Despite the impressive strides the women’s movement has made towards equality in recent decades, women still struggle to achieve parity with their male colleagues in terms of pay and promotion at the managerial level. According to the Society for Human Resource Managers, although women and men may have roughly equal status during the early phases of their careers, this begins to change as the years go on, and both genders do not struggle equally to make progress on the career ladder. Women are less likely to be promoted to managerial roles then men, and their pay suffers accordingly (Miller, 2016). The influence of gender-based inherent bias cannot be discounted, as men may be more apt to promote individuals who seem more like themselves, even unconsciously. After or outside of work events at bars or golf courses can be uncomfortable and unintentionally exclude women, particularly women with pressing family responsibilities at home.
Even men admit that employers are doing little to overcome the hurdles of discrimination women may face. According to a survey of 80,000 workers by the Seattle-based research firm PayScal, only 17% of men said that their employers were taking proactive steps to reduce gender-based pay inequities, versus 10% of women (Miller, 2016). Part of the problem is due to the so-called second shift which women must often perform. In other words, once women arrive home (or are about to leave in the morning), there is an expectation that they engage in child care, elder care, and housework to a far greater degree than their male counterparts, even if they are working at paid employment...…new, global reality, women’s willingness to work flexible schedules could actually be helpful for them, rather than a hindrance. It also encourages employees to be evaluated on work quality, rather than socializing and facetime at the office, which could be helpful for female employees. Offering child and eldercare on premises is another solution, and could make the organization more attractive even to men as well as women.
Regardless, women clearly have untapped resources of talent at drive that our organization has a personal and social responsibility to mine to its greatest possible extent. Taking such measures as mentoring talented women employees, offering flextime to those willing and interested in it, and exploring onsite care-based facilities are all options which must be entertained if we are to succeed and move into the next millennium.
References
Miller,…
