Gender Discrimination in Five Star Hotels - Essay Example

Gender discrimination in five star hotels and its impact on their career INTRODUCTION Hotels are a part of the hospitality industry which is one ofthe oldest industries in the world. A hotel provides temporary stay for its customers. A five star hotel is considered to be an upscale hotel which provides different services such as bed and breakfast, swimming pool, child care, restaurant, conference and meeting rooms etc. There are various categories of hotels. These can range from low cost to luxury hotels. Depending on the type of hotel the size and structure of management varies. There might be less than 50 rooms in a hotel. However, five star hotels, which are discussed mainly in this research, can have rooms up to 1000 also. A hotel provides a carefree atmosphere for its customers. It is a very sociable industry; its employees have a very high exposure to the customers. Looking at its contribution to the economy we can say that it is one of the most fast growing and biggest industries of the world.. Almost 10% of the gross national product is due to this hotel industry. In 2005, it gave revenue of almost £27 billion. After 2000 there was an increase of almost 4.5% in the hotel sector. In 2004, it gave almost £11.5 billion revenue. This huge increase shows that it is one of the fastest growing industries. In 2002, there were almost 280 000 employees in almost 40 000 establishments. London is the hub of hotel establishments in United Kingdom (Data Monitor, n.p, 2005; Hotel Research, n.p. 2006). In recent years we can notice that the hotel sector has been growing very fast. The main reasons for this are mergers and acquisitions. Sheraton Park Tower Hotel, Marriott London Park Lane, The London Hilton on Park Lane, Intercontinental etc are all five star hotels in the UK. Though we can see that there are many big names in this sector of the hospitality industry, but there is almost nothing being done in case of human resource management. Employment opportunities in the hospitality profession abound all over the world. In the majority of West European countries women predominate in the hotel staff but unfortunately, only a small number of women are in management positions. Though it might provide employment to many individuals but certainly does not provide equal opportunities to the women. A research was done by Purcell which revealed that women in the five star hotel sector of United Kingdom are horizontally segregated into particular jobs while being vertically segregated (Purcell, 18, 1996). Many researches have investigated the problem of equality rights and gender prejudices in the workplace. Many claim that because of the established dominance of males in the vast number of areas of public life, women are often placed in a disadvantaged position from the very beginning; Recruitment is considered to be one of the major issues in equal opportunities for women. However, statistical data shows a considerable increase in the percentage of women who are engaged in some kind of professional work. This increase has been in the lower level of the hierarchy, but as we go up we will notice lesser and lesser number of females. The Five star hotel sector of the hotel industry has conventional employment model. It has a linear path of progression (Boaxall & Purcell, 47-70, 2003). The top four positions in a five star hotel are General Manager (GM), Financial Director, Director of Sales and marketing (DSM) and Food and Beverages Manager (FBM). The general manager has the top most positions and other positions are mere steps of getting to the top. Other positions like house keeping and human resource are usually confined to women. These positions are less attractive to men as they usually have lesser pay. So, women are confined to these low paying jobs. It has also been investigated whether the level of education has any effect on this discrimination. It was found that female hospitality graduates were at least three times more than male graduates. It was believed that as so many women are now graduating with specialized degrees, they might be able to help resolve this gender problem. However, recently a study was done in UK and it was found that more qualified women had even more negative experiences in contrast to the ones who had just graduated. These more qualified women had lesser paying jobs with fewer fringe benefits. A study in later years revealed that the number of female dropouts from employments had significantly increased in the hotel sector. It is a common perception that women are less qualified than men and that they don’t have the characteristics to succeed. Studies show that women are not only effective but better managers, leaders and team mates than men. A study was done in which 31 managerial skill levels of almost 900 managers of top corporations were tested, and it was seen that women beat men in almost 28 areas out of these 31. Women were said to be more prompt, controlled, analytical and task oriented. As we can see, women possess all good qualities a manger should posses but they do not have same opportunities as men. Even if they do get to a management position there is no room for them to advance. There are certain expectations from a manager of a hotel. According to some people, women are unable to fulfill these expectations. According to Purcell: “Operational hotel management has traditionally required long working hours, willingness to be geographically mobile and is an occupation where the boundaries between work and non work are difficult to draw and such aspects have often been referred to by managers, including women themselves, as distinctive to women” (Purcell, 22, 1996). Purcell is referring to long hours of work. Other than this there are social commitments and geographical mobility which are considered to be essential in a managerial job. The problem is not just that women are not allowed to advance in their career but also that they are paid less. The Equal pay act came in to force in 1975, yet after so many years men still earn almost 17% more than women. This gap is more in private sector where the percentage rises to 22%. The act says that a woman can claim to an employment tribunal if she thinks that she is being paid less than a man, be it in different jobs (Doherty, n.p. 2006). It is evident that women will have to face many barriers if they wish to pursue a career in a five star hotel. They might have to face even more barriers if they want to become a manager. Gender discrimination has been a huge problem in the hotel industry. Companies think that if they hire women their profits will go down. Surveys show different results. Convent Investment Management did a study of Standard and Poors 500 and found that companies which promoted women and minorities had a return of about 18.3 percent over a five year period whereas companies which did not promote women and minors had a return of only 7.9 percent. The reason is simple. First of all the management in the first case had a diverse pool of people to choose from as they considered women and minors also, where as in the second case, the company did not fully utilize human capital. Secondly, treating the workers properly results in better productivity and higher morale. 95 percent of senior-level managers of the top Fortune 1000 industrial and 500 service companies are men even though women get almost half of all the Master’s degrees. Out of these 95 percent, 97 percent are whites (U.S Glass Ceiling Commission, 6, 1995) In order to compete in a diversified marketplace companies need to fully utilize human capital. By excluding women these companies also exclude extraordinary amount of talent, creativity and productivity. Today, women are trying to seek more satisfying and rewarding jobs and if they do not find what they are looking for they try to set up their own businesses. Women are leaving the corporate sector twice the rate men are leaving and they are also forming new businesses at the same rate. Since 1990, there has been an increase of about 43% in Women Business Owners. Women own about 7.7 million firms (U.S Glass Ceiling Commission, 6, 1995) LITERATURE REVIEW Hotels are a part of the hospitality industry which is one of the oldest industries in the world. A hotel provides temporary stay for its customers. A five star hotel is considered to be an upscale hotel which provides different services such as swimming pool, child care, restaurant, conference and meeting rooms etc. A hotel provides a carefree atmosphere for its customers. It is a very sociable industry as its employees have a very high exposure to the customers. The hotel industry might be one of the biggest industries but it does not provide equal opportunities for women. There are many female workers in the hospitality industry and especially in the hotel sector, but their number decreases as you go up the hierarchy. The reason for this is the gender discrimination which is prevalent in almost all the industries in UK. Even though most of the times women are more educated than their male colleague, they are not given importance. This attitude of the management discourages the female employees and therefore brings their career on a halt. Various researches have been done in order to define the obstacles in the path of a woman in becoming a manager; however, the main focus of our study is on the women who work in the hotel sector. These women strive hard but somehow are unable to climb the ladder of success. Sometimes the reason for this is the management but sometimes these women themselves become so discouraged due to discrimination, that they opt not to become managers. The US department of labour has defined this phenomenon as a glass ceiling. It is definite that gender differences do prevail in five star hotel of United Kingdom. Many studies and researches have been conducted and all of them have concluded that gender discrimination hinders the career advancement of a woman. Brownell did a similar researc, which studied the gender differences which hinder career advancement for women in this industry. He recommended that the industry it self should take the responsibility of this difference. The purpose of this study was to examine industry recruiters’ perception of significant factors that facilitate or constrain the advancement of a woman’s career (Brownell, n.p, 1994). Many other studies have been done in order to find out why sexual discrimination and sexual harassment prevails in the hospitality industry. Our research will certainly benefit the hotel industry in general and five star hotels in particular. The recruiters and the management of this industry will understand the issues relating to women’s career advancement and it is hoped that they will work accordingly and try to reduce these barriers. In order to explain what these barriers actually are, let us first understand the terminology of gender discrimination. Gender discrimination is a biased attitude towards a person because of his/her gender, pregnancy, marital status, etc. An example is a company’s policy of not hiring married women because of possible restrictions their marriages can pose that may affect job performance. There appears to be a constant conflict between mutually beneficial relationships and contemporary situations, where males dominate the social, political and professional spheres. (Taylor et la, n.p. 2000). Therefore, gender discrimination in crude words means not letting a woman advance just because she is a woman. United Kingdom has very strict rules for this. According to the sex / gender discrimination act of United Kingdom it is unlawful to discriminate any one on the basis of their gender. The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (SDA), therefore provides protection to men and women both. However, it has been noticed that women are subjected to this discrimination more than men. The act clearly states that any discrimination on the grounds that somebody is a female is against this act. This discrimination can be in the hiring practice, vocational training, education and employment (Government Equalities Office, n.p, 2007). Women themselves have put this problem forward and claim that they have fewer opportunities to succeed in their work than men do and have to exert greater effort in order to get promoted in their jobs. Men are more readily employed and more supported by their employers than women (Bergman, n.p. 2003). Moreover females also feel that other job characteristics are not particularly compatible with family roles. For example, job flexibility and unsupervised breaks when workers can call home were less common among female than male occupations. Women were more likely than men to value jobs with characteristics that mothers would find convenient. Staff positions are less prominent and therefore women are less likely to receive promotions and attain the very top of job hierarchy. In the line corporate-officer jobs women occupy not more than 1/10 of men-occupied positions (Reskin, n.p. 1993) In the hospitality business, the percentage of women working is greater than that of men. For example, the number of women working in the hotel business throughout the whole Europe in 2000 constituted approximately 67% of all the employed people in this sphere but generally women occupy lower service positions. It is obvious that occupation segregation exists in the majority of hotels. Women are more often in housekeeping, kitchen and food and beverage departments. Both genders represent the front office personnel. Men are more often seen in top management positions (Doherty, n.p. 2004). In five star hotels women are confined to jobs like housekeeping, front desk officers, clerks etc, but nowhere they are given the opportunity of fairly competing with the male employees. Like other industries, five star hotels also give preference to male employees in becoming managers. The Career Development Group in United Kingdom has been trying to break this gender gap as this is a social disadvantage which affects the lives of both genders. According to them, in patriarchal societies there existed particular roles which were influenced by social power. This social power usually belonged to men. Therefore, today it has become the norm of the socity to sexually discriminate women (Equal Opportunities Policy and Statements, 2006). The hotel sector in UK, as elsewhere is labour intensive. Most of the workforce is made by students, young workers and females. Females dominate in the room cleaning area. Though there are many female workers working in the hotel sector it has been noticed that this number reduces as they move up the management ladder (McDowell et al, 1-25. 2007, Wright and Pollert 2006). A study by Kattara in 2005 of career challenges of female managers in Egyptian hotels found out that the majority of female managers were not in situations that would lead them to the positions of general managers. In this study Kattara detected that there were many factors that hinder in the career development of women in an industry. There were four main factors that affected their advancement, and on top of all these four was the gender discrimination problem (Kattara, n.p. 2005). The Gender Equality Duty requires public bodies to eliminate sex discrimination and promote equality throughout their services, policies, and employment and recruitment practices. Equal Opportunities Commission Chairwoman Jenny Watson said: "The Gender Equality Duty could radically transform the way public bodies deliver services and treat their staff, moving away from a 'one size fits all' approach. It has the potential to create public services truly fit for modern Britain, which meet both women's and men's different needs.” (The Highland Council, n.p. 2003). Research funded by the European Commission showed that generally women, who work full-time, receive less then hourly earnings of men. This pay difference is a proof of gender discrimination that prevails in the hotel sector of UK. The Fact that there exists a pay difference between male and female employees holds true in the European Union in all professions with equal qualification levels and ages of men and women (Equal Opportunity, 2006). Since the implementation of the Equal Pay Act in 1975, women's salaries have improved. However, this improvement does not mean that now women are paid equal to men. In 1970, women generally earned less than 65 percent of men's salaries, compared with 74 percent in 1987. A 1990 study of pay in the City of London, the heart of British business, revealed that more than four in every five of the highest-paid jobs are held by men and almost all those earning pounds~70,000 and above were men. Only in the newer areas of business such as investment banking did women earn more than their male colleagues when matched by age. Fig 1: Average gross weekly earnings of full-time employees by sex Source: National Statistics, 2, 2003 The figure above clearly shows the pay difference between male and female employees. This pay difference is yet another hindrance in the career development of women. The female employees tend to get de-motivated due to this pay difference and gender discrimination. According to national statistics of UK, females outperform male students at all levels. This starts at an early age. Even though noticeable difference can be recorded in study levels of males and females, with females being better, yet they are paid less and are usually at the bottom of an organization (National Statistics, n.p. 2006). Though below in Figure 2 we can see that there has been a decrease in the pay gap of women, yet there still is a difference which certainly de-motivates the female employees. Fig 2: The gender pay gap narrows Source: National Statistics, n.p. 2007 Gender discrimination in the five star hotel employees can have several categories. The pay difference is yet another example of discrimination, even though we saw that women were more qualified than men. Other discriminations can be not giving women new projects thinking that they are incompetent and might not be able to do it. This in turn affects their career and they are taken as the less working part of the organization. If the management of the hotel sector understands this problem they can certainly provide solutions to this also. It is not a small industry which has little impact on the economy and the society but it is on of the fastest growing and biggest industries in the world. The five star hotels of UK are certainly one major contributor to its economy. In 2005, it gave revenue of almost £27 billion. After 2000 there was an increase of almost 4.5% in the hotel sector. In 2004, it gave almost £11.5 billion revenue. This huge increase shows that it is one of the fastest growing industries. In 2002, there were almost 280 000 employees in almost 40 000 establishments. London is the hub of hotel establishments in United Kingdom (Data Monitor, n.p, 2005; Hotel Research, n.p. 2006). The strong gender discrimination, which has been discussed above has been studied by various researchers. Burgess, in her research, claims that there exist considerable discrepancies between the career development and salaries of men and women in the hospitality industry. The most prestigious and, therefore, better-paid job positions are occupied by men (Burgess, n.p. 2003). Fig 3 Source (Schwartz, 115, 1992) Schwartz illustrated a pyramid showing how gender discrimination reduces the chances of career development in women. As we can see that women represent almost 50% of the workforce of entry level managers. This percentage is reduced to 26% in middle and 11% in upper management. There is only 3% of women representation in senior management positions. This is a clear picture of gender discrimination (115, n.d). Fig 3 shows the representation of women in different positions in the hospitality industry. As we can see that the representation of women are less in higher management positions, whereas they might represent males at a lower level. This shows the discrimination in career advancement of women. Another study was done by Woods. He conducted a survey in which he asked men and women in the hospitality industry to indicate their pay scale. It was found that the mean for men was about $42,300 and about $35,900 for women. This data clearly suggests that there is gender discrimination or sexual discrimination among the employees of the hospitality industry. Taking $35,000 to $39,999 as the midrange statistical analysis was done. It was found that 43% of the men had salaries below the mid range and 43% above it. Meanwhile 60% of women had salaries below the midlevel whereas only 20% had salaries above it. Almost 40% women said that sexual discrimination is related to promotion whereas 38% said that it was related to salaries. This data supports that sexual discrimination is prevalent in the industry. If steps are taken in order to create awareness in the industry about this issue, then it is more likely that there will be less discrimination in the future (woods, 16-22, n.d). A research was done by Zhong in 2006 in which he has discussed about different perceptions of people regarding women’s career advancement. The table below shows some of his results. This table jots down the perception of the hotel industry recruiters. It discusses the main reasons which hinder women’s career development. Gender issue Hospitality Industry Recruiters (Mean) Female( n=79) Male n=(28) FSIGOBST 2.98 2.00 FSTREAT 2.90 2.79 MSTREAT 3.10 2.89 FRESPON 3.43 3.63 MERESPON 3.70 3.21 CONTRFAC 3.32 2.11 CONSTRAFA 3.68 2.68 Table (a) Source: (Zhong, n.p. 2006). Note. FSIGOBST = females face significant obstacles to career advancement in the hospitality industry, FSTREAT = female managers/supervisors treat female employees differently than they treat male employees; MSTREAT = male managers/supervisors treat female employees differently than they treat male employees; FRESPON = female employees in the hospitality industry respond differently to female managers than to male managers; MERESPON = male employees in the hospitality industry respond differently to female managers than to male managers; CONTRFAC = the factors that facilitate to career advancement are different for males and females; CONSTRAFA = the factors that constrain career advancement are different for males and females; Federation of Restaurants and hotel management calculated that though women represent almost 46% of workers in this industry but they are certainly scarce in the management positions. This is clearly identified in the table below. Table (b): Representation of women in the hospitality industry Job title Total number Total women % of  women General manager 462 72 15.5% General manager(live -in) 12 1 8.3% Resident manager 48 13 27.1% Front-office manager 223 119 53.4% Reservations manager 163 111 68.1% Controller of finance 262 99 37.8% Housekeeping manager 513 315 61.4% Engineer 299 24 8.0% Sales (marketing) director 320 152 47.5% Senior sales manager 110 76 69.1% Sales and marketing manager 1072 845 78.8% Catering manager 442 361 81.7% Security manager 133 20 15.0% Personnel (HR) manager 241 178 73.9% Food and beverage manager 205 34 16.6% Chef 371 22 6.0% Sous chef 377 39 10.3% Banquet chef 39 1 2.5% Executive steward 101 25 24.8% Restaurant manager 154 52 33.8% Total 5,547 2,559 46.1% Source: Federation of hotels and restaurant associations of India (2002); the great gender trap; FHRAI Magazine [March- April, 2002]. Women have made significant progress in advancing gender equality. All over the world women’s labor force participation has increased. Jobs which were previously reserved for men are now being taken over by women. Women are now being trained and educated, and in some areas more than men. All over the world women movement, government organizations are helping women build up their career, and much thought and energy is put in to eliminating this gender barrier. I think without the help of all these people it would have been very difficult for women to stand where they are today. Although women themselves have been striving very hard indeed, but only one woman cannot make a difference in this male oriented society. Though we are not getting the results we expected yet there is a hope that a day will come when there will be no gender or racial discrimination. Gender equality spurs economic growth and helps in enterprise productivity. Though women are trying hard, but there are always family obligations and predefined values of male dominance in corporate culture which is the main hindrance in female advancement. The nature of these hindrances varies. Women in higher management seem to encounter with this discrimination more than woman working at lower levels. Though women usually had more years of education then men, still they are not treated equally and a high level of eligibility is set for them in order to enter the job market. Even though indications show that women’s labor is increasingly in demand, only a very small number of businesses are investing in woman. No matter how qualified a woman is it is always thought to be more risky to invest on a woman’s training rather than a man’s training. They do not understand the fact that making a woman visible at the top management will not only attract more customers (as the customers will see that they are not discriminating) but improve their reputation also. Women have captured an increasing number of jobs in the labor market but the quality of women’s job has not yet increased. This reflects that even though they might be growing in the job market but their representation in the higher management is very low especially in the private sector. Even though sometimes women might get top management positions their wages are considerably lower than that of men. The reason is simple. The management makes sure that women are kept in less strategic areas of the company. The companies explain themselves by saying that women become manager at young ages where as they require older more experienced personnel for their higher management positions. Women who get frustrated because they are not getting their right share usually leave jobs. In recent years, there have been repeated attempts to encourage women to remain in work and to entice more of them into top level positions. But successive reports show that this does not appear to be happening. I think women can do better if they are given equal opportunities than men. They might operate in a different way, but that way is certainly better. I think government should take measures and ensure that women are given equal opportunities. Hiring should be based on merit and no discrimination what so ever should be done. But the glass ceiling cannot be broken if the corporations do not take interest. Companies should make sure that no discrimination is not just against women but against other minorities as well. There are many different services working for women rights. The Equal Opportunities Commission works for the benefit of employees. This UK based independent commission was formed under the Sex Discrimination Act. According to this commission if anyone is treated less favorably than the other on the basis of his or her sex, than this discrimination can be classified as discrimination based on gender. Moreover, this commission also states that transsexual people are also sometimes subjected to this type of discrimination (Equality and Human Rights Commission, n.p. 2007). The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) is yet another organization solving gender difference issues on individual basis. They have a helpline, which is accessible to each and every employee working in UK. These people are working in order to help diversify the workplace and make sure that nobody is discriminated on the basis of gender, age, disability, race etc (ACAS, n.p, 2008). References Government Equalities Office (2007). Sex Discrimination Act. Retrieved January 8, 2008 from: http://www.womenandequalityunit.gov.uk/legislation/discrimination_act.htm Equality and Human Rights Commission (2007). Retrieved January 8, 2008 from: http://www.eoc.gov.uk The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (2008). Equality and Diversity. 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