Barriers for Women in the Workplace: Inequality in Representation and Opportunity

Abstract

Women in Work The most common form of division of labor among most cultures in the world is based on gender and has shaped the experiences of women in the workplace. Majority of the traditional cultures believed that women and men were different and this defined the nature of work they would do efficiently. With research and policy, it has become necessary for companies to increase gender diversity especially by the inclusion of women in the workplace (Harnois and Bastos 285). Significant progress has been made in the United States concerning the experiences of women in companies. However, various concerns exist as indicated by data on the representation of women in management, cases of harassment, and interpersonal discrimination in companies. Women face inequalities driven by gender and most of the issues they raise are hardly addressed by their managers. Even with the rise in the number of women in the workplace, mistreatment against women exists as evidenced by lack of representation in top managerial positions, cases of bullying, sexual harassment, and unreported interpersonal discrimination. Efforts to increase diversity in the workplace have focused on increasing the proportion of women in the workplace but little has been accomplished in the management and executive areas. Employers have been at the forefront in facilitating the diversity goals by hiring more women in their organizations. When recruiting for each position, managers have attempted to increase the number of women hired by encouraging them to apply. Additionally, equal considerations are made for women and men seeking equal positions in the workplace. Consequently, there has been an increase in the proportion of women in the overall workforce of the United States. However, roots of discrimination are evidenced by the lack of representation of women in the management. While over 47% of the labor force in the United States is composed of women, they make up just 24% of the employees in leadership positions in American companies (Parker and Funk 59). Organizations hardly involve women in positions where they can contribute to the company’s growth through decision-making. The overall under-representation of women in managerial positions is an indication of the issues that they face in the workplace in the country and globally. Women are denied equal opportunities for promotion, training, and recruitment for the positions that will allow them to participate in decision-making in businesses. While companies hire employees for executive and managerial positions, majority prefer to promote the existing members for top jobs. To access a managerial position, an employee must demonstrate skill and go through a series of promotions or training to achieve such a top job (Sipe et al., 234). Therefore, managers are responsible for identifying the employees among the low-level workers who could be promoted for a position in management. The complexity of gender discrimination in the workplace arises from the involvement of many individuals in decisions to promote an employee to an executive position. Even the supervisor of new employees in a company may delay the promotion of a female employee to a lower management position (Harnois and Bastos 289). Gender discrimination in the workplace is promoted by individual employees and managers who may feel that women are not capable of holding top jobs in the company. While men and women in the American workforce are equally trained and experienced, their promotion is deterred by discrimination based on gender that makes it harder for them to receive a promotion. The lack of female representation in the workplace makes it harder for women to have their issues addressed in most companies. When businesses have most men at the top positions, the challenges that women face are likely to go unaddressed. In the United States, over 25% of women in the workforce report that they are harassed or discriminated against. More than 14% characterize their experience of harassment as sexual while other cases are related workplace issues such as having their input shutdown (Sipe et al., 235). With low female representation in leadership positions, the women who experience discrimination can hardly have their demands met by their managers. The challenges facing women result from organizational and individual issues that make it harder to end gender discrimination. Companies...