Gender-Based Problems of Women in Management
Early Research
The focus of a good deal of the early research on gender-based problems at work has attempted to determine factors responsible for the problems. As noted by Talley (1988), women in management, especially the upper levels of management, were shown by this early research to have consistently been underrepresented and underutilized.
An example of the kind of research that was being conducted at this time can be seen in research conducted by Gerike (1983) who compared a group of 34 women in upper- and middle-level management positions, most of them the sole woman at their level, with a group of 34 men matched to them only by job position or job title. Data were collected by mailing a lengthy researcher-designed questionnaire to the sample of female managers.
According to Gerike (1983), the findings of the study showed a repeated pattern of gender-based discrimination. Specifically, it was found that female managers were lower in power and status than the males, on the basis of lower salaries; they were also less involvement than males with budgetary matters.
In addition, managers more often trained and supervised employees of their own sex. Female managers had longer average tenure with their organizations but less managerial experience. They were paid significantly less than equally experienced males when job tenure for both was less than five years.
Income for females but not for males was positively correlated with previous policy-making experience. Female managers were less involved in informal interactions with colleagues, such as lunching and socializing, and more of them were single (11 women, 1 man).
Somewhat lower levels of risk-taking behaviors...
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... used in the study was from the Current Population Survey, March 1982. Analyses revealed that education was significant in explaining the salary differential for the sample of salespeople only. Marital status was significant for the sample of male salespeople only.
Age and hours worked were also found to be significant in explaining the wage differentials for female salespeople, male sales managers or department heads, and male salespeople. Hours worked was the only variable significant in explaining salary differences between married and single female buyers.
Birth-order and its effects on the gender-related factor of attitudes toward female mangers was examined in a study conducted by Brenner and Beutell (1989). Since birth-order is one of the variables that will be examined in this study, Brenner and Beutell's study is pertinent to the proposed research.
Whitmarsh, Lona, and Diane Keyser Wentworth. "Gender Similarity Or Gender Difference? Contemporary Women's And Men's Career Patterns." Career Development Quarterly 60.1 (2012): 47, 48, 49. Academic Search Premier. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
Soares, Rachel, Mark Bartkiewicz, Liz Mulligan-Ferry, Emily Fendler, and Elijah Wai Chun Kun. "Statistical Overview of Women in the Workplace." Catalyst. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.
The article The Complex Causes of the Gender Pay Gap written by Barbara Wagner, she shows “Economic research on the gender pay gap has found many reasons for the differences in pay between men and women, including different career and education choices, differences in work experience, and, yes, discrimination. Both male and female managers are equally likely to demonstrate gender bias in hiring and pay” (Wagner, 2015).
Bravo, Santa Anna and Meric discuss the ways in which women are disadvantaged in the workplace which directly ties back to gender roles, in "An Overview of Women and Work." Crawley, Foley and Shehan
Cappelli and Sherer (1991) argued that internal labor markets limit the influence of external labor markets on a variety of in- dividual outcomes, including skill acquisition and compensation. Simi- larly, Auster (1989) argued that task characteristics mediate the relation- ship between organizational context and individual compensation; Baron and Pfeffer (1993: 55) made a comparable argument about job titles and other "organizational categories." We follow in this general tradition; however, instead of emphasizing structural mediators between organizational context and individual outcomes, we focus on the mediating role of the cognitive processes of organizational decision makers. This focus is important because, as Reskin (1993: 250) has noted, although employers play a major role in creating and perpetuating gender segregation, "surprisingly little attention has been paid to the effect of employers' gender- role attitudes on their personnel decisions." Specifically, a scarcity of male applicants (or a large num- ber of female applicants) increases women's access to male-dominated jobs (see Reskin, 1993, for a review). Many firms create formal job ladders to govern the recruitment and mobility of employees (Doeringer &
Light, A., Ureta, M. (1995). Early- Career Work Experience and Gender Wage Differentials. Journal of Labour Economics. 13 (1), pp. 121-154 Retrieved from http://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/jlabec/v13y1995i1p121-54.html#biblio
Also, the majority of women have been able to secure employment from traditionally female occupations such as teaching compared to male-dominated careers like engineering. Moreover, democratic country like the United States of America has recognized gender inequality as a fundamental issue and espouse equal right between men and women in contributing to social, economic and cultural life. Despite this improvement, gender inequality persists as women are not represented and treated equally in the workplace (Michialidis, Morphitou, & Theophylatou, 2012). The increasing number of women in the workplace has not provided equal opportunity for career advancement for females due to the way women are treated in an organization and the society. Also, attaining an executive position seem impossible for women due to the glass ceiling effects which defines the invisible and artificial barrier created by attitudinal and organizational prejudices, which inhibit women from attaining top executive positions (Wirth
Parcheta, N., Kaifi, B., & Khanfar, N. (2013). Gender Inequality in the Workforce: A Human Resource Management Quandary. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 4(3), 240-248.
For many decades, women have faced inequalities in the workforce. At one point, they were not allowed to work at all. Although women's rights have improved and are now able to work alongside men, they are still treated unfairly. According to the 2012 U.S. Census, women’s earnings were “76.5 percent of men’s” (1). In 2012, men, on average, earned $47,398 and women earned only $35,791. This is when comparing employees where both gender spend the same amount of time working. Not only do women encounter unfairness in work pay, they also face a “glass ceiling” on a promotional basis. This glass ceiling is a “promotion barrier that prevents woman’s upward ability” (2). For example, if a woman is able to enter a job traditionally for men, she will still not receive the same pay or experience the same increase in occupational ability. Gender typing plays a huge role in the workplace. It is the idea that women tend to hold jobs that are low paid with low status. Women are not highly considered in leadership positions because of social construction of gender. Society has given women the role of “caretakers” and sensitive individuals. Therefore, women are not depicted as authoritative figures, which is apparent with the absence of women in leadership roles in companies. Furthermore, sex segregation leads to occupations with either the emphasis of women in a certain job or men in a certain job. In 2009, occupations with the highest proportion of women included “secretary, child care worker, hair dresser, cashier, bookkeeper, etc.” (3). Male workers typically held job positions as construction workers, truck drivers, taxi drivers, etc. (3). Sex segregation represents inequality because the gender composition for these jobs depends on what ...
This form of inequality has for many years now been seen to have a geographical aspect to it. Ideally, most women in many countries are paid less than what male employees earn. This has been attributed to a number of factors that the employers attribute to being behind the idea. First, they attribute this to the work input that men bring in compared to women. Most of them say that the work ethics of male employees are better compared to female employees in many scenarios. Moreover, employers especially in third world countries cite that the energy required to discharge some heavy duties can only be availed by men.
When we think about how it used to be 100 years ago, the only people in leadership roles where men, and there was no presence of women. Why is it that we tend to see more men in leadership positions? Usually when we think of what a leader looks like, we tend to describe them as powerful, assertive and confidence. Because of stereotypes our society immediately labels this person as a man, due to the roles that we are expected to follow. Today, there has been a huge shift for women in leadership positions; however, there are many challenges that they still have to overcome. A process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouse, 2007) defines a leader. Moreover, leaders come in different forms whether in a professional, educational, or group setting. As a male college student and an advocate for equal rights between men and women, my understanding of the struggles that women face has a huge impact on my philosophy of leadership. The three most important concepts in this course that has resonated with me the most are double bind, and think manager-think male and glass ceiling.
If one takes a closer look at the issues surrounding the differences between the male and female roles in the workforce and in education, one will notice that women tend to be one step below men on the "status" or "importance" ladder.
Gender bias has a long history and continues to occur in the workplace today. Research indicates that women remain significantly disadvantaged and mistreated compared to men in the workforce. How do the disparities of hiring, promotion, and salaries affect women in the workplace?
“ Sales Managers.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. United States Department of Labor, 8 Jan. 2014.
It can be concluded that women are treated in terms of stereotyped impressions of being the lowest class and greater evidence can be found that there are large disparities between the women and the men 's class. It can be seen that women are more likely to play casual roles as they are most likely to take seasonal and part time work so that they can work according to their needs. They are hampered from progressing upward into the organizations as they face problems like lack of health insurance, sexual harassments, lower wage rates, gender biases and attitudes of negative behavior. However, this wouldn’t have hampered the participation of the women in the work force and they continue to increase their efforts which is highly evident in the occupational and job ratios of females in the industry.