The Importance Of Gender Equality In The Workplace

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Over the years there has been great effort made with respect to gender equality. Societies have slowly but changed their views on women working alongside men in various public and private companies which had been a male dominated territory previously. Due to various civil rights organizations, women 's role in the work place has increased and that is not only in developed countries but also in developing countries which is good to see. "In America due to the enactment of title VII, the wage income of women has increased by $22billion and more than four million were working in higher job categories" (Raymond F. Gregory, 2003).
Although there has been a major improvement with respect to the working conditions for women, there is still need further …show more content…

There is also a lot of resistance to female leadership because people think that successful female managers are more pushy and selfish compared to successful male managers. On the other hand, there is also a problem of leadership style. Many leading females like to struggle to strike a balance, it means women have a nature of showing compassion to others, as a leader need to be confident and in control of their emotions and surroundings. One last major reason why women might be discriminated against in the work place is that of family demands. Women interrupt their careers to start a family, hence juggle work with family. This does not give them time to join the social network process which is essential to advancement (Alice H. Eagly and Linda L. Carli, September 2007). A study published in the Harvard business review in 1965 reported that more than 32% of respondents believe that a woman 's biological makeup makes them unsuitable for manager or CEO roles. In this study respondents considered a good manager to possess so called masculine traits which is another reason why women are often discriminated in climbing up the hierarchy of a company (A. Nichols and Rosabeth Moss Kanter, 1996). Now let 's look at the steps companies can take to help its female employees have equal opportunity with men to reach its highest …show more content…

Companies can further help women in getting to higher positions in a company by introducing a flexible hours scheme for women who have to take care of a family as well. Large corporations can also invest in facilities like child care nurseries/day care. If such facilities are introduced to help women then sky will be the limit for them and we will see more and more women as CEO 's (www.hrlaw.co.uk, April 2009). Basically if companies and organizations take steps to provide equal opportunity policies, prevention of sexual harassment policies, diversity management and track and monitor the progress of both men and women on equal grounds then the corporate world will be one step closer to achieving the goals of gender equality (Linda Wirth, February 2002). Further steps which can be taken by companies who want more women leaders need to introduce the following ideas. "Evaluate and reward women 's productivity by objective results, not by the number of hours at work" (Alice H. Eagly and Linda L. Carli, September

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