GNED 10

CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY

AY. 2020-2021

GNED 10 | GENDER AND SOCIETY

MODULE 4: GENDER AND WORK

Intended Learning Outcomes:

1. Women and Men in the Work Force
2. The Gender Pay Gap
3. Perspectives on Gender Pay Gap

GENDER INEQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE

• Gender discrimination in the workplace continues to be a major problem in the workplace despite the passing of
time since laws were enacted to combat the issue.
• Sexual or gender discrimination at work occurs whenever an individual is treated differently on account of their
gender and may affect anything from hiring decisions to promotions.
• Despite legislative and social efforts to achieve equality women continue to earn lower salaries and have fewer
opportunities than are available to male counterparts.
• Sexual discrimination takes many different forms but always amount to unequal treatment on the basis of sex.

WOMEN AND MEN IN THE WORKPLACE

• While women have made much progress, certain differences in male and female attitudes still exist that drive a
wedge between feminine and masculine roles. Males have been privileged in the workplace for centuries, while
women were delegated to homemaker roles.

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• The privileged male today still feels a sense of entitlement in the workplace, while women may feel like the
underdogs. The roles that women and men play may work to each of their advantages at times, but they may also
hurt each other indirectly.

Women Roles

• Women are viewed as better team players, since they're also viewed as supportive and rewarding.
• Women are persuasive, because they can read a situation and gather information from all sides.
• Women like a challenge.
• Women are honest, hard workers.

Men Roles

• Men ask for what they want.

• Men are early adopters of technology.
• Men convey more confidence when they aren't prepared for a task or something else at work.
• Men make friends in high places and get more promotions.

COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE GENDERS

• Men and women traditionally communicate in different ways. Each have different strengths and weaknesses when
it comes to communication, and use different methods to communicate their thoughts, ideas, and feelings.
Understanding these differences can lead to improved communication between the genders in the workplace.

Women

• Women are great at reading body language and picking up other non-verbal cues when communicating with
other people. They're also good listeners, and effective at showing empathy. However, these same strengths
can also be weaknesses when they get too emotional, become too demure and not authoritative enough, or
won't get to the point as quickly as needed.

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Men

• Men exude a strong physical presence when communicating with others. The way they stand or carry
themselves displays confidence and power, as does the body language they use. Men also tend to get to the
point quickly. However, these strengths can also turn into weaknesses when they get too blunt. Men can be
seen as insensitive to others and too confident in their thoughts, ideas, or selves.

When communicating, men: When communicating, women:

• Value is on achieving results
• Asking for help is admitting lack
of ability
• Focus on statistics
• Tell stories to "one up" the other
person
• Want to solve the problem right
away
• Share experiences to find common ground
• Build off each other's points
• Talk about problems and solve them together
• Processing is used as a way to build relationships
• Place emphasis on communication and feelings
• Offer assistance to be helpful, and because they care

GENDER PAY GAP

• The gender wage gap is unadjusted and is defines as the difference between median earning of men and women
relative to median earnings of men. (OECD). For decades now, working women are getting paid less than men.
• The gender wage gap issue is a problematic issue that is occurring across the world. According to the new report
by the world economic forum, it is going to take another 81 years for the gender gap to close worldwide.
• Among the 142 countries in the report, the United states ranked 65th in wage equality. Although countries like
Italy and Israel offer the most equal opportunities for women, they ranked the lowest in wage equality. Israel’s
women earn only 47% of men salary and Italy women earn 48% in men salary.
• Meanwhile, the report noted that the Philippines managed to narrow its Economic Participation and Opportunity
gender gap "due to increases in wage equality for similar work and women's estimated earned income," the
report noted.
• Based on the WEF's annual Executive Opinion Survey, the Philippines closed 79 percent of the gap on wage
equality this year (2018), from 75 percent in 2017.

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CAUSES OF GENDER PAY GAP

• Direct discrimination explains why women sometimes still earn less than men - when women are paid less than
men for doing the same job.
• Women’s competences and skills are undervalued, so women frequently earn less than men for doing
comparable jobs - that is, jobs of equal value.
• Recent research showed that women are promoted at lower rates than men.
• Women and men still tend to work in different types of jobs
• Traditions and stereotypes may also influence the choice of educational paths and employment patterns.
• Gender pay gap also reflects the gendered division of household labor, whereby caring for the sick and elderly,
bringing up children and housework are considered women’s work.

THE EQUAL PAY ACT OF 1963

• The jobs do not need to be identical, but they must be substantially equal. It was signed by President John F
Kennedy on June 10, 1963. It was one of the first anti-discrimination that addressed wage differences based on
gender. The equal pay act protects everyone in the workforce. It does not matter if a person is gay, lesbian,
heterosexual, male and female, either way he or she is protected by the law
• The Equal Pay Act requires that men and women be given equal pay for equal work in the same establishment
(EEOC). When the equal pay act enacted in 1963, discrimination towards women in the workplace decreased
massively, but was not eliminated entirely.

FAIR PAY ACT OF 2007

• SECTION 2. Equal Pay for Equivalent Jobs. - (A) No employer having employees subject to any provision of this
section shall discriminate, within any establishment in which such employees are employed, between employees
on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment in a job that is dominated by employees
of a particular sex at a rate less than the rate at which the employer pays wages to employees in such
establishment in another job that is dominated by employees of the opposite sex for work on equivalent jobs.

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PERSPECTIVES ON GENDER PAY GAP

Key Concepts View of Inequality Limitations

Functionalist Division of Labour, Men tend to be more Conservative, neglected women’s right
Perspective Social System stable than women
Conflict Dominant, Women and men-unequal Over emphasis on economic basis
Perspective Subordinate in the workplace in many inequality
ways
Interactionist Role performance, Status of different genders Lack of attention to macro processes
Perspective Masculinity and income an individual
Femininity makes

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

• Sociological Perspective: When the roles of women are evaluated from a sociological point of view, the most
prominent explanation for “occupational sex segregation” lies in perceived roles.

ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE

• Economic Perspective: From an economic perspective, one of the main assumptions is that women, as opposed
to men, consider the time allotted work roles as compared to non-work roles more strongly when choosing a
career path, opting for one with more flexibility.

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