Gender Inequality in Business Industry

Discuss about the Gender inequality and unequal pay at Workplace.

In today’s competitive business world, human resource policies are continuously changing, and human resource department of corporations has to formulate appropriate policies to address these issues. This report will examine the gender inequality issue faced by female workers around the world by evaluating the news article posted by “Human Resources Director”. Gender inequality is a significant issue faced by female employees in modern corporations because they did not equal remuneration for equal work as compared to male employees (Ridgeway, 2011). Many studies and news reports have proved the discrimination faced by women in the business industry worldwide. In Australia, female workers are suffering from high gender pay gap because they get paid less for equal among of work than compared to male employees (Lips, 2013). This report will examine the gender inequality issue faced by female workers around the world and evaluate the discrimination faced by them. This report will analyse the role of strategic human resource management in addressing the issue of gender inequality. Further, various recommendations will be given in the report to address this issue.

The issue of Gender inequality is faced by women worldwide that are negatively affecting them and appropriate strategic human resource management policies can be implemented by the organisations to address this issue.

Women employees throughout the world are facing ‘gender pay gap’ problem because they receive less salary for similar work than compared to male employees. Women employees also face discrimination from HR department because they did not prefer to promote female workers at senior positions in the enterprise (Wilson & Tagg, 2010). As per a recent report posted by Human Resources Director, the 2016-17 data provided by Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) showed that a large number of corporations are taking initiatives to address the issue of gender pay imbalance. WGEA’s director stated that more than four million employees and eleven thousand employees are showing strong improvement and awareness regarding the gender inequality issue (Hilton, 2017). However, along with numerous advancements, the gender pay gap still exists in Australia. Currently, there is a gender pay gap of 15.3 percent in Australia and male employees still out-earn female workers in every sector (WGEA, 2017). The HR department of corporations implement policies to address the issue of gender inequality, yet still, a large number of women face discrimination at the workplace.

Role of Strategic Human Resource Management in Addressing Gender Inequality

Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) is referred as independence from discrimination in the workplace based on race, religion, gender, or age of different employees. In Australia, the Equal Opportunity for Women in Workplace Amendment Bill 2012 was passed by the government to provide equal opportunity to male and female employees, and it promotes equal pay in companies (Baird, Williamson & Heron, 2012). The HR department is responsible to effectively manage diversity in the organisation and reduce discrimination between workers. The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency is responsible for collecting the data and formulating appropriate policies to reduce discrimination against women in Australian companies (Strachan, 2010). The issue of gender inequality is present in most of the countries throughout the world despite various initiatives taken by the governments. In modern corporations, HR department implements appropriate policies to manage diversity in the organisation and reduce the discrimination against female workers. HR executives have failed to take appropriate initiatives to address the problem of gender discrimination in organisations (Powell & Greenhaus, 2010). There are various strategic HRM policies that can be implemented by companies to reduce the gender inequality issue.

Traditionally, it was considered that men go to work and women stay at home to perform homemaking duties such as cooking, cleaning and taking care of children. But, women have proven that they are equal to men in every measure, and they have achieved tremendous success in every industry. Even after proving their capabilities, women throughout the world face issue of gender inequality and discrimination. The awareness about this issue is spreading between companies with the popularity of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) principles (Fernandez-Feijoo, Romero & Ruiz, 2012). Both national and international initiatives are taken by the governments to address the issue of gender inequality in the business sector. Modern organisations also ensure that HR department implements appropriate policies for reducing gender inequality in the corporations and provide equal remuneration to female workers for similar work (Dezso & Ross, 2012). HR department did not promote female employees at top-level managerial positions because they consider them less competent than male candidates. In 2016, women held 24 percent of senior managerial role throughout the world, but the pace is considerably slower because it has only raised 3 percent since 2011 (Lagerberg, 2016).

Various recent incidents have proved that HR department of modern corporations has failed to address the issue of gender inequality and unequal pay gap. For example, more than 170 female employees of BBC are taking actions against the gender pay gay in the organisation. In BBC, most of the female workers receive less salary than compare to their male colleagues for similar work (Kentish, 2018). Recently male actor Mark Wahlberg received €1.5 million for reshooting his movie, whereas, female co-star Michelle Williams was paid less than 1 percent of Wahlberg’s salary (Aodha, 2018). This proves that along with business industry, women employees are facing gender inequality and unequal pay issue in every sector. These incidents prove that HR department of large corporations has failed to address the issue of gender inequality. The HR executives are requiring analysing the situation in their enterprise and implementing strategic HRM policies to address the issue of gender inequality and pay gap (Broadbridge, & Simpson, 2011).

Recommendations to Address the Issue of Gender Inequality

HR department of an enterprise is responsible for performing the activities of employees’ diversity management to ensure that female workers are not discriminated in the firm. The HR executives have failed to address employee relations challenges which increase the issue of gender inequality. Due to lack of strategic HRM policies, women employees face various issues in the enterprise such as lack of safety at workplace, sexual harassment, racism, discrimination and unequal pay (Malach, Learner & Schwartz, 2010). These problems increase the employee turnover and attrition rates in companies which reduce their productivity and performance. High rate of employee turnover result in increasing recruitment cost of the enterprise which negatively affects their financial situation. Due to gender discrimination, female workers face negative working environment which hinders their performance. Many leading organisations such as Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook implement strategic HRM policies to reduce the gender inequality in their organisation which assist them in maintaining a positive working environment (Garcia, 2015).

Due to lack of effective HR policies, women in offices face serious issues such as sexual harassment, racism, unsafe workplace, negative working environment and discrimination in promotion to top-level managerial promotions. HR department hesitates to promote women in senior managerial promotions even when they outperform their male colleagues due to old perception that women cannot lead. Many female leaders, such as Mary Barra (CEO of General Motors), Indra Nooyi (CEO of PepsiCo), and Sheryl Sandberg (COO of Facebook), have proved that women can be more successful leaders than men (Financial Express, 2017). Effective HRM policies are required to be implemented by modern corporations to promote female employees for the senior position. After the news of Gender pay gap, BBC has provided that female employees will fill more than 50 percent of its senior managerial position by 2020. Other corporations should also implement initiatives to promote women at a top-level position which will assist in reducing gender inequality and unequal pay issue (Bertrand, Goldin & Katz, 2010). HR executives of other corporations are requiring implementing strategic HRM policies to address the issue of gender inequality and unequal pay.

Following recommendations can assist HR department to address the issue of gender inequality and unequal pay face by female workers throughout the world and also increase the number of senior managerial positions.

1. HR department should establish a positive working environment in the organisation by implementing Strategic HRM policies. Positive working environment means establishing safe workplace regulations, reducing gender discrimination, and effectively managing diversity in the firm (Hirsch, Schank & Schnabel, 2010).
2. HR department can implement policies for motivation and reward for female workers which assist them in encouraging their performance. HR executives should implement reward programs for female workers which provide the incentives for their performance. It will assist in reducing the female employee attrition rate in corporations which will also increase their profitability since it will reduce recruitment costs (Tooksoon, 2011).
3. Effective learning and development programs should be implemented by HR department for the development of female employees. Learning programs can assist in improving the skills and abilities of female workers that will assist HR department in promoting them to senior managerial positions.
4. The HR department should also implement Strategic HRM policies for improving the relationship with female workers. HR executive should promote the work of women employees and provide them equal pay for equal work. Effective communication channels between female workers and HR department can assist them analysing the problems, and discriminations face by women in the organisation. HR executive can take appropriate actions to address these issues which will reduce the gender inequality in the firm.

Conclusion

From the above observations, it can be concluded that female employees face the issue of gender inequality and unequal pay in every industry worldwide. The awareness about this issue is continuously growing, and HR department is promoting more women to senior managerial roles, but the pace is considerably slow. In Australia, the gender pay gap is 15.3 percent which is considerably high, and it means that women are getting less pay for equal amount of work. Recent incidents such as BBC gender pay gap prove that HR department of larger corporations has also failed to address these issues. Due to gender inequality, female workers face various issues including unsafe working environment, sexual harassment, racism and discrimination in promotion to senior managerial positions. HR department can implement various Strategic HRM policies such as motivation and reward facility, learning and development program and effective employee relationship with female employees that can assist in addressing the issue of gender inequality. Organisation should address the issue of gender inequality and unequal pay since it increases their reputation and fulfil their corporate social responsibilities which result in sustaining their future development

Conclusion

References

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