Information about Gender Inequality in the Workplace

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In terms of labour force participation, women have traditionally been utilized as a temporary means to increase profits. During WWII and the great depression, women were called by the government and employers to join the labour force temporarily. Women would be used to increase profits as women were paid less, could be fired with little difficulty and due to their participation, it would discipline men to not demand higher wages. There was also the expectation that women would work for less money and that when women got married and had children, they would stop working. In comparison, men were expected to be the sole earner in the household and have a permanent attachment to the workforce. These ideologies still persist and why women are less likely to receive as many benefits than men in the workforce and why gender inequality in the workplace is common.

 

Current Gender Ideology Persistence

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It is common for women to perform emotional labour in male dominated workplaces in order to ensure that the masculine workplace is functioning smoothly. Women also continue to be paid less, promoted less, feel unwelcome and are assigned to specific jobs despite qualifications and motivations

 

Horizontal Segregation

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Horizontal segregation is segregation that occurs as men and women work in different fields although they have similar educational level and skill requirements. This includes men and women who both have university educations in which men often become engineers and women often become teachers. This is due to the traditional notion that certain occupations are more appropriate for one gender and therefore leads to women having difficulty entering male dominated fields. Women are often guided and pushed into specific positions that are feminine including jobs that involve caring, clerical, catering, cleaning, cashiering. Discriminatory hiring practices and organizational practices reinforce this notion and lead to issues that include the lack of women in STEM fields as organizations hire males for STEM positions more than females. As a result, women are more likely to have lower wages and be in less male dominated fields.

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Vertical Segregation

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Vertical segregation is associated with men and women working in the same field but in occupations with different education, experience, skills. The overarching pattern with vertical segregation involves how women have a lack of advancement in their careers in comparison to men.

The glass ceiling consists of those artificial barriers based on attitudinal or organizational bias that prevents qualified individuals from advancing upward within their organization into managerial level positions. Specifically, women are less likely to be promoted in comparison to men due to the organizations gendered job evaluation criteria, gender stereotypes, a lack of family friendly policies and the homophily principle which creates an old boys’ network between men and causes them to advance in their careers due to being more likable and connected.

The glass escalator is a term to describe how men who are in female dominated professions, advance more quickly than women. Due to masculine traits being more favourable to employers, this occurs very often. Men in female dominated fields are welcomed, rise quickly in the hierarchy while women in male dominated fields do not receive the same benefits.

 

Gender Pay Gap

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Canadian women earn 72% what men earn on annual basis and women earn 87% of men’s hourly wages. As a result, women are the bottom of the pay scale in every field including highly paid occupations. As mentioned above, gendered evaluation criteria in hiring and promotions discriminate against women which is a factor in the gender pay gap. Compared to men, women are less likely to get promotions that bring higher salaries. Domestic responsibilities may also lead to women working fewer hours which fuels the pay gap.

 

References

Kimmel, M. S., & Holler, J. Z. (2017). The Gendered Society. Don Mills, Ont.: Oxford University

Press

Williams, C. L. (2013). The glass escalator, revisited. Gender & Society, 27(5), 609-629. doi: 

10.1177/0891243213490232

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 Stats on Gender Inequality