Gender Discrimination in the Workplace

Sexism is one of the most visible forms of discrimination in the workplace and, although, many organizations try to seek solutions to the problem their efforts are often unsuccessful. Gender discrimination in the workplace happens when the terms and conditions of an individual's employment status is compromised because a person is male or female. These types of treatments can be taken in two forms: disparate treatment or disparate impact. Disparate treatment can be direct, resulting in a person being treated differently because of their gender. Disparate impact is a little bit less noticeable and happens when a companies policies are designed as to make certain employees miss out on opportunities due to their gender. Both can affect a persons ability to advance within a company, and/or limit the amount of money an individual is able to make. Historically, women have take the biggest hit within the workplace and facing discrimination. Although, women still continue to make up a large percentage of workers within jobs that have known to hold female stereotypes such as Administrative, Clerical, and Service positions. However, women still find it harder to get most senior jobs and "make up just 3% of Fortune 300 CEOS." (Barbara Beck. Closing the Gap. St Louis, The Economist, 2011). Woman are also generally paid less than men for the same work regardless of the equal-pay legislation act. This is partly because women often work in different fields. However, even in the same jobs they earn slightly less than men from the beginning but as time goes by the gap gets even bigger. "the OECD it now averages 18%. That is a lot less than 40 years ago." (Barbara Beck. Closing the Gap. St Louis, The Economist, 2011). Many discussions focused on the topic of gender discrimination, have been focused on the ways managers and supervisors treat an individual, however, gender discrimination can also involve co-workers, customers, clients, or any other subordinates.