Is gender inequality slowly disappearing with the new generation?

Key words:

Feminism
Gender Gap
Centuries
Workforce
Power

Reflection on the Past

Throughout centuries women have always been seen as the weaker link. Especially when
men have held the tightest grip on all the power and privilege. Women have been in a constant
fight for equality in pay and promotions. Regardless of the strides women have made in
education and their careers, they still are denied equal compensation. It is no knew news that
women have historically earned less compared to men.

What is feminism?
 Feminism can be defined as the advocacy of women’s rights regarding gender equality.
The start of feminism can be dated back to 1848, when
the first women’s rights convention was established.
During this time, women had very few rights and
extremely limited education. There were very few
colleges that allowed women to attend so gaining access
to education was hard. Women were considered property
of their husband or father, therefore anything they owned
did not actually belong to them. This first step in the
feminist movement was gaining the right to vote. This right was not given to women until 1920,
however it was just the beginning of the journey towards gender equality.

Life in the workforce today

Despite the challenging past women have faced, there are a lot of advances in today's
world. The current ratio of men to women in the workforce is 52% men and 48% women. There
is almost equal representation of men and women in the workforce. However, when it comes to
top management positions, men hold the higher percentages. Women also make less per dollar
for the same positions and responsibilities.

Glass Ceiling Commission

A glass ceiling commission can be defined as a
transparent ceiling that prevents women and minorities from
reaching upper-level management positions in the workforce. To
attempt to eliminate the artificial barriers that prevent women
and the minorities from advancing in the workforce, the government took action. Their
assignment was to conduct studies and come to some conclusions and recommendations on
"eliminating artificial barriers to the advancement of women and minorities" to "management
and decision-making positions in business" (Federal Glass Ceiling Commission, 1995, p. 5).
Within this assignment, they found that part of the reasoning for the glass ceiling was because of
the fields they worked in. Women are more commonly found in positions like human resources
and administration. These positions normally do not follow a path to the top positions within an
organization.

Possible Reasons Why Women May Earn Less

The first reason for this can be due to the education and
work environment that women tend to seek. Women tend to
be attracted to jobs that have normal hours, good working
conditions, and safe environments. The kinds of jobs that
uneducated men and women seek are very different. Men
are more likely to pursue careers in firefighting, truck
 driving, and construction. These careers are a
little more dangerous and life threatening.
Women who do not get college degrees tend to
pursue careers as secretaries, cashiers, and child
caretakers. Since men are more willing to take on
these life-threatening jobs, they receive higher
compensations due to the hazardous nature of the
work environment.

More
Hazardous Jobs
- Police
officers
- Construct
ion
workers
- Roofers
- Firefighte
rs

Differences Between Men and Women

There has been a lot of research done on the differences between men and women.
Looking through the results, it can be found that women tend to have a higher locus of control.
This means that women are more likely to believe that their circumstances are controlled by
others. Which is a direct reflection of the history of women in the workforce. As mentioned
earlier, women have been controlled in industries and in life for centuries.

Raising Boys and Girls

Young girls and boys are often raised very differently. Girls are more protected and
watched over compared to boys. Girls tend to do indoor activities, where boys spend more time
outside. Girls are taught to wait for a boy to make the first move. Women have been raised to
wait for things to happen and not to directly ask for anything.

Advancements
There are more women and women owned businesses in the workforce than ever in
history. Women have made huge advancements educationally and professionally which has
resulting in the change of the longstanding views on women. Companies need to recognize the
differences between men and women and learn to use them to better their organization. Women
need to continue the battle towards equality and recognize why men may earn more. Once they
can come to terms with this, they can begin to work towards fixing this gender gap.

Work Cited:
Parcheta, N., Kaifi, B. A., & Khanfar, N. M. (2013). Gender inequality in the workforce:
A human resource management quandary. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 4(3), 240-248.
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