Why Gender Discrimination still Exists in the UK Despite Equal Opportunities Legislation - Essay Example

Why gender discrimination still exists in the UK despite equal opportunities legislation Historical perspective It is self-evident that UK is one of the most gender sensitive countries in the world yet gender equality and equality is yet to be fully attained in the country. More than half of the labour population is discriminated and this negatively impacts on the country’s potential. Despite many laws to ensure parity, women continue to suffer from discrimination at work places. The country has a law the stipulates that every person irrespective of gender, race and other affiliations, is entitled to fairness and equal opportunity at the work place with regard to payments, posting and chance to career advancement through training and promotion. The most recent legislation that the country passed is the Anti-discrimination legislation that seeks to enhance equality at the work place (WOODHAMS & LUPTON 2006). For many years women have been subjected to any forms of discrimination and gender discrimination is just one of the many things that women have been discriminated against. The most prominent discrimination that ladies are subjected to include: low pay, dismissal because they are pregnant, maternity leave and related issues. Women are also more susceptible to sexual harassment at the place of work. Despite the legislations that have been passed in the country, many more women face discrimination. For example, it is estimated that 30, 000 women are discriminated against and consequently lose their jobs because of pregnancy (DURBIN & FLEETWOOD 2010). Despite all the laws and initiatives put by stakeholders to break discrimination on basis of gender, social and cultural barriers the strides are yet to achieve maximum effort. Similarly, the society is yet to break from the negative perception that women are subjected to. From the persistent discrimination directed to women it is clear that the country, like any other country that discriminated against women, cannot grow and develop to meet 100% potential since almost 50% of the population is discriminated against. However, the society through different groups such as trade unions continues to advocate for more change (SARGEANT 2009). Legislation on discrimination The country has made great strides by introducing different types of laws that seek to deal with different kinds of discrimination including work related discrimination. In 1975, the country introduced Sex discrimination Act. This legislation sought to ban all kinds of discrimination on the basis of sex. Several years later the country introduced the Equalities Act of 2010. This act consolidated many laws together and in particular concentrated on discrimination at the work places. It prohibited organizations from using any kind of affiliation to discriminate. All other forms of indirect discrimination were equally addressed through the piece of legislation. This came in the backdrop of rampant indirect discrimination that was levelled to many member of the society especially women (HANKIVSKY&CHRISTOFFERSEN 2011). Through different provisions of the law, any workers who are discriminated against on the basis of any affiliation have a right to launch a compliant. Traditionally, bringing any suit and complaints to the relevant bodies has been a costly affair because of the high cost of such activities. Subsequently, as a result of the eminent economic down pour, it has become a more expensive affair to bring such actions and this means many more women continue to face discrimination with little or nothing to fight against it. In other instances women discriminated against fear to bring it to public knowledge because they fear that they might lose their jobs (FLETCHER 2007). UK has had debates over fight against all forms of discrimination directed to women. In 1888, match girls movement sought to advance the plight against women most notably with regard to equal pay. Bryant and May were among the first companies to experience strikes by women to demand for equal treatment as their male counterparts. The strike was occasioned by poor pay to women (OSHAGBEMI & GILL 2003). Reasons for gender discrimination Human capital theory explains why women are more susceptible. This theory postulates that naturally, humans have a higher like hood to invest more in ventures that would bring more profit than those that do not bring much profit. In this regard, women are perceived to bring less benefit because of the numerous breaks that they encounter all through their lives. This follows that companies are more likely to discriminate against women because they bring less perceived benefit with regard to investment made on their productivity. Women and work Commission sought to investigate the levels of job related discrimination at work places reported that misappropriate treatment at work pace is attributed to stereotype against women. This ends up impacting on women because they are given poor paying jobs in the society even though some of them are as qualified as the men in those organizations. The society, and in deed many organizations in the UK, continue to enhance the “male bread winner imprint”. This advances the plight of men at the expense of women. These are outdated viewpoints held in the society for a long time yet they continue to mare the development of women in the work place. Traditionally women were considered to perform less important jobs because of the inherent discrimination that the society continues to harbour through occupational segregation (SHEHLA & GATRELL 2013). Women are often faced with the burden of motherhood and this means that they are subjected to most of child care burden. Similarly, many women still face the negative impacts of unpaid domestic work at the family level. Research has revealed that men have heightened their roles in domestic labour in the last half a decade. However, vast majority of the work is still left to the women. The predicament of women means that they juggle carriers with role of taking care of the families. In turn, most women end up working part time and that has a toll on their overall gains from employment; women are therefore less likely to take senior jobs in the work places. Women in senior positions are equally more likely to drop from those duties to particulate in the motherhood burden and this is evident given statistics that indicate that gender pay gap is smaller in the younger year but begins to increase as time progress. It is estimated that women make up only 25% of the CEO in UK while the rest of the positions are taken by men. This means that men continue to dominate with respect to payment because most of those at the highest echelons in work place are men and the negative perception of women continue to manifest (MARTIN et al 2008). There is an inherent cultural perspective that does not favour women within the work place. For example most organizations have failed to appreciate the role of women in client networking activities. In this respect, women are given peripheral roles compared to men. The perpetuation ends up affecting women who feel undervalued and, in some instances, develop cynicism; some tend to appreciate the minor roles as the destiny. Subsequently, lack of confidence is spread all through the society and this, further, has a negative impact on other women who are yet to join workforce. Many organizations have working practices and cultures that undermine the women. For example, the long work hour cultures in organizations perpetuate discrimination on women because in most cases women have a higher responsibility in family duties compared to men. In the end they miss opportunity to advance in careers as well as ability to gain increase in pay compared to the male counterparts (SHEHLA & GATRELL 2013). Many organizations in the UK, like in other parts of the world, do not have or do not encourage flexibility at the work place. On the same note flexibility are less likely to be considered for minor roles in the organization; in cases when flexibility is allowed in organizations those seeking such adjustments are forced to opt for demotion. In this light, women continue to face challenges because they, in most cases, require more flexibility than men given the social cultural dynamics (SHEHLA & GATRELL 2013). Despite the affirmative actions advanced by the legal frameworks in the country, most organizations have not yet taken initiatives to incorporate the increased transparency needed at the work place. For instance many organisations lag behind with regard to training the staff to ensure that gender sensitivity is put as a priority area in the organizations. This means that despite the positive legal frameworks many organizations have not inculcated diversity and equality as critical components of the objective of the organizations. It is clear that without a careful incorporation within organizations, women will continue to face discriminations. Organizations have also not taken a lead role in fighting discrimination. This means that whenever women experience any sought of discrimination at the work place, there are attempts to curtail the efforts to fight it through frustration or duress. In other cases those discriminated against feel lack the zeal to fight the discriminations (FLETCHER 2007). Despite the challenges faced in the work place, the country is viewed as having made tremendous strides to tackle gender discrimination, more so, following the introduction of equality law in 2010. UK is one of the most advanced countries in as far as fighting gender and all other forms of discriminations in the labour market. The country has put measures that ensure that pay and employment issues are scrutinised to ensure that parity is attained. The available laws ensure that no discriminated against with regard to different matters including payment and benefits at the work place. Progression is allowed to all in the work place. As things stand, the country has ensured, at least with introduction of many laws, that parity is attained all through the country. However more needs to be done to reach the 100% mark of ensuring that labour market discrimination is completely eliminated. Only such initiatives would encourage competitive process in the labour market and ensure that UK’s labour force is as competitive as any other labour force in the world (DURBIN & FLEETWOOD 2010). Since it is ascertained that discrimination is an inherent situation in the UK, there is need for more advanced means of tackling the challenge .Organizations must devise strategies of ensuring that women are incorporated in the organizations from all levels within the organizations to ensure that there are accorded the same opportunities as the men. This is important because research has shown that 67% of the organizations in the UK have unconscious bias towards women at work place despite the available legal framework (DURBIN & FLEETWOOD 2010). Similarly, once targets are set they must be monitored and measured to ensure that the organizations adhere to the requirements through periodic checking. Recruitment partners must be trained to increase the level of sensitization in the country. In this respect, the entire society must be sensitised on the need to enhance gender equity not only at the work place but in many other levels of organization. This is important because women make up almost 50% of the population and discrimination against such a big chunk of the population would have a negative effect on the entire organization (MAVIN et al 2004). The society must advance a more deliberate attempt to encourage organizations to give women flexibility within management of organizations given their peculiarity (FLETCHER 2007). In conclusion it is self-evident that despite making up 50% of the labour force in the UK women continue to experience discrimination in the labour market. This is perpetuated even after the country has made strides in laws to ensure that discrimination is eliminated. Discrimination is perpetuated by social, economic and cultural aspects in the society. To weed out discrimination in organization organizations must indoctrinate positive attitude that recognises the role of women in the labour force. Similarly, it is clear that unless women are given an equivalent role to men in organizations, the society at large will lag behind in experiencing the full potential. Women make up a big chunk of the labour force; this means that any form of discrimination directed at them would have a negative impact to the entire organization. The country must continue to fight for more stringent approach to completely eliminate discrimination on the basis of gender in the work place. This is a reality that still exists in the UK and it needs a concerted effort from the entire society. Reference DURBIN, S. and FLEETWOOD, S., 2010. Gender inequality in employment: Editors' introduction. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 29(3), pp. 221-238. FLETCHER, C., 2007. Passing the buck: gender and management of research production in UK Higher Education. Equal Opportunities International, 26(4), pp. 269-286. HANKIVSKY, O. and CHRISTOFFERSEN, A., 2011. Gender mainstreaming in the United Kingdom: Current issues and future challenges. British Politics, 6(1), pp. 30-51. MARTIN, L.M., WARREN-SMITH, I., SCOTT, J.M. and ROPER, S., 2008. Boards of directors and gender diversity in UK companies.Gender in Management, 23(3), pp. 194-208. MAVIN, S., BRYANS, P. and WARING, T., 2004. Gender on the agenda 2: unlearning gender blindness in management education.Women in Management Review, 19(5), pp. 293-303. OSHAGBEMI, T. and GILL, R., 2003. Gender differences and similarities in the leadership styles and behaviour of UK managers.Women in Management Review, 18(5), pp. 288-298. SARGEANT, M., 2009. Age discrimination, sexual orientation and gender identity: UK/US perspectives. Equal Opportunities International, 28(8), pp. 634-645. SHEHLA, R.A. and GATRELL, C., 2013. A blind spot in organization studies: gender with ethnicity, nationality and religion. Gender in Management, 28(3), pp. 151-170. WOODHAMS, C. and LUPTON, B., 2006. Does size matter? Gender-based equal opportunity in UK small and medium enterprises.Women in Management Review, 21(2), pp. 143-169. Read More