Why do Women still suffer from Gender Discrimination in the Workplace?

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Student name: Nguyễn Hạnh Nhi Student ID number: WSU21000048

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Unit name: Academic English Unit number: AEn-T321WSB-6

Mon-Tue-Thus/8a.m-
Tutorial group: Tutorial day and time: 11.15a.m
Lecturer or Tutor name: Gabriel Ryan

ASSIGNMENT DETAILS

Title: Individual Essay

Length: 1502 words Due date: 2/1/2022 Date submitted: 30/12/2021
Home campus (where you are enrolled):

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Nguyen Hanh Nhi_WSU21000048 1

Why do Women still suffer from Gender Discrimination in the Workplace?
TITLE PAGE

WHY DO WOMEN STILL SUFFER FROM GENDER DISCRIMINATION IN THE

WORKPLACE?

WesternSydney University Vietnam

December 30th, 2021

Word count: 1502

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Why do Women still suffer from Gender Discrimination in the Workplace?
Now in the 21st century, when humans are living in a modern global society, and thousands

of people are more socially aware of advocating human rights, gender discrimination still exists

widely in the workplace. According to a study by Pew Research Center, about four in ten working

women in the United States said they have suffered from differentiation in the occupation due to

their sex (Parker & Funk, 2017). In 2020, when the world was facing enormously disastrous effects

of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was reported that the proportion of employed women declined by

4.2%, representing a drop of 54 million jobs, and 45 million female workers left the labour market

(UN Women, 2021). On the contrary, men’s employment fell by 3% and approximately 68.6% of

working-age men would be employed in 2021 (International Labour Organization, 2021). By and

large, these figures showed that females have encountered steeper job losses than men, along with

increased unpaid care burden at home. Thus, it is essential to seek possible solutions to stop this

problem, however, contributing factors need to be addressed first. Upon examination, prejudice

against working women is believed to be engendered by gender-based assumptions, gender

characteristics, and misunderstanding of feminism.

Initially, it is asserted that gender stereotypes are contributing factors to sexism in the

workplace. In the olden days, women were believed to bear the responsibility for childcare,

performing the housework as well as cultivating. Meanwhile, men had to do dangerous jobs

including hunting for food, or even fighting against enemies and wild animals to protect their

family and tribe. Most men henceforth have been assumed to be breadwinners, and their roles are

considered to be far more important than their female counterparts. This then develops the

unrelenting existence of the traditional model of the authoritarian family in some Asian countries,

with its rigid female duties as home keepers and male breadwinners. According to Boselovich

(2006, as cited in Sipe, Johnson & Fisher, 2009), there have been numerous studies conducted to

prove that rooted gender stereotypes mostly cause traditional organizational cultures. For instance,

research revealed that many people persisted with the perspective that “women take care and men

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Why do Women still suffer from Gender Discrimination in the Workplace?
take charge”, and that women were not competent at problem-solving compared to their male

counterparts (Bible & Hill, p.66, as cited in Sipe, Johnson & Fisher, 2009). Similarly, Hymowitz

(2005) reported that a large number of men co-workers felt women were inferior to them in

decision making, delegating, and negotiating with their employers. Hence, in research conducted by

Klenke (1996, as cited in Janet, 2001), opposition and stereotypes of women as leaders have

prevailed regardless of their great triumphs in the marketplace. Furthermore, not only men but a

majority of women also hold gender stereotypes towards people of the same sex. In particular, a

study was carried out in Russia by NAFI Research Centre sponsored by the Council of the Eurasian

Women’s Forum showing that 89% of women agreed that men should be the main financial

provider for the family while only 45% of women approved that they should financially sustain

themselves (Marina & Olga, 2021). As a result, the notion of women engaging in activities which

are outside of the home and beyond the responsibilities of a wife, mother, and homemaker seems to

violate the traditional stereotypical societal norms, thus posing a threat to women’s status (Baum,

2019). All in all, it is indisputable that gender stereotypes have been at the core of sexual

harassment and prejudice towards women in the workplace.

The second factor causing many women to encounter employment discrimination because of

their sex is gender characteristics. According to Kathy Caprino - a writer and speaker dedicated to

the advancement of women in business, revealed in her paper published in 2017 that due to the fact

that women are weaker than men, a large number of people have assumed that a big difference in

physical capabilities means equality is not possible. Moreover, males are believed to be more

intellectual, creative, and acute than their female counterparts. For example, in a report by Sample

and Devlin conducted in 2019, more than 90% of Nobel Prizes have been won by men. The

inferiority in mental agility inevitably leads to an adverse consequence that women are treated

unequally in the recruitment procedure, and are likely to experience the gender pay gap when

applying for a job in male-dominated industries such as mechanical engineers or computer network

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Why do Women still suffer from Gender Discrimination in the Workplace?
architects. Besides, when referring to the contrast in communication, women are said to put too

much emotion in the decision-making process whereas men are more competitive and assertive,

which are favoured attitudes in the capitalist economy. For this reason, only 11% of executive

positions at Silicon Valley businesses are held by women, and the figure for female owners of tech

startups as well as female partners at the top 100 venture capital firms accounted for 5% and 7%

respectively (Hill, 2017, as cited in Josefowitz, 2017).

Likewise, being a family-woman tends to be a hindrance to female employees in climbing the

career ladder since they will apparently take maternity leave one day, and have to divide duties

between work and home. It must be remembered that Neil French, a worldwide creative director of

WPP Group, reportedly said at an industry conference that there were not many high-ranking

female creative-advertising directors because of the time they spent caring for their children

(Hymowitz, 2005). Additionally, Jill Yavorsky, an assistant professor of sociology at UNC

Charlotte, co-led the study The Under-Utilization of Women’s Talent: Academic Achievement and

Future Leadership Positions pointed out that men usually achieved higher leadership prospects than

women, even in female-dominated fields, as they contributed longer working hours in their

occupations, and attained more critical job experience than their female colleagues, especially after

they became parents (University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2021). Indeed, women with major

child-rearing admitted that they found it difficult to engage in after-hour activities or devote more

time to their superiors, thereby hitting the glass ceiling (Castro and Furchtgott-Roth, 1997, as cited

in Jackson, 2001). On balance, the absurdly conservative viewpoint that the difference in gender-

typical features equates with gender bias against women in the workplace needs to be eliminated.

Ultimately, the last deciding factor in differentiation among female employees is some

misunderstanding of feminism. To be more precise, the true definition of feminism will be taken

into account first. According to IWDA - a feminist organization, “feminism is about all genders

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Why do Women still suffer from Gender Discrimination in the Workplace?
having equal rights and opportunities”. Also, it is about respecting diverse women’s experiences,

identities, knowledge, and strengths, and striving to empower all women to realize their full rights.

In the same way, Martha Rampton wrote for the Pacific University for Gender Equity in 2015 that

“The goal of this wave was to open up opportunities for women, with a focus on suffrage”. In short,

the feminist movement is not an assault on the male culture by any means. It does not solely praise

women and forget men or aim to incline females to rule the world.

Nonetheless, in today’s society, many people still hold the perspective that women’s

liberation means men will lose out of power, influence, authority, or access to economic

opportunities (Caprino, 2017), and thus, create a serious breach in the relationship between the

sexes as well as lead to a broken marriage. Correspondingly, according to the Women Against

Feminism posts, numerous declarations have claimed that the feminist movement forced women to

undergo a loss to sons, fathers, and friends (Shire, 2014). That undoubtedly is not feminism, but a

majority of men and women falsely believe that is a negative effect of it. Moreover, Caprino (2017)

stated that feminism has been associated with strong, aggressive, selfish, and angry women.

Therefore, unfortunately, these women are being punished by sex discrimination in the workplace.

A study of New York Times bestselling authors, Joseph Grenny and David Maxfield, demonstrated

that women’s perceived competency fell by 35% and their perceived worth fell by $15,088 when

they are judged as being forceful and assertive. Ironically, men co-workers experienced just a little

drop compared to females if being judged as forceful, which means that disparity will prevent

women from succeeding fully in leadership and managerial roles, where assertiveness is obviously

a vital behaviour (Caprino, 2015). On the whole, women unreasonably have to face gender inequity

as a result of misunderstanding around feminism such as the assumption of being a man-hating

campaign, or directed by anti-men and aggressive feminists.

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Why do Women still suffer from Gender Discrimination in the Workplace?
In conclusion, there is no doubt that the workplace gender gap truly exists due to deep-rooted

stereotypes, the distinction in gender characteristics, and false beliefs for feminist emancipation.

Actually, female employees, notably working mothers, do not deserve to endure unfairness, sexism

and sexual assault because after inescapably disrupting their career for the painful and depressing

pregnancy period, they will also have to deal with a proportionate increase in household duties.

Instead, they merit praise from society for their effort of accomplishing the mission of being a good

employee and a good family carer at the same time.

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 Why do Women still suffer from Gender Discrimination in the Workplace?
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