Gender Discrimination in Jessica's Career

Abstract

Jessica's career as a highly educated, well-paid technical professional seems to be a triumph over the gender discrimination limiting the opportunities of her foremothers. Yet, discrimination continues, discouraging Jessica and women like her. Despite signs that women are achieving more equity in the workplace, discrimination continues in many forms and at multiple levels (Betz, 1994; Fagenson, 1993; Geis, 1993; Ragins & Sundstrom, 1989). Personal characteristics and roles typically associated with women (for example, an unobtrusive conversational style, or homemaking activities) may also be targets of discrimination. This devaluation of ways of doing things, as well as of Jessica's sex, is present in this case. Gender is a key determinant of crucial factors shaping a woman's career development, including her socialization within her family, early career-related experiences and preparation, reactions and support from others in her environment, and her own perceptions and behavior (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994). The most egregious examples of gender discrimination are often easy to spot, as when a company has an explicit policy against hiring women for a particular job. However, tenacious forms of gender discrimination, as evidenced in Jessica's case, are more subtle, or are even unconscious or unintentional. Such discrimination is rooted in pervasive stereotypes about women's unsuitability for the tasks seen as belonging in what is viewed as men's domain (Fiske, 1993; Geis, 1993). Women's careers may be stalled by the geometric progression of many missed opportunities, unspoken assumptions, inaccurate conclusions, and the insensibility of others, and of women themselves, to women's potential. How individuals perceive and react to discriminatory conditions is crucial in the dynamics of discrimination. Jessica's career path was created in part by how she understood her experiences. In Jessica's case, her Chinese cultural background, coupled with her perception of herself as a woman, influenced both how others treated her, and how she reacted to her life events (cf. Chow, 1996). It is common for counselors to make the error of assuming that women are uniformly affected by gender dynamics (Greene, 1994). Also, individuals with multiple identities vary in how they identify themselves in terms of these statuses (Parks, Carter, & Gushue, 1996; Reynolds & Pope, 1991).That is, the manner in which Jessica experiences life as a Chinese, American, female, professional person can ultimately influence her career. Counselors must look beyond the categories describing a person to the personal meanings giving them substance and life. GENDER DISCRIMINATION IN JESSICA'S CAREER I will focus on three manifestations of gender discrimination in Jessica's career: sexual harassment, external restrictions on her career advancement, and isolation in her career. Implicit is that Jessica's own gender-related identity, attitudes, behavior, and so forth influenced the nature of her interactions within her work world. Also, Jessica's internal conflict about parenting vs. pursuing a career is certainly gender-related (cf. Cook, 1993; Parasuraman & Greenhaus, 1993). Although a full understanding of Jessica's career issues requires exploration of this conflict, it does not seem to have influenced her career as has the gender discrimination to be discussed more fully here. Sexual Harassment Jessica experienced at least two instances of supervisors or colleagues sexualizing their work interactions with her. Her first supervisor tried to seduce her and she overheard sexual jokes on numerous professional occasions and trips. These situations are examples of sexual harassment. See Jones (1996) for a comprehensive review and bibliography on sexual harassment. A specific threat to a target's education or career (e.g., if you don't cooperate, I'll . . .) is a familiar, but not necessary, condition of sexual harassment. …