Workplace

1615 Words4 Pages

Pam is a lesbian firefighter working in Pittsburgh; she is very good at her job yet has failed to get promoted. She has also been the victim of harassment from the male firefighters at her station who often joke and prank her, such as jumping in on her while she’s in the shower. She’s afraid that her gender and sexuality may be holding her back from achieving success in her career. Sadly many women and homosexuals face these kinds of situations in their workplace and in the article “Sexuality in Organizations” authors Patricia Yancey Martin and David L. Collision discuss how are gender and sexuality may impact our work environment, why many women and homosexuals face discrimination in the workplace, and how we can create a positive environment for all employees. In this paper I will summarize their findings as well as add my thoughts and opinions.

The authors begins the article by stating that sexuality has not business in the workplace, yet many employees ignore this notion (Martin1) The authors go on to say that your gender and sexual preference play a large part in your workplace and that there is much pressure for men and women to display themselves as heterosexuals in order to prevent questions and gossip from fellow employees (Martin1). Many men and women tend to display pictures of their family in their work environment, which the author believes is that persons way of displaying their heterosexuality, whereas many homosexual employees do not display photos of loved ones in fear of revealing themselves as homosexuals or making other employees uncomfortable ( Martin 2). They then state that if an employee is suspected of being a homosexual they may face discrimination by both employer and employees (Martin 1). The author’s...

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In conclusion, I found that I agreed allot with a lot of what Martin and Collinson .

I was shocked to see that there is still this kind of discrimination in organizations. I think it’s appalling that in today’s age, people who work there asses off still have to face such discrimination simply because of their sexuality and gender. There is no reason why a woman or homosexual should be treated any differently from that of a man. If I found out that my mom, who is a single mother, was getting less pay because she was a woman I would be enraged. I really hope that these companies begin to take this topic seriously and take a strong look at how they treat their employees, and begin cracking down on harassment in the workplace, and if not they should face severe consequences. America is known as the land of opportunity and freedom, and maybe it’s time we show it.

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