Effects of Gender Discrimination in the Workplace

Gender discrimination, commonly known as sexism, is the belief that one gender is weak, inferior and incapable than the other. Gender discrimination has been associated with prejudice and hatred developed towards one gender. A lot of activism has attempted to fight gender discrimination in the workplace since it is considered one of the most notorious social evils. A number of studies have been conducted to investigate gender differences and gender discrimination in the workplace. The results indicates that beliefs concerning gender in the workplace may be different depending on levels of aggressive sexism and more delicate forms of sexist prejudice. It is undoubtedly significant to appreciate the relationship between gender beliefs and biased attitudes. This is because gender discrimination in the context of workplace impact on relations among employees (Crosby, Stockdale, & Ropp, 2007).

Different organizations treat gender issues differently depending on their personal and cultural values. Gender discrimination is treated differently depending on beliefs and attitudes regarding ethnicity, feminist beliefs, and social roles. Some organizations are also run by administrators who believe in conservative and egalitarian ideologies. A survey conducted on gender discrimination in the workplace revealed that over sixty percent of women believe gender discrimination exists. Laws have been established and reviewed to protect women against gender discrimination. In 1963, the equal pay act ended the practice of compensating men more than women for the same responsibilities. Despite the regulations, women agree that discrimination is still a significant problem in some businesses. Many studies have been conducted to reveal the negative impacts of gender discrimination to victims in the workplace (Crosby, Stockdale, & Ropp, 2007).

Gender discrimination is a significant impact in the way stereotypes take form. In terms of physical energy, men are considered to be stronger and more industrious than women. In many hard and risky positions, only men are considered while women are regarded as weak and delicate. On the other hand, women are considered to be more creative with better communication skills than men. These beliefs impact on important decisions in general choice of manpower and running of an organization. Women are the major victims of gender discrimination in a workplace. This discrimination is evident in form of sexual harassments, job opportunities restrictions, salary gaps and leadership roles. A lot of research has been conducted and has identified some devastating impacts of gender discrimination in a workplace. One of the effects on the victims of gender discrimination is low productivity (Crosby, Stockdale, & Ropp, 2007).

Employee’s confidence is affected by discrimination in the workplace leading to low productivity. Lose of motivation and morale in the workplace is a common phenomenon in the victims of gender discrimination. Loss of motivation decreases productivity of the workers in a workplace. Low productivity is associated with jokes that imply that an individual is inferior. Women have been identified as the major victims of gender discrimination. Offensive jokes especially sexual in nature imply women are inferior, and this lowers their motivation. Some women are discriminated by their men counterparts in the workplace who suggest that they are not effective in their responsibilities. This lowers their morale, affects their productivity and lowers the productivity of the organization (Gregory, 2003).

The performance of an organization is affected by gender discrimination. Discriminated employees feel that they are justified to provide sub-standard services for the company. The low performance of these employees leads to reduced productivity output and eventually poor performance of an organization. Gender discrimination also causes the victims to limit their thinking. This is because they believe that their opinions will be discriminated against. This limits diversity and makes an organization to remain stagnant for a long time. In a workplace, the quality of work is affected by gender discrimination. This is because the employees who feel discriminated fail to produce good quality when working.

Some managers apply their stereotypical reasoning by engaging gender issues in promotion. This usually affects both men and women depending on the perception of the supervisor. Some managers pass over their female friends for promotion citing their false abilities. In some situations which are regarded as men territories, some managers pass their female workers for promotion to dispel the belief that men perform better in those situations. In some conservative cultures, men are believed to be superior to women, and are therefore considered for promotions ahead of women. In most cases, women lose their promotion opportunities when they leave for maternity leaves. Gender discrimination therefore affects the way promotion is conducted in the workplace. This implies that those who are promoted are not necessarily the ones who deserve the chances; affecting the organization’s performance (Gregory, 2003).

Gender discrimination affects the decisions of the interviewers during hiring of new employees. This has direct effects on women, who are sometimes rejected due to their home responsibilities. In many cultures, it is the responsibility of the mother to take care of her children especially when they are young. Some interviewers pass over a qualified female candidate who they feel may be occupied by her family responsibilities. Some women succeed through the hiring process but are never promoted, and are assigned only the minor responsibilities. Gender discrimination results to destruction in the workplace by the victims of this evil. The victims may lose their dignity and decide to spread malicious and destructive information about the organization and its employees (Crosby, Stockdale, & Ropp, 2007).

Gender discrimination is the cause for the high rise of unemployment in the society. Some organizations are very sensitive when employing new workers for particular positions. Some positions that are traditionally believed to belong to a certain gender remain vacant until the right person is found. Work efficiency in an organization is affected by these believes leading to decreased productivity. In some cases, since gender discrimination is illegal, it results in lawsuits. These lawsuits cause the organizations involved to incur additional expenses and losses. The damages caused by lawsuits especially for multiple plaintiffs are significant and can lead to collapse of small businesses (Gregory, 2003).

Gender discrimination affects the employees’ turnover rate in an organization. This takes place when a workplace attracts a negative publicity. This happens particularly when an organization attracts a negative attention by the media. The organization loses credibility, its clients and can ultimately run out of businesses. A company that has had a case of gender discrimination in its history hinders its chance of getting a potential customer, employee or an investor. Negative publicity affects the hiring procedures of a company. Talented applicants avoid applying to a company that is known to be discriminatory. This limits the organization’s chances of getting the best employees. In addition, gender discrimination in the hiring process hinders the organizations opportunities of selecting the best candidates even if they apply for the positions (Gregory, 2003).

Some effects of gender discrimination affect the victims psychologically and silently. Women in particular fail to admit their situations as a form of psychological protection. The concealed feelings come out in form of depression, uncertainty, anger and fear. The results damage the performance of the workers and the job. The fear of being negatively stereotyped causes anxiety that threatens an individual’s performance. Women in occupations which are fundamentally dominated by men are affected by this phenomenon and are at a risk of underperforming (Gregory, 2003).

Gender discrimination may leave a long term negative effect to the sustainability of an organization. The discriminated employee is psychologically and emotionally disturbed leading to low performance standards. The discriminated individual may discriminate others based on their gender; the trend may cause unrelenting discrimination culture for an organization. Eventually, the culture brings down the overall performance of an organization. Another significant effect of workplace gender discrimination is the overall impact on the society. The socio-economic gender inequalities continue to widen. The social cohesion and solidarity that exists in a society is destroyed by gender discrimination. When the cohesion is eroded, the social order is altered resulting in wastage of human resources (Gregory, 2003).

In conclusion, effects of gender discrimination in the workplace have been found to be devastating. Huge companies such asWal-Mart have been accused of major discrimination against women in the workplace. For both legal and ethical reasons, employers should work hard to prevent being labeled as gender discriminators. It is the responsibility of all the employers and employees to act against the evil. The employer should take all the possible actions to be an equal employer. Promotions and appraisals in the workplace should not be based on gender. The workers should maintain a bias free working environment among themselves. All the employees and their supervisors should be provided with occasional seminars to train them the adverse effects of gender discrimination. They should be made to understand that gender discrimination has both negative social and economic effects to the organization and its stakeholders.

References

Crosby, F. J., Stockdale, M. S., & Ropp, A. S. (2007). Sex discrimination in the workplace: multidisciplinary perspectives. New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell.

Gregory, R. F. (2003). Women and workplace discrimination: overcoming barriers to gender equality. Piscataway, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.