Gender and Sexuality Studies

Workplace gender equality will be achieved when people are able to access and enjoy equal rewards, resources and opportunities regardless of gender. It will require: Workplaces to provide equal pay for work of equal or comparable value. Removal of barriers to the full and equal participation of women in the workforce. Gender inequality in organizations is a complex phenomenon that can be seen in organizational structures, processes, and practices. For women, some of the most harmful gender inequalities are enacted within human resources (HRs) practices. This is because HR practices affect the hiring, training, pay, and promotion of women. We propose a model of gender discrimination in HR that emphasizes the reciprocal nature of gender inequalities within organizations. We suggest that gender discrimination in HR-related decision-making and in the enactment of HR practices stems from gender inequalities in broader organizational structures, processes, and practices. This includes leadership, structure, strategy, culture, organizational climate, as well as HR policies.

In addition, organizational decision makers’ levels of sexism can affect their likelihood of making gender biased HR-related decisions and/or behaving in a sexist manner while enacting HR practices. Importantly, institutional discrimination in organizational structures, processes, and practices play a pre-eminent role because not only do they affect HR practices, they also provide a socializing context for organizational decision makers’ levels of hostile and benevolent sexism. Although we portray gender inequality as a self-reinforcing system that can perpetuate discrimination, important levers for reducing discrimination are identified.

Workplace gender discrimination comes in many different forms, but generally it means that an employee or a job applicant is treated differently or less favourably because of their sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation.Even though the words “sex” and “gender” have different meanings, laws against discrimination at work often use them interchangeably. Sometimes workers experience discrimination because of their gender and something else, like their race or ethnicity. For example, a woman of colour may experience discrimination in the workplace differently from a white female co-worker. She may be harassed, paid less, evaluated more harshly, or passed over for promotion because of the combination of her gender and her race.

According to a McKinsey study on women in the workplace, corporate America has made almost no progress improving women's representation over the past four years. The research shows that women are underrepresented at every level, and women of colour are the most underrepresented group of all, lagging behind white men, men of colour and white women. The study revealed that the underrepresentation of women in high-level roles isn't due to lack of education or attrition rates.