Gender equality is the opportunity for all people to have the same access to resources and rewards irrespective of their gender. Many countries across the globe, including Australia, have made considerable progress in the recent years with respect to achieving gender equality, particularly in such areas as education. Nevertheless, the average earnings of men exceed the average earnings of women. In addition, men have a higher likelihood of career advancement than their female counterparts. Statistics also indicate that women have a higher likelihood of spending their last years of life being poor. Concurrently, men are facing more challenges accessing flexible working arrangements and family-friendly policies when compared to women. Workplace gender equality has the main objective of ensuring the same outcomes for men and women. In order for gender equality to be realized in the workplace, organizations have to offer equal wages for men and women for the same amount of work and eliminate barriers to ensure that women participate in the workforce equally and fully. In addition, they should ensure genuine access to all industries, occupations and leadership roles for men and women and eliminate gender-based discrimination, especially with respect to family obligations for both men and women. The benefits of gender equality have been documented in literature including recruiting top talent, cost reductions, improved financial performance, improved national competitiveness and productivity, and reducing the wastage of resources. The objectives of this paper are twofold, which include explaining the way gender inequality works using a sociological theory, and presenting research-based policy strategies for reducing gender inequality in the workplace.

Explaining Workplace Gender Inequality Using Sexism

Workplace gender inequality can be explained using sexism, which involves corresponding prejudicial treatment based on a person’s sex. Sexist attitudes are often attributed to stereotypes associated with gender roles. Gender stereotypes are defined as the widely held perceptions and beliefs regarding men’s and women’s behavior and characteristics. Research studies have reported beliefs shared among cultures that men tend to be more socially valued and perceived more competent when compared to women. Studies have consistently reported that, irrespective of age, men are usually perceived to have higher competence than women. These gender stereotypes can lead to a phenomenon referred to as stereotype threat, which is capable of lessening the performance of women in a number of tasks such as math tests and creating a stereotype that men tend to have superior quantitative skills when compared to women. In most cases, men tend to consider that they have a higher task ability when compared to women having the same task ability. These prejudiced self-evaluations can result in far-reaching consequences owing to the fact that they can influence the career, educational, and occupational decisions made by women. For instance, in the United States, men are supposed to exhibit endurance, strength, decisiveness, self-drive, and brevity while women are supposed to be sympathetic, home-oriented, friendly, nurturing, and sensitive.

Social and cultural beliefs and values have an effect on the labor market of women, which are perceived to be discriminatory against women through the stereotyping of particular lifestyles and work as being “female” or “male.” The educational choices that women make are partly influenced by their expectations regarding the types of employment opportunities that may be open to them. Workplace gender inequality has also been narrowly associated with patriarchy. To some extent, the gender-based stereotypes can be attributed to patriarchy, which is a system typified by males acting as the main authority figures that play a crucial role in social organization, taking political leadership responsibility, controlling property and having authority over children and women being fathers. It means that females are subject to subordination in the institutions headed by males.

The specific form of sexism that can properly explain workplace gender inequality is occupational sexism, which comprises discrimination that occurs in the workplace based on an individual’s sex. The social role theory has been used to explain the existence of occupational sexism. In the history of humankind, women have been oriented towards home activities whereas men have been oriented towards work activities. As a result, this division has played a crucial role in forming the expectations for men and women in the occupational and societal domains. These expectations are contributing to gender stereotypes resulting in sexism in the workplace settings. The social role theory posits that women prefer domestic tasks. The theory also suggests different occupational roles between men and women. In addition, it proposes that, within the domain of occupations, women are usually subjected to lower status. A number of occupational sexism indicators exist, which include sexual harassment, the view that particular fields or jobs (low paid) are a reserve for women while hazardous and dangerous tasks are a reserve for men, promotional and hiring practices based on sex, and wage discrimination. Politicians, economists, and sociologists have attempted to provide explanations for the gender differences in terms of payment. It has been suggested that women’s salaries depend on their career choices, and women tend to opt for secretarial work and low-paid positions.

In Australia, indicators of workplace gender inequality are evident. Statistics identify the specific industries where gender inequality is prevalent. For instance, a report by Workplace Gender Equality Agency (2014b) shows that gender inequality is most prevalent in such industries as fishing, forestry and agriculture (women – 34.8%, men – 65.2%); construction (women – 16.1%, men – 83.9%); education and training (women – 62.5%, men – 37.5%); waste, water, gas and electricity services (women – 24.6%, men – 75.4%); social assistance and healthcare (women – 80.5%, men – 19.5%); mining (women – 15.7%, men – 84.3%); and manufacturing (women – 26.6%, men – 73.4%). Other industries with notable gender inequality include technical, scientific and professional services (male dominated), and public safety and administration (male dominated). The gender inequality in various sectors is consistent with occupational segregation, where women are perceived to be suited for particular jobs. It is a potential explanation for male domination in the construction industry whereas health care and social assistance is female dominated. In addition, the domination of men and women in different sectors affirms the propositions of the social role theory, which posits that men and women prefer different occupational roles based on gender-based stereotypes. The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (2014b) also shows a constant drop in women representation in top-level management positions. In Australia, women make up only 17.3 percent of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) roles and 26.1 percent of core management positions. The high number of men occupying top management position in Australian organizations can be attributed to the patriarchal nature of the Australian society, whereby males are perceived as the authority figures who are suited for leadership positions unlike women. The report also shows that the gender pay gap in Australia is 19.9 percent for the case of full-time base remuneration and 24.7 percent for full-time total remuneration. The gender pay gap in Australia can be explained in terms of the career choices of men and women in the sense that men prefer well-paid jobs whereas women get low-paid jobs.

Research-Based Policy Strategies for Reducing Workplace Gender Inequality

The issue of gender inequality can be addressed at two levels, which include the national level based on the policies adopted by the government, and at the organizational level based on the policies and actions adopted by an organization. At the national level, the government can enact legislation that compels organizations to adopt measures that increase workplace gender equality and eliminate barriers towards its achievement. Legislative measures should demand that both private and public organizations report the status of gender equality within their organizations. Apart from focusing on organizations, gender equality legislation should also focus on higher learning institutions to ensure women take up careers that are male dominated. Despite the fact that no research has been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of legislative measures in enhancing workplace gender equality, in the United States workplace equality improved considerably since 1970s following the passage of Title IX legislation. In the same way, Australia has reported considerable improvements in gender equality following the enactment of the Affirmative Action Act of 1986 and its subsequent amendments – Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act of 1999 and the Workplace Gender Equality Act of 2012.

At the organizational level, a number of actions and policies can be adopted to reduce gender inequality. The first action entails offering training related to gender equality to organization’s management staff regarding the noticeable and indirect cases of gender inequality. In addition, managers should be taught about the ways of identifying and dealing with gender-based discrimination. Another action that can be taken at the organizational level to reduce gender inequality is to reward women who have been successful in the organization. The commitment of the organization to gender equality should be evident. A number of policies can also be adopted by the organization to help reduce gender inequality. First, organizations should develop policies that guarantee that men and women get equal compensation for the same work. Apart from equal compensation, the organizational policy must also guarantee equal treatment with respect to promotional, hiring, training, and recruitment practices. Second, organizations should develop a policy that guarantees work-life balance for both men and women. In this regard, the management must be supportive of the employees seeking to advance their education and careers. Moreover, organizations should adopt measures aimed at assisting its employees in having positive family relationships. Studies have shown that companies with higher work-life balance policies report higher employee satisfaction, retention, engagement, and productivity. In addition, it is vital for the organization to make sure that gender equality policies applied to the employees are also applied to the company’s top management. Gender equality is of no use if top management does not demonstrate its commitment to gender equality.

Sexism involves beliefs that a person of a given sex is innately superior to an individual of another sex. In this regard, men have been widely considered superior and more competent in work-related tasks than women. In addition, socio-cultural beliefs have an impact on the educational, career and occupational decisions that women make, contributing to gender inequality. Some of the occupational sexism indicators leading to workplace gender inequality include sexual harassment, perceiving some jobs to be suited for men while others are suited for women, promotional and hiring practices that are based on sex, and wages inequality. The problem of gender inequality can be addressed using legislative measures that obligate organizations to rectify gender inequality, and organizational policies such as training employees, recognizing successful women, and ensuring that top management is committed to promoting gender equality.

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