Guided by – Mr.

Jayanta
Bagchi
Project by – Ritwik Mahanti
Roll no – 1982121
Subject Code- LW- 2315

Section BBA LLB (B)

Organizational
Behavior
Gender Stereotyping and
Biasness in Workplace
 Gender Biasing and stereotyping
in work place
Introduction – Our brains are fixed to categorize things we encounter in order
to make a sense of diverse things we encounter in this complicated world. The
above mechanism acts as a computer programme and as a downside it allows
the biasness and stereotypes to form in our brain and as we grow up these
stereotypes become more and more imbedded in our brain as time passes
One of many such biasness is the gender biasness which is
widespread in every organization irrespective of their nature, status and
turnover, this article deals with the gender discrimination and biasness in
workplace their reasons and how to minimise it.

Gender Bias- Gender bias is the tendency to prefer one gender over
another without any specific and reasonable reason. These discriminations can
be explicit but it is generally found to be implicit and unconscious which
happens when a person attributes certain attitudes and stereotypes to another
person or group of persons.
To show the role of gender bias in organizations some illustrations are given
below which are shown by I.L.O in their Global Women in Business and
Management gaining momentum report
1) 42% of women experience gender discrimination at work.
2) 5 of the 14 top barriers women face in the workplace are related to
discrimination and gender bias.
3) Half of men believe women are well-represented at their company, when
90% of senior leaders are men.
4) Men are 30% more likely to obtain managerial roles.
5) 6.6% of CEOs at Fortune 500 companies are women.
6) 0.2% of CEOs at Fortune 500 companies are women of colour.
Examples of Gender Bias in the workplace
Gender discrimination in an organization may happen at all stages of
recruiting, hiring and retaining employees, broadly it happens in three key
stages in an organization.
1) At the time of recruitment
2) Professional development and career advancement are affected by Gender
Bias
3) In compensation and rewards given to particular person in an organization

1) At the time of recruitment-

By the research it is found that both male and female hiring
managers are twice as likely to hire a man over a woman
throughout a recruiting process there can be a traces of gender bias
starting from the time of submitting applications for an interview.
Even while giving the vacancy’s information through
advertisement predominantly those words are used which signify
masculinity and reject the feminine side of candidates words are
used in such a manner in ads. that indirectly discriminate male
candidates and female candidates.
A) Job Description contains Gender Bias
Job description though a very mundane and formal document
by words contains some traces of subconscious bias, a research
done by Hewlett Packard internal report, tells that men apply to
jobs when they meet with 60% of the qualification as compared
to the women who only apply when they meet 100%. This
shows that job description has unnecessary strict norms to
inhibit women from applying in jobs

B) Hiring managers are unconsciously gender biased

Women are here also discriminated as they are asked about
parental plans and responsibilities while discriminating against
parents and pregnant women is illegal but asking about their
parental status is not illegal and from that high chances of
rejection occurs. According to research done by Harvard
University 51% of the managers are influenced by the
candidate’s gender and even select under-performing
candidates.

2) Professional development and career advancement are affected by

Gender Bias
Gender Bias actually prevents women and minorities to achieve elevated
professional success, according to Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer
of Facebook 60% of male managers are uncomfortable in mentoring or
socializing with female employees, and even 36% of men think that it looks
 bad if they socialize with female colleagues according to survey done by
LeanIn.Org and Survey Monkey, it affects women in professional aspects in
following manners
 Gender Bias influences mentors and mentoring opportunities- To
understand its importance we need to view the statement of
Cornell University which says that mentorship programs are found
to boost promotion and retention rates for women by 15-38%. But
only 54% of women actually consider being mentor another factor
is that women do not consider themselves to be expert on their
subject matter in such a manner to be enough for mentorship
programs.
3) Compensation and Rewards reflect gender Bias
The gender pay gap is very pertinent in organizations even in countries like
U.S that is abysmal. According to the Survey done by the I.L.O gender pay
gap in U.S organizations ranges from 3% to 51% and it has an average value
of 17%. There are two types of Gender pay Gaps Adjusted and Unadjusted
The adjusted gender pay gap takes into account factors like differences in
education, occupations chosen, skills, hours worked and job experience.
With the adjusted gender pay gap, women make about 95 cents to every $1
that men make. When considering the gender pay gap, we must account for
the fact that more women are segregated to lower-level jobs in low-paying
industries and are unable to obtain upper-level roles due to biases and the
glass ceiling.

PARENTAL STATUS AFFECTS INCOME AND CAREER

DEVELOPMENT

Working mothers also suffer from another category of discrimination that is

regarding parental status, full time working mothers make 7% less wages
than without children says researcher Giselle Cory in her article “Pay and
Parenthood An analysis of wage inequality, between mums and dads”
when adjusted even for educational and occupational class. In general,
women who work full-time earn 34% less than men of the same age.
And for men and women without children, the pay gap is still 12% less
for women.
Another study found that when candidates of equal merit apply for the same
job, mothers were penalized. Women without children received 2.1 times
more call backs and were recommended to be hired 1.8 times more
compared to equally qualified mothers shows research done by Shelley J.
 Correll, Stephen Benard in their journal Getting a Job: Is There a
Motherhood Penalty

SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN THE WORKPLACE AFFECTS

GENDERS DIFFERENTLY
While both men and women experience sexual harassment, nearly 75% of
EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) sexual harassment claims
are filed by women says U.S Equal employment Opportunity Commission in
its report titled ‘’Women in the American Workforce’’
A staggering 70% of women who experience sexual harassment, experience
it in the workplace according to the report of American Psychological
Association in its report regarding stooping sexual harassment at
workplace. And of the women who experience it within the first two years at a
new job, 80% quit and move to a different company, destroying a good
corporate record.
Steps to stop Gender Bias at workplace
1) COLLECT & ANALYZE EMPLOYEE DEMOGRAPHIC DATA-
Look at disparities between men and women by department, seniority and
retention. It will help your firm in achieving gender neutrality in
employment
2) COLLECT & ANALYZE EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION DATA-
Conduct regular pay audits to identify how men and women are paid and
promoted differently. One study found that when Denmark created a law
in 2006 requiring companies to report on their salary information and
break it down by gender, the gender wage gap was reduced by 7% in just
12 years.
3) IDENTIFY GENDER BIAS IN YOUR RECRUITING PROCESS- To
reduce gender bias in your recruiting process, start by looking at the
language you use. Utilize this gender decoder to identify biased language
in your job descriptions. You could also plug in recruitment content from
emails, interview questions and employer branding materials for social
media and your careers page and check its language
4) IMPLEMENT REGULAR GENDER BIAS TRAINING
Sure, biases are a simple fact of life, but that doesn’t mean they are set in
stone. The best way to reduce unconscious gender bias is to learn about it
and take action to alter your perception of biases for the better. Start by
 informing your team of the different types of unconscious bias and then look
for diversity and inclusion professionals or unconscious bias programs near
you that will support your efforts.
5) OFFER PERKS & BENEFITS FOR EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

And when it comes to parental leave, it's important to include working

fathers and encourage them to actually take the leave. One study found for
every month a man takes parental leave, women's salaries increase
correspondingly by 7%, helping to further close the gender pay gap
research by MERCER.
6) REVIEW YOUR ANTI-DISCRIMINATION AND BIAS POLICIES
Last but not least, review your non-discrimination and anti-harassment
policies, and make sure this information is included in job descriptions,
employee handbooks and your career page. In addition to your policies,
provide employees with information and resources on who to reach out to in
different situations. Include clear steps for what is going to happen so people
know what to expect when they file a complaint
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1) 1.What Is Gender Bias In The Workplace?, Built In , https://builtin.com/diversity-
inclusion/gender-bias-in-the-workplace.
2) http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:8506867
3) 1. Tara Sophia Mohr, Why Women Don’t Apply for Jobs Unless They’re 100%
Qualified, Harvard Business Review, 2014, https://hbr.org/2014/08/
4) Want to improve gender equality at work? Help men take parental leave., ,
https://www.mercer.com/our-thinking/want-to-improve-gender-equality-at-work-help-
men-take-parental-leave.html (last visited Oct 12, 2020).
THE END