Legal Environment final paper

Women Discrimination1

Women Discrimination in the Workplace

Teresa Grass

BUS670 : Legal Environment

Instructor: Jennifer Stephens

Date: January 13, 2014


The society in this day in time gender discrimination in

the workplace possibly could occur I many different nature in

connection with dissimilar manner. It possibly could continually

being handle with satisfactorily, but nevertheless, even if

society has understanding of the necessity of doing away with

gender bias along with creating gender equity with equality in

employment. Several factors have played a role that could cause

every effort to turn towards the end result leading to failure.

Most nearly all types of organization the predisposition of the

employers is found to be biased towards the male workers.

Biasness if most definitely very apparent in entrust authorities,

apparent in paying, attitudes in quite similar forms along with

treatment. Between the both discrimination a hostile environment

can be formed in the workplace. In this today’s society women

have achieved a great deal of things, most of their

accomplishment remains informally, undervalued, and unrecognized.


Gender discrimination remains to take place in every sectors of a

state’s economy.

The idea that the government ought to set wages for every

job is being supported by organizations that are pro-equal pay

along with many unions. Any organization that are proponents of

pay that are equal aren’t consider fair job wages that are set by

the government they desire to have the discrimination taken out

of pay scales from among the company. This pay gap is accredited

to the fact that women in the United States remain to be likely

to attend to family obligations when it comes down to work. The

primary care givers women are being socialized to be; they are

remain at these lower paying jobs that are considered flexible

along with jobs that are permitting them to care for their family

all while retaining an income. Workplace problem occurs because

women’s are constantly changing roles in society. Often time’s

women are being persuaded to work yet they aren’t compensated or

rewarded at the moment of the exact level, commended for their

efforts that men in the workplace are. If companies were

additional conductive to family schedules the pay gap would be


narrowed. Among women and men the both of them would be paid the

same for the exact job. If the quality employees would be retain

companies could actually benefit from it. Among both women and

men need to begin out making the exact same amount if the job is

the same, companies should allow women enough of time for

maternity leave, the families should be offered childcare,

flexible work surrounding should be offered, men ought to never

be discouraged from allowing to get paternity need. In today’s

society if appears that women workers have reached a plateau. The

only way that women can receive respect as the men in the

workplace there should be a redistribution of family and domestic

work. Now its quiet acceptable for women to work; yet this

acceptance into the workplace hasn’t tremendously changed what

are expected of women to perform at home. If women aren’t

recognized as contributors to their job there is no way for them

to move forward to equality in pay. (www. archives.cnn.com)

As quick as additional family and domestic work is allocated

to men only then will women be capable to reach equal pay. If

there is less work at home for women, they are capable to commit


to full time jobs, having to leave the workplace less, along

being capable to go up the corporate ladder the same as men are

doing today. In the early 40’s gender inequality, especially the

pay can be traced. The National War Labor Board released a

general order that permitted employers to make voluntary

adjustments in salaries either pay in order to show gender

equality. The rates of women involve in labor unions has been

enhancing every since they came in the workplace. Regardless, of

the enhancement of women union numbers this inequality of pay

continues to exist. If women are being mistreated in the

workplace they are being persuaded by unions along with other

organizations to sue their employer. Even though the offer is on

the table but 2wmen aren’t more than likely to go along with this

option against their employers since resources are so limited

such as time and money. Since some bosses doesn’t view women as

potential candidates for the majority positions that are

prestigious in the workplace this is why women feel that their

bosses are taken them very seriously. Another oppressive means

utilized by corporate America to keep women from gaining powerful

positions along with keeping them from raking in quite some money


is the glass ceiling, when it comes down to their gross income.

(Bray, C. (2011)

In companies women are being over represented in the lesser

paying jobs, nearly all secretarial and assistants positions are

being occupied by women in the mean while men crowd the top along

with filling the upmost prestigious positions in the company.

Occupational segregation is the concentration of men being on top

and women being at the bottom. The workplace to me is the

somewhat labeling yourself a feminist makes you socially awkward

and being politically incorrect. If an individual was to label

themselves as being feminist, confidence attributes male

characteristics to you, and sarcastically. Since there are some

feminists are known for this confidence and they have their idea

being clear of what type of injustices against women are their

considered being outcasts. The discrimination toward women in the

workplace indirectly affects the quality of healthcare made

available to majority of Americans women. I believe it’s very

vital to have equality in the workplace because women don’t

deserve to make less than the male workers just because of


gender. Let’s say if women are in an out of the labor force more

than men since of familial obligations this stills no reason for

this type of discrimination in the workplace. True enough women

are in an out of the workplace caring for men’s relatives, men,

and men’s children they still get paid less doing the exact job

as men. This cause a wage gap to be closed since women’s roles is

constantly changing; several women are workers as well as

mothers. Way back in the days it probably was acceptable for

women to make less money than men since men were sole providers

leaving the women income considered as play money. Now that is no

longer the case. In today’s society women are equal providers for

their family, more than likely the bigger earner, and very often

the sole provider for their household being they are single moms.

Women aren’t being hired for positions which they are most

definite qualified for since the company’s everlasting clients

feel really comfortable handling men, during company cutbacks

while the men with the exact job will less seniority remain on

their job over a woman who have been working for a long period of


time as well for the exact company but yet the women aren’t being

capable to attain a promotion regardless if they are qualified

for it the promotion is given to a male who is less qualified are

examples of gender discrimination in the workplace. When JFK

signed the Equal Pay Act the amount of women workers was very

high. Between the years of 60’s and late 70’s over half the

enhancement in the sum of workers in the labor force was majority

of women. Majority of these women are married are either delayed

their child bearing in order to remain in the labor force for a

long period of time. Regardless, if women main obligations are to

their families they remain in the workplace even after having

children. If the female can’t provide the second income in

today’s society the families can hardly make it. Women are

recovering from childbirth this is the reason why they are being

in and out of the workplace; the amount of working moms in early

2006 was way in the million. Only a percentage of mothers in the

United States having children under the age of 18 are considered

to be full-time are part-time. (Porter, E)


At home or at work women are in hostile surroundings. For

the job being the same women are being paid less than men, are

cornered into low paying demeaning work, along being sexual

harassed in the workplace. Regardless, if women are equal

providers for their families they are still expected to be the

primary caretaker of their household. If women are being granted

equality there is no way for them to excel in both arenas.

Redistribution of domestic along with family work or equal

respect for women while women remaining at home and the men in

the office this is considered equality. Regardless, of the effort

of the law, gender discrimination in the workplace still going

on. This is a big obstacle for the professional growth of many

people in the workplace in today’s society. In the workplace

gender based inequalities will remain in the generations to come

in the United States including the whole world.

“In the mid–nineteenth century, states began to pass married

women’s property acts, but until passage of the Nineteenth

Amendment in 1920, little action was taken to do away with

discriminatory laws against women. In the 1920s, some states


eliminated prohibitions against women holding public office and

serving on juries; school board positions, for example, were

among the first local municipalities permitted women to occupy.

Until the passing of the Equal Pay Act in 1963, it was legal to

pay different rates to women and men performing the same job, and

until the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it was legal

to refuse to hire a woman for a job based on her sex. Today women

have made a move in almost every field that was earlier known as

being male-only. However, gender discrimination still exists and

doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. Sex discrimination

has a negative effect on how men view women, and how women view

themselves. Gender discrimination also impacts men’s career

trajectory, choice of job and career, and discrimination in

traditionally female occupations. In turn, directly affecting

women’s status and income” (Anker, 1997). In this society today

women discovered themselves as being stopped by the invisible

barrier considered as the glass ceiling. Women are being held

back from coming up in a job since a man with same credentials is

advanced instead of her is known as the glass ceiling.”A recent

study by US Bureau of Labor shows that women working 41 to 44


hours a week earn 84.6% of what their male counterparts do . The

companies where gender discrimination takes place are also

negatively affected. Gender discrimination results in lost

productivity because victims lose motivation and the morale

necessary to perform jobs effectively” (www.

careerplanning.about.com)

Quite often supervisors look over people for promotion

because to preconceived notions concerning their roles along with

capabilities. Let’s view an example, a chief of police would look

over a female officer for a promotion, for the reason that men

inherently perform better in these types of positions. Quite

often supervisors look over qualified males for promotions in

organization that employ a high percentage of women compared to

men, quite often women who have young children experience

pushback when interviewing since they got such a heavy load of

family responsibilities. A prospective employer is being

protected by the law from asking about family responsibilities

yet normally occurs regardless. There could be fewer

responsibilities since managers could think he/she can’t handle


anything more on her plate could be an end result. There are

several instances were discrimination is being unintentional or

subconscious. Many employees are being mentor and socialize by

their managers that posses similar background even similar age as

them; this discriminates unintentionally to those who don’t fall

among the manager’s characteristics.

The Equal Opportunity Employment Act protects Americans

against discrimination base upon employees’ national origin, sex,

religion, color, and race. I have learned from recent statics

concerning discrimination employees in the workplace, also gain

knowledge on how to recognize and possibly prevent discrimination

because of gender in the workplace future. Let’s say if an

employee is experiencing discrimination it’s in the best interest

to immediately report the issue to the Human Resource department

and allow them to take the need actions to remedy the problem

"Many women have found that when they return to work after having

a baby they are sacked - which is not related to their job

performance - or they are not promoted. Sometimes jobs are added

to their original job description to try to shove them out. We

have had a big increase in these complaints during the downturn,"


she said. Ms Wu blamed the "newness" of the anti-

discrimination laws (the regulations were introduced in 1996) for

the fact that women were still not progressing as well as they

should in education, the workplace and politics.” (Parkinson, L.

(2000, Feb 24). All lines are being crossed when discrimination

occurs; it’s agreed by the forum participants. All the women such

as the physically challenged, old women, young, gay, and minority

are being affected. Discrimination goes for beyond the workplace

into the service industry, where women are seldom made to wait

are treated like they don’t have any knowledge of nothing.

In this society women remain not being accepted on the same

level with men. Women are hired or even promoted since sexual

performance not because of job performance, still exist. Women

who are mothers particularly the mothers who are single are

penalized. A issue that is still burning is equal pay, with women

offering lower salaries than men in exact jobs. Equal pay is

still a burning issue, with women still given lower salaries than

men in similar jobs. Discrimination is the workplace seldom

clothed in subtlety. Yet it is interwoven throughout the


corporate world in the forms of sexual harassment, lower pay and

unreasonable or demeaning job duties, forum participants felt.

(O'Dea, S. (2006)

“Justice Ethics is based on the concept of fairness. This theory

is closely related to deontology and the rights of theindividual.

The U.S. legal system has a strong grounding in procedural justic

e and is focused on judicial process. Manyof our constitutional r

ights protect the integrity of the legal process and ensure that

all people are treated fairly in thecourts. We also find this phi

losophy in the procedures and consistent rules that businesses cr

eate for their employeesand other stakeholders. In a similar fash

ion, appellate judges decide cases that set precedents that apply

to all of us.They must balance doing justice for the individuals

involved in the case with the ramifications of how decisions will

affect future case law and society as a whole.Deontology is a duty

-based ethical theory that focuses on individual rights and good inten

tions. In this school ofthought, an act’s morality depends on the acto

r’s motive, and the only unconditionally good motive is duty. Therefore

,

for an act to be moral or good, it must be undertaken out of a sense o


f duty. Unlike utilitarianism, in deontology, therights of the individ

ual are very important and there are some things one should not do, ev

en if they would benefit a large number of people.”(Seaquist, G.

(2012).

Mothers are the strongest and most explicit bias in today’s

workplace. The maternal wall bias normally is being generating

when motherhood becomes outstanding of visible to managers along

with colleagues. This normally happens when women pronounce they

are pregnant, comes back from maternity leave, or get a part-time

of schedule that are considered to be flexible. Maternal wall

bias come from accusations that mothers aren’t as competent as

others, belonging at home since they can’t be both good workers

and good mothers, and aren’t committed to their jobs. There is a

saying that says “women must try twice as hard to achieve half as

much”. There should be more evidence provided by women of job-

related skills than their male components before they are even

considered as competent. Normally, women are permitted to make

fewer mistakes than men before considered being judged

incompetent. Conflicts among women are being created in the


workplace when they evince approval of women who hold fast to

traditional feminine stereotypes, but disapproval for women who

go against such stereotypes. The generalized conflict among older

women who created it the highest levels in their companies by

closely following a much traditional masculine career path along

with younger women who searches for a more flexible options

consisting of part-time work are the most familiar workplace

conflict.

Since majority of gender bias being subtle other than overt,

procedures and policies seem to be a facially objective, neutral;

along with job-related could be added in forms that lead to

lesser promotion opportunities and hiring frequent disciplinary

actions, greater termination rates between women and poor

performance evaluations. When managers base their employment

choices on biases rather than job performance these patterns

would be the end result. Talent workers are often being penalized

because of choices based on bias rather than legal job related

reasons and rewarding less talented individuals. As a result,


such decisions may well expose productivity and negatively affect

employee morale.

One of the most probably independent variables is attitudes

because they lead to gender discrimination at the workplace.

Women are feeling under pressure at the workplace because of male

dominance and peer pressure. Being that their colleagues acting

cold, or even trying to deem them having the ability to handle

projects along with tasks that are very important to professional

growth. A mother can’t be devoted paying full attention along

with being able to focus on her work because they are highly

discriminated against, instead she will lean more toward her

children; therefore, they ought not to be hired, since it will

cost the company. It is believed that women are mentally and

physically less capable and strong than men. This comes about

because of gender bias bring assumptions about the

characteristics of women and men. Let look an instance, men are

normally assumed to be committed to their careers, aggressive,

competent, and reliable to their careers. In our every day

decisions we make judgments concerning people based on daily


assumptions that come up automatically. Behavior that is

unacceptable in women while men behavior is being accepted. A

woman in a traditionally masculine job may be called ‘hard to

work with’ or ‘too ambitious’ for the same behavior that helps a

man establish himself as ‘assertive’ and ‘having leadership

potential. In situations as this women are look at to be warm,

kind, understanding, and helpful. Many workplaces women are

viewed as being traditional, likable, or dependent women who are

meek but incompetent or as being dominant nontraditional women,

who are considered competent, yet are disliked for violating

norms that are unspoken that women ought to be nurturing and

inclusive.

In the workplace women are protected against gender-based

discrimination under federal laws imposed by the Employment Equal

Opportunity Commission. When differences in pay for doing the

exact job as man, being held back from training that would permit

her to advance, a women face sexual harassment problems are forms

of employer discrimination. There are consequences that employer

have to face employer violating the laws consist of a company


culture with low morale, high employee turnover along with

ultimately loss of revenue, loss of revenue, loss in

productivity, back pay to employees and paying fines are the end

results of an employer violating such laws. The Pregnancy

Discrimination Act of 1978 under Title VII of the Civil Rights

Act of 1964 was formed in order for employers cant fire,

intentionally can’t hire, discriminate or demote against a

pregnant woman. A woman is entitled to exact work-related

benefits as everybody else, special work provisions because of

medical disability, keeping medical and fringe benefits, and

training opportunities. A woman is permitted 12 weeks of

workplace leave by the Medical Leave Act and Family following

adopting or giving birth to a child. A woman being discriminating

against simply because she seem less capable than a man is

forbidden by Title V and Title I of the Americans with

Disabilities Act of 1990. To withhold career advancement

opportunities or training from women is against the law, like

keeping an administrative warehouse worker from being promoted to

a greater paying yet physically demanding job for anxiety that

the woman will be slower or weaker.


If a worker that is disabled and qualified requires a

modified schedule because a doctor’s appointment on the other

hand, a woman with learning disability needs more materials along

with equipment to assist getting her job completed, an employer

is expected to create the accommodations necessary within reason,

under the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Therefore, if any woman who feels discrimination against need to

document her discoveries with details and names, dates, then

suddenly contact human resources. It would be a great idea to

gather evidence of good performances reviews to be utilized as

proof that the matter maybe discrimination but not being

performance related. The next step should be to contact the

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to look into the claim.

If there any discoveries made by the EEOC of any wrong-doing on

the company’s part, the case will be close. After that the female

employer would have 90 days to bring legal action on her own.

(www.workplacefairness.org)

Whether it’s being you are your colleague gender

discrimination is a serious matter that needs to be stand


against. Talking to your seniors concerning the issue and let

them know how you feel should be the first step that needs to be

taken in dealing with gender discrimination. A woman doesn’t need

to hesitate to be honest enough to speak up her mind. When your

senior is the troublemaker influencing gender discrimination, try

and approach authority in a much higher level to look into the

matter. There are the human resources managers that you can

confide in concerning the matter. Many organizations do exist

such as the trade unions along with the employment tribunals that

support employee rights and search into issues of employment

discrimination. If all fails a woman can always resort to the law

to assist her. A woman should always keep in mind that gender

discrimination at workplace or anywhere else ought not be taken

lightly or ignored. It is serious breach of the law as well as

breach of human rights.


References:


Anker, R. (1997). Theories of occupational segregation by sex: An overview.

International Labour Review, 136(3), 315

Bray, C. (2011). Toshiba's U.S. unit faces $100 million gender-discrimination suit

. The Wall Street Journal, p. 10.

(2006) "Filing a Discrimination Claim-Pennsylvania." Workplace Fairness.

Retrieved from www.workplacefairness.org

Keller, L. (2008) “Workplace gender gap Women and Men: Payday." Career

Archives. 12 Retrieved from www. archives.cnn.com

McKay, D. (2008) “Women Face Glass Ceiling in Hiring." Retrieved form

www. careerplanning.about.com

O'Dea, S. (2006). From suffrage to the Senate: America's political women: an

encyclopedia of leaders, causes & issues. Millerton, New York: Grey House

Pub.

Parkinson, L. (2000, Feb 24). Workplace discrimination persists:

EOC "big increase' in women's complaints against firms flouting

maternity leave entitlements. South China Morning Post. Retrieved from

http://search.proquest.com

http://search.proquest.com/


Porter, E. "Stretched to Limit, Women Stall March to Work." The New York

Times 2 Mar. 2006.

Rep. No. GAO-04-35 at 1-65 (2003).

Seaquist, G. (2012). Business law for managers. San Diego, CA:

Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

(2006) "Sex/Gender Discrimination." Sex/Gender Discrimination. Workplace

Fairness. Retrieved from www.workplacefairness.org

Warhola, D., & Telegraph, G. (1990, Oct 21). Problem:

Discrimination in the workplace. Colorado Springs Gazette - Telegraph.

Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com

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