Gender Inequality in the Workplaces Speech
Respected teachers and fellow colleagues, it is a great opportunity for us all to be here today. Today, I will talk about the universal issue of gender inequality in the workplace. While a recently released report by the World Economic Forum indicates that in the past decade, the global gender wage gap in the workplace has reduced by 4 %, the report underlined that it would take close to 118 years to close this gap. To that end, there are four aspects that I will be discussing that entrench the issue of gender inequality in the workplace. They include organizational processes, structures, practices, and decision-makers’ sexism.
Let me begin by exploring how organizational processes fuel gender inequality in the workplace. Apparently, organizations differ a lot in when determining how to accomplish their goals. For instance, some corporations institute stereotyping processes when it comes to assigning tasks. There are certain jobs that decision-makers believe can only be handled by men –male typed jobs. Thus, they have different expectations for women and men’s level of competence. For instance, men are preferred when it comes to masculine jobs. Thus, an organization is inconsistent with personalities ascribed to women; the higher the likelihood women might be seen to be unfit to work in such an organization.
Next, the organizational structure that is adopted in the workplace is yet another factor ingrains gender inequality in such settings. Undoubtedly, this phenomenon is inherent in organizations that have segregated gender departments, networks, and job ladders. Such discriminations are often tied to HR practices. For https://sharksavewriters.com/social-inequality/, if the remunerations policies are based on the comparison between employees only within a department, then this can lead to wage discrimination in departments dominated by women.
Now, let us consider how organizational practices and culture contribute to gender inequality in the workplace. This is because organizational practices constrain people’s ideas of the best way to achieve an objective. Stamarski, Hing, and Leanne (2015)affirm that people encounter a problem in their firm, it is the organization culture that defines the best response to take. For example, organizational cultures where gender inequality is deeply entrenched, women have low hopes of getting promoted.
Having discussed how organizational practices, structures, and processes contribute towards gender inequality in the workplace, it is now important to consider yet another factor, the conduct of decision-makers. As it implies, decision-makers play a curial role in influencing others to achieve their goals. Specifically, they set policies, the organizational culture, and the strategy to achieve the goals. Thus, they are the role models for socialization. According to Goodwin, Hall, and Raymond (2017), people get attracted to organization s that display similar characteristics to their own. Thus, sexist individuals are likely to be attracted to workplaces that have greater gender inequality in their leadership and organizational climate. It is also important to note that sometimes, decision-makers find themselves acting in a discriminatory manner, without becoming sexist. For example, they can act in such a way if they witness others act in a discriminatory way with positive consequences. Thus, decision-makers play a major role in exacerbating the issue of sexism discrimination in the workplace.
I will end the speech by underpinning the point that gender inequality is an issue that is prevalent in many of the workplaces. Thus, all measures should be put to ensure equality and fairness in the workplace. This includes abolishing all gender discrimination policies and associated organizational practices, processes, and structures.
References
Gap, G. G. (2017). World Economic Forum. Cologny/Geneva.
Goodwin, T. M., Hall, J., & Raymond, C. (2017). Gender Inequality and Economic Growth. 2017 NCUR.
Stamarski, C. S., Hing, S., & Leanne, S. (2015). Gender inequalities in the workplace: the effects of organizational structures, processes, practices, and decision makers’ sexism. Frontiers in psychology, 6, 1400.