Home   |    Editorial    |    About Us   |    Subscribe   |    Advertise   |    THF Team   |    Contact Us   |    Archives  | E-Magazine |   Feedback

Special Story

Share |
ARSHIYA ISMAIL
Understanding Gender Bias of the Era
Gender discrimination is the result of our living in a Patriarchal Society, discusses Arshiya Ismail
Issue Date - 01/03/2013
 
Asian countries have played a dominant role in projecting the male supremacy in all walks of life, we still have traces of such beliefs at our workplace. Report of the Survey of Women Workers’ Working Conditions in Industry talks about the popular notion among many employers who feel that the men have a greater responsibility in supporting the family than the women and therefore have a greater right to the job. Gender discrimination against women in the market place reduces the available talent in an economy, which has negative economic consequences. Due to many social practices which are seen as normal from a religious or cultural point of view (have deep historical roots) leave women out of the economic mainstream. Gender discrimination, including discrimination in hiring practices, are illegal in our country and can result in a lawsuit against an offending employer. The practice of creating different working conditions and promotional opportunities for men and women violate anti-discrimination laws, however it still persists in our society. It is often a strenuous struggle for a woman not just to prove her mettle but also make her way to the top. Career publisher Vault.com researched that at least three quarters of women still believe that it is a thorny path for women first to get selected and then to advance in their workplace. Even though women perform well at managerial levels, we get to see a meagre percentage of them at the top decision-making levels.

Foundation: The long history of deep-rooted inequality among the sexes all over the world is the basis for gender discrimination. Historically, women were under represented in the workplace, athletics and academics. The residual effects of favouritism towards men and unfair treatment of women is the primary cause of gender discrimination. Which is evident in our Asian culture, be it jobs to normal day-to-day living women face it as a ritual.

Consequenses: There are several effects and consequences of gender discrimination, especially in employment. Gender discrimination at workplaces lead to a hostile work environment. Promoting harassment and possible workplace violence. However, victims have the right to file lawsuits to recover damages but it is too lengthy a process which generally meets with same biases in the courtrooms. The effect of gender bias makes an employer pass over a qualified female job applicant in favour of an unqualified male applicant because he or his business associates prefer to work with males. The employer may also pose female applicant questions such as whether she has, or plans to have, children. Some recruitment practices may not have a deliberate attempt to discriminate but they still do, for example minimum height or weight requirements that do not affect job performance, but that set the bar too high for most women.

According to the research done by Prof Berta Esteve of London School of Economics on Gender Discrimination and Growth, the profitability of companies with gender-balanced senior teams outperforms the industry average by over 34 per cent. In knowledge-based industries in particular, cultures with collaborative and inclusive leadership styles have been credited with consistently superior performance and increased innovation. Women excel in leadership style which is well documented and undisputed. Further, at present more women than men are graduating from university, and thus the talent pool of competent women is richer than ever.

So the issue is that, most of our friends and colleagues are blissfully unaware that women remained blocked in being promoted to senior roles. Given the current statistics on the gender imbalance at senior and board levels, it is shocking to realise that the same challenge exists today as well as in future!

“The glass ceiling has been pushed up but there is still a significant absence of women in top positions,” says Susan Vinnicombe, professor of organisational behaviour and diversity management at the Cranfield School of Management.

Alison Konrad on Women in Leadership and Development Dimensions International Inc. on Holding Women Back support that lack of opportunity for women in senior roles stems from an underlying and unspoken corporate bias, particularly at the executive and board level; promotional practices and other formal and informal systems blatantly favour men; women do not ask for what they want and expect less; and they are not given developmental opportunities in operational roles.

Cultural change is no small feat. Culture is deep, largely unspoken, historical and completely immovable unless it is addressed head on. As Malcolm Gladwell aptly puts it in Outliers – The Story of Success, “cultural legacies are powerful forces. They have deep and long lives. They persist generation after generation virtually intact, even as the economic, social and demographic conditions that spawned them have vanished…” The main reason that there are few women at the top is because the cultural legacies have not been challenged, but rather honoured.

Several laws prohibit gender discrimination and offer remedies for such behaviour in employment as well as in education and financial institutions. The Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. The Equal Pay Act promotes equality between men and women who perform the same job duties in the same workplace. However, we need to initiate the change where the leadership has to become a role model. We have to understand our ability to create a viable and sustainable workplace. Embedded and unspoken organisational biases can easily derail change efforts.
          

Share |
 
 
 

Home   |    Editorial    |    About Us   |    Subscribe   |    Advertise   |    THF Team   |    Contact Us   |    Archives   |   E-Magazine |   Feedback

IIPM | Arindam Chaudhuri | 4Ps Business & Marketing | Business And Economy | The Sunday Indian | Planman Consulting | Planman Marcom | Planman Stars | Planman Technologies | Planman Financial | Planman Motion Pictures | Planman Media | GIDF | The Daily Indian | IIPM Think Tank | Planman Realty | Related Links

Copyright © Planman Media Pvt. Ltd. 2008 All Rights Reserved.Best viewed in Internet Explorer Browser .