Women's Equality Issues in the Workplace

As Sarah sat in the break room at work, she could feel her anger beginning to surface. She tried to keep calm, and by doing so, she could feel the tears start to come to her eyes. This always happened when she was angry and would not allow herself to say anything about it. She sat there, trying to decide whether or not to go to those men and tell them a thing or two, or sit right where she is and wait it out. She had heard the men, her co-workers, making remarks about her being a woman and they were betting money on how long she would last at the job. That wasn't the bad part of it all. This was Sarah's first day at work. She had gone to the bathroom and could not believe the posters that were on the wall. The posters made her uncomfortable, but she did not mention it to anyone yet. She wondered now if she would mention it, because the men were making those bets on whether she would be able to handle the job or not. Equal opportunity: gender discrimination and equality for women in the workplace covers many issues; there are more women working today than there were years ago, workplace equality for women has improved, and gender discrimination still occurs in the workplace.

According to Paula Ketter, in an article called Women Versus Men, published in April, 2006, she states that When T&D (Training and Development) began publishing in 1946, the country was a different place, and so was the training and industry. Men dominated the workforce and industry, which made 'Ladies' night' at local chapter and national events a common occurrence. As time went on, the amount of men versus women working changed, gradually. The workplace was still dominated by men for many years. Eventually, it begin to change so that it was noticeable. As late as 1970, the training and development field was 90% men. (Ketter, April 2006)

Within a 25 year span, around the mid 70's to the late 90's, the amount of women in the T&D area had doubled and the percentage of men had dropped a bit, at least 29%. What used to be dominated by men had suddenly changed and more females dominated the industry. These great changes had occurred by the year 1999. (Ketter, April 2006) Hooray! This was wonderful news!

Not only were more women working, but the T&D began to change, as well. For many years, there had been training and development mainly directed at helping men to learn better work skills, but in the year 1971, the T&D began to train women, especially in HR (Human Relations). According to Ketter, Industry has targeted training at the male sector of the workforce for many years. Proponents of such training believe that training programs will increase productivity and efficiency, improve job satisfaction, encourage feelings of self-worth, quality people for promotion, and increase receptivity to change. Ketter goes on to say, regarding a survey that was done, it is our belief that all those benefits of training apply to women as well as men. The work industry was changing and men and women were beginning to feel equal and be treated as such.

The work industry and the training and development programs and surveys were working to bring more women into the workplace. They said that women should be encouraged to work and feel that they can move forward and have promotions in the workplace and not feel intimidated just because they are women. Paula Ketter writes a great paragraph in here article. The key for women in the profession (HR) is not to give away their power or assume that they'll be discounted because they're women (or in training in HR). More than ever, women need to focus on how they can advance in their companies, not on why they can't. In this same article, it says that, as of 1999, more than two-thirds of people in the profession are now female. (Ketter, April 2006)

Equality for women has improved in the workplace, but there is still a ways to go with these improvements. It was harder for women to get promotions, working in the law field, back in 2008, than it was for men. (Singleton, Sept. 2008)

Singleton says, in the article Why Equality Is Good For Business, When I became a trainee in the city in 1983, just over 50 percent of my contemporaries were females. The proportion of women entering law is much the same now. At present, despite more than 20 years of equal recruitment, women make up only about 11% of equity partners in the city. (Singleton, Sept. 2008)

Over the years, there have been several positive changes for women and equality in the workplace. Whether it is in the law field where women work or in a garage, changing tires, or in an office, women still struggle with equality in the workplace. Men do not seem to want to accept women in the workplace. If men could read this article called Book Challenges, Inspires Equality For Women, they may be able to change their minds about women working. In this article called Book Challenges,

Inspires Equality For Women, written in January 2006, Misani says Genderstanding Jesus: Women In His View (Teach Services, Inc., 2003), by Dr. Meryl James-Sebro, is a timely book for men and women grappling with the social, economic, cultural, and political implications of gender inequality in today's secular and faith-based society. The reader-friendly book examines how Jesus interacted with and felt about women in biblical days in order to convey the message that He believed in equality for both male and female, even in the patriarchal society that defined His era. Dr. Meryl James-Sebro tries to get men and women, via reading the book, to look through the eyes of Jesus, and how Jesus was non bias when he viewed women, and think about equality for women in the same manner. (Misani, Jan. 2006)

When it comes to gender, the problems that arise about equality for women can involve mental abuse, income inequality, physical abuse, and sexual abuse or harassment, which can affect more than just the women in society. (Misani, Jan. 2006) Genderstanding Jesus was written to give hope and empowerment to all people, not only women. The author of this book hopes that more people will be inspired by this book so that they can have better relationships, by genderstanding, or understanding and accepting the differences between genders. (Misani, Jan. 2006)

Even though there are laws to protect women from forms of gender discrimination, it still happens more than people realize. A lot of women never tell on the ones who discriminate against them or speak up about things that make them uncomfortable. Some women would rather quit their job than to tell, because they feel like they are not strong enough to fight that battle, or they do not want to cause stress to their family, or other reasons women come up with to not fight back.

Sexual harassment is probably the largest body of the published arbitration cases concerning gender discrimination. This category of behavior has been barred by legislation. Also, it has long been recognized in arbitration that sexual harassment is conduct worthy of disciplinary action for the perpetrators and appropriate remedies for the victims [49]. Sexual harassment can manifest itself in several different ways, such as direct and unwelcome sexual propositions, harassing actions and statements, and the creation of a generally hostile work environment based on sexual contexts. When will sexual harassment end? Will it ever end? This has to be the most uncomfortable situation there is for a woman to deal with. If more women would come forward and tell on those who do this to them, it could be stopped and women could gain more respect in the workplace. Why is it that some men look at women as just a sex symbol? And why is it that some employers retaliate or act like they do not care about this issue when a woman comes forward? Luckily, there are laws now that help women when they do tell on their perpetrators.

Maybe sexual harassment is one of the biggest problems in the workplace because not enough women come forward and help to stop this. Of course, a lot of it has to do with the ones who are doing the acts of sexual harassment, and the women are not at fault because of that, but if more women did speak up about it, this problem could become an even smaller problem. We would be living in a fantasy world if we thought that it would end completely. That would be wonderful. Unfortunately, the truth is that it will keep happening until women and employers begin to insist on respect and help to make these changes, not just the legal system.

Employees have the right under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to bring charges of discrimination free from employer retaliation. (Dilts and Samavati , Journal Of Individual Employee Rights electronic article)If an employee makes a claim against the employer, the employer cannot fire them because of this, not legally anyway. It would be wonderful if more employers were to do things at work to help decrease the risks of sexual harassment happening. Wouldn't it be wonderful if a woman could go to work and not have to worry about someone making comments about her behind or her breasts, or slapping her on the butt, and other things?

According to an article called Workplace Bias Abounds, Clarke states that nearly 25% of workers know someone who has experienced gender discrimination at work. (Sept. 2005) Also, in this article, there is a chart that shows the percent of people who know someone who has been discriminated against based on gender. The percent shows as follows: All workers-23%, Men-20%, Women-27%, White-22%, and black-34%. This article is trying to get the point across that it would benefit businesses to use diversity in the workplace. A lot of employers do not use it, as of yet, but a lot do use diversity in their places of employment. The article states If something is not a business or organizational priority to the person or people at the top of the organization, it will not become important to the organization as a matter of policy. (Clarke, Sept. 2005)

Many women face issues about equality, gender discrimination, and sexual harassment at work. If they do not give up, they can accomplish many great things! There are laws that protect women now and women need to know what they are, and have the strength to use the laws to their benefit. Women can make a huge difference in the workplace. Training and laws regarding equality in the workplace will continue to improve for women. Sarah was able to overcome the comments she heard and she was able to go to her employer and mention the posters that were in the bathroom. She stood up for her civil rights. She persevered and did the work just as well as the men did. In time, the men began to respect her for her work abilities. The men did not win their bets either, as Sarah worked there for way more than the two weeks. Sarah gained more confidence by staying at this job. She even got a raise shortly after she began working. If women continue to fight for their rights, the world will be a much better place for working women; men and children, too. What affects one person in the family may affect others in the family.

References

Clarke, Robyn D. (Sept. 2005). Workplace bias abounds. Retrieved August 4, 2009, from Academic Source Premier database.

Ketter, Paula. (April 2006). Women versus men. As the role of women in the profession grew, T&D tracked it. Retrieved August 4, 2009, from Business Source Premier database.

Dilts and Samavati. Hostile work environment and sexual harassment. The arbitration of gender discrimination grievances in the U.S. Retrieved August 19, 2009, from Academic Source Premier database.

Misani. (Jan. 2006). Religion & spirituality. Book challenges, inspires equality for women.

Retrieved August 19, 2009, from Academic Source Premier database.

Singleton, Susan. (Sept. 2008). An electronic news article. (Lawyer). Why equality is good for business. Retrieved August 4, 2009, from Business Source Premier.