scarborough et al. 194). The reason is that statistical evidence suggests that workplace filled with diversity performs better compared to homogenous working environments. From an analytical point of view, the pressures on companies to promote diversity can lead to a lack of proper equality configurations within the businesses. It means that one social concept has to bear the victimology position concerning equal representation. Female equality is one of the factors under the victimology position. According to Scarborough et al. companies are implementing policies to ensure that on one end, they protect themselves from any legal action regarding equal representation and on the other, there is a genuine improvement in the hiring and recruitment process on equal representation 194). But, the definition of equal representation is not widespread, whether from a gender or racial perspective. For instance, the social concept of ethnicity representation is banned in public universities in some states (Scarborough et al. 194).
Affirmative action programs are also not as widespread in the country. Most training that workers get is the perception of diversity assimilation, managerial accountability and targeted recruitment strategies. A study conducted by Chekanov et al. women representation in Forbes list of high-ranking companies was 21.2% (8). Within the statistical representation, 79.7% were Caucasian, 3.6% were African descent, and 16.7% were Asian (8). It may explain why top-level management representation of women is often one-sided with little regard for equal racial representation.
Worse still, are the socio-economic class disparities in the workplace. Division of inequality in women representation in the boardroom is based on the difference in gender struggles and class-based struggles (McGinn and Oh 85). Women prefer committing to the stereotypic social ideologies of homemakers. It means that women spend more time caring for their children and taking care of their homes compared to men. Eventually, with an increase in household chores comes a limited time in the workplace. It explains why women are less likely to earn more compared to men (McGinn and Oh 85). Additionally, they are more likely to settle for low ranking positions in the companies compared to aiming for top-level management.
In conclusion, the basis of gender workplace diversity in America remains a controversial social issue. Social concepts as discussed throughout the paper, race, feminism and social class are contributory factors to the disparities in representation of women in top-level management. The report summarizes that conceptual factors of gender idealization, stereotypic perception and social identity are influential factors that act as barriers to the achievement of equal representation in women in the workplace in corporate America.
Work Cited
Chekanov, Konstantin, et al. “Evaluating Race and Sex Diversity in the World’s Largest Companies Using Deep Neural Networks.” ArXiv Preprint ArXiv:1707.02353, 2017. pg. 1-10.
Grogan, Kathleen E. “How the Entire Scientific Community Can Confront Gender Bias in the Workplace.” Nature Ecology & Evolution, vol. 3, no. 1, Nature Publishing Group, 2019, p. 1-3.
Krivkovich, Alexis, et al. Women in the Workplace 2017. LearnIn. Org, 2017, p. 1.
Hoskins, B. C. Sociology in Praxis. Second Edition., 2016.
Liu, Theanine. “Ethnic Studies as Antisubordination Education: A Critical Race Theory Approach to Employment Discrimination Remedies.” Wash. U. Jurisprudence Rev., vol. 11, HeinOnline, 2018, p. 160-170.
Madera, Juan M., et al. “Top Management Gender Diversity and Organizational Attraction: When and Why It Matters.” Archives of Scientific Psychology, vol. 7, no. 1, American Psychological Association, 2019, p. 90-100.
McGinn, Kathleen L., and Eunsil Oh. “Gender, Social Class, and Women’s Employment.” Current Opinion in Psychology, vol. 18, Elsevier, 2017, pp. 84–88.
Scarborough, William J., et al. “Support of Workplace Diversity Policies: The Role of Race, Gender, and Beliefs about Inequality.” Social Science Research, vol. 79, Elsevier, 2019, pp. 194–210.