We all know that women have made great strides towards equality in the past century. Women are doing things and working in places that would have been unheard of just 50 years ago. While all this progress is great, the fact is that we haven’t progressed nearly enough. Women are still discriminated against greatly in the workplace. Most people would agree that women should receive the same salaries as men in their positions and that they be given the equal treatment when it comes to promotions. Nevertheless, it’s not happening. Despite and increase in women entering the work force, women consistently earn less money than men. To solve this problem of discrimination, we must look at the situation and what is causing it.

Physically women and men are different. On average they handle some aspects of work differently. Women tend to pay greater attention to health care, child welfare, family policies, and the needs of women. (Shapiro) This has a lot to do with different life circumstances. Women are more likely to have to choose between family and work. This is not fair, but it is a reality in our society. For the most part, women are supposed to take care of both home and work responsibilities. My own mother would come home from working a long day and have to clean the whole house, help us with our homework, and make sure we were all fed and in bed. With all these other distractions, its no wonder women have a hard time moving up in their occupation. They basically have everything going against them, yet they manage to get everything done most of the time. Women may have distractions and need certain privileges that men do not like maternity leave, but these things are biological and should not be reason to treat women differently than men. When it comes to leadership skills and intelligence, women can perform just as well if not better than men. The difference is that women face obstacles along the way that men do not. It’s not fair, but it definitely doesn’t make them less competent.

“In a recent lawsuit, six women employees at the Wall Street bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein Securities LLC lawsuit, including Jyoti Ruta, a director of the bank, said they were subjected to ‘Animal House’-like antics, passed over for promotions, and generally treated as second class citizens in the workplace.” (Datta) The women claimed they were excluded from some outings with clients because their male colleagues took them to places like strip clubs. (Datta) Practices like this are common because they want to form a bond with their clients. People have become accustomed to these ways of communicating with clients and coworkers. Even if it is not as obvious as taking clients to strip clubs, men just may feel more comfortable interacting with other men. Women react to men differently. They may not find the same ways of communication appealing. Men may not feel comfortable taking orders from women. Although many may think the feminist movement is over, the reality is that certain gender roles still exist in our country. Men are still very much brought up to be the “man of the house” and the breadwinner for the household. Women grow up taking care of the household for the most part.

The problem lies in peoples’ outdated perception of women and their inability to let things change. We still have these assumptions in our society of how men and women are supposed to act. Some people feel that women of high status wouldn’t be listened to or respected as much as a man would. People aren’t used to seeing women in that type of authoritative position. People don’t like change because they are unsure of the results. The fact is that something does need to change. Gender discrimination is not acceptable. Workers should be judged by their abilities and not by their sex.

I am considering getting some sort of business degree here at Penn State, and it’s very discouraging to see how few women are in the field. Business occupations are usually looked at as men’s work in our society. If you think about the most successful business people in our country, most of them are men. You think of people like Bill Gates and Donald Trump. It’s hard for women to think of themselves as entrepreneurs. It’s not because women aren’t capable of doing this and being successful. It’s because our society isn’t accepting of a woman in that type of position yet. Other occupations like engineering face the same problem. While girls are receiving similar grades as boys through college in math and science courses, relatively few women enter the physics and computer science fields. (Glazer) Less than 20 percent of engineers are females, and this has a lot to do with “stereotyping that goes on about what's appropriate for girls and boys.” (Glazer)

It is simply not acceptable for women who hold the same exact positions as men to be paid less. But the fact is that the men in charge will probably get paid less if they have to pay women more. They don’t want to lose money so they won’t do anything about it. They may not even do it purposely. Men who do the hiring pick other men because they have an “unconscious bias to favor someone most like themselves.” (Glazer) Unless we pass some sort of laws that force women to get the same salaries as men, this will continue to occur. Then even if laws are passed, women will still have to face the problem known as the “glass ceiling.” It is very difficult for women to get promoted to a high position in a company. Overall, our society has to ignore the gender roles of women in the past and look toward the future. Our culture has to be able to accept that women can hold high positions in jobs and perform them well. It won’t be an easy thing to change, but just a small change can make all the difference. If just a few women work their way up and prove they are capable, they can stop the discrimination that still exists. It won’t be an easy thing for any woman to do, but the changes that result for women in the future will be well worth the hard work and sacrifice.

Bibliography

*Datta, Jyotirmoy. “Women Wall Street bankers file suit.” News India-Times. 27 Jan 2006. ProQuest Direct. 22 Mar. 2006. <http://proquest.umi.com/>.
*Glazer, Sarah. "Gender and Learning." The CQ Researcher 15.19 (2005). 31 March 2006 <http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2005052000>. Document ID: cqresrre2005052000.
*Shapiro, Judith R. “Why Women Still Feel Persecuted.” USA Today. Jan 2006. ProQuest Direct. 22 Mar. 2006<http://proquest.umi.com/.
*Thompson, Roger. "Women's Economic Equity." Editorial Research Reports 1985. Vol. I. Washington: CQ Press, 1985. CQ Electronic Library, CQ Researcher. 31 March 2006 <http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre1985051000>. Document ID: cqresrre1985051000.

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