Perceived Gender Discrimination Research Articles

Antecedents and Consequences of Perceived Gender Discrimination in Public Accounting and Corporate Organizations

Antecedents and Consequences of Perceived Gender Discrimination in Public Accounting and Corporate Organizations

Unique Challenges Facing Female Athletes in Urban High Schools

Although the passage of Title IX secured equity of treatment and opportunity for female high school athletes in the United States, little research has examined the social well-being of girls who participate in sports during high school. The current survey study investigated how 9th grade sports participation relates to perceived gender discrimination from peers and adults at school over four time points spanning 10th through 12th grade. The ethnically diverse sample (46.6 % Hispanic/Latina/Mexican-American, 14.1 % Asian-American/Pacific Islander, 12.8 % African-American/Black, 11.5 % European-American/White, 15.1 % Other/Mixed) consisted of 384 girls in the southwestern United States. Results of growth modeling showed that 9th grade athletes (n = 309) perceived greater gender discrimination relative to girls who were not involved in sports (n = 75), and accelerated in peer gender discrimination compared to non-athletes. Athletes and non-athletes did not differ in perceived gender discrimination from adults at school. Analyses conducted separately within each ethnic group revealed that ethnic groups did not differ in patterns of gender discrimination. These findings suggest that girls who play sports may experience differential treatment from their peers. Future directions and policy implications are discussed.

Career advancement and gender equity in healthcare management

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the conditions for career advancement in healthcare management and examine factors that may be impeding gender equity.Design/methodology/approachThe authors assess gender differences in the odds of being promoted to senior management by: analyzing the relative impact of individual, organizational and family level variables in accounting for gender inequity; examining gender differences in experiences of perceived gender discrimination and sexual harassment, as well as attitudes regarding gender equity in senior management; and by exploring gender differences in aspirations for senior management. ANOVA, χ2 and logistic regression were used to analyze data from 685 respondents to the 2006 Gender and Careers in Healthcare Management Survey.FindingsWomen were significantly less likely to be promoted to senior management, even after controlling for individual, organizational and family level characteristics. One third of women healthcare managers in our study reported perceived gender discrimination in the past five years. Less than half of male healthcare managers were supportive of increasing the proportion of women in senior management positions, while over 80 percent of women were. Among those not yet promoted women were significantly less likely than their male peers to aspire to senior management positions.Research limitations/implicationsThe cross‐sectional nature of the data do not allow for the precise testing of the causal direction of observed relationships.Originality/valueObjective and subjective measures of gender equity were evaluated. The authors' broad approach demonstrated that factors restraining gender equity operate on multiple levels and highlights the relative importance of family factors.

Perceived Gender Discrimination and Women’s Subjective Career Success: The Moderating Role of Career Anchors

Subjective career success reflects an individual’s internal apprehension and evaluation of his or her career, across any dimensions that are perceived relevant by the individual. It has beneficial consequences on several individual and organizational outcomes, such as job performance, employee commitment, occupational retention as well as organizational retention. Given the pervasive result that women are subjected to gender discrimination in the workplace, we first wanted to check whether the level of perceived discrimination they report having faced is related to their subjective career success. We also wanted to check whether individual priorities, as evidenced in the concept of career anchor, have an influence on the relationship between perceived discrimination and career success.Using a sample of 300 women employees working in a large French company, we therefore investigated the relationship between perceived gender discrimination, subjective career success and career anchors. We found that perceived gender discrimination was negatively related to subjective career success overall. However, the relationship between the two variables was moderated by career anchors. Some anchors (i.e. managerial, technical and lifestyle) enhanced the impact of perceived gender discrimination, while other anchors (i.e. security and autonomy) lessened it.Our results show how individual expectations, reflected in the notion of career anchor, have an influence on how the work environment is interpreted. In addition, they provide a potential explanation for the apparently contradictory findings of the literature on gender and career success. Finally, our results suggest that organizations should pay special attention not only to the work experiences of women who aspire to move up the hierarchy, but also to the women who aspire to achieve a high level of competency at their job, or seek balance between their work life and their home life.

Discrimination and Subjective Well-Being: Protective Influences of Membership in a Discriminated Category

Research reveals that discrimination has harmful effects on health and quality of life. Among the most frequent types of discrimination pertains gender and age discrimination. Research results show that discriminatory behaviours based on gender afflict predominantly women; age discrimination afflicts mainly older adults. At the same time, it has been found that members of these traditionally discriminated categories often use strategies that mitigate the effects of discrimination. Discrimination will have detrimental effects on subjective well-being. But its effects will be most harmful for persons who are not members of the traditionally discriminated categories. These hypotheses were tested on data from three waves of the European Social Survey that the Czech Republic also participated in. Data were analyzed in a series of multilevel random coefficients regression analyses with respondents nested within states and states nested within years of study. Both perceived gender discrimination and perceived age discrimination have negative effects on subjective well-being. However, gender discrimination had more harmful effects on the subjective well-being of men than women and age discrimination had the most harmful effects on the subjective well-being of people in their middle ages, not the elderly ones. Discrimination does not need to have most harmful effects on the quality of life of members of the categories that are discriminated against most often.

Women Veterans’ Reproductive Health Preferences and Experiences: A Focus Group Analysis

Objective Although women veterans are seeking care at the Veterans Administration (VA) in record numbers, there is little information regarding women veterans’ experiences and preferences for reproductive health care services. We sought to characterize women veterans’ experiences with, and preferences for, reproductive health services in the VA. Methods We conducted five focus groups with a total of 25 participants using a semistructured interview guide to elicit women veterans’ experiences and preferences with reproductive health care. Women veterans’ utilizing VA health care at two VA facilities who responded to advertisements were selected on a first-come basis to participate in the study. We analyzed transcripts of these audiorecorded sessions using the constant comparative method of grounded theory. Results Five main themes emerged from the focus group discussions: 1) Women veterans prefer VA women’s clinics for comprehensive medical care; 2) Women veterans have had both positive and negative reproductive health experiences in the VA; 3) Women veterans experience knowledge gaps regarding VA coverage for reproductive health services; 4) Women veterans believe the VA should provide additional coverage for advanced infertility care and for newborns; and 5) Perceived gender discrimination shapes how women veterans view the VA. Conclusion As the VA continues to tailor its services to women veterans, attention should be given to women’s reproductive health care needs.

Women students and staff in accountancy: The Canterbury tales

The growing body of literature about women’s experience of the working environment indicates that women have different experiences to men. Some of this literature narrows the focus to women in the professions, including in the accounting profession, and women as academics. There is scant literature about the experiences of women as students of accounting. This study provides experiences of women accounting academics and students as an accounting department became a much less male-dominated domain. Female students’ decisions to attend university were influenced primarily by family and friends, many of them women. Student—staff and staff—staff relationships varied depending on the personalities involved, with some gender discrimination being perceived by earlier graduates and the first women staff members. The commerce degree opened up job opportunities, particularly for women who graduated in the middle of the twentieth century. Many graduates perceived gender discrimination when they entered the business world, and female academic staff at appointment and on applying for promotion.

Effects of Learning About Historical Gender Discrimination on Early Adolescents’ Occupational Judgments and Aspirations

To examine the consequences of learning about gender discrimination, early adolescents ( n = 121, aged 10-14) were randomly assigned to receive either (a) standard biographical lessons about historical figures (standard condition) or (b) nearly identical lessons that included information about gender discrimination (discrimination condition). Additional students ( n = 46) did not receive lessons (control condition). At immediate posttest, students in the discrimination condition showed increased awareness of gender discrimination, and girls (but not boys) reported an increased desire to combat gender discrimination. At 6-month posttest, students in the discrimination condition were more likely than those in the control condition to perceive gender discrimination. Adolescents’ occupational goals and beliefs about their own vulnerability to discrimination did not differ across conditions.

Women's reactions to ingroup members who protest discriminatory treatment: The importance of beliefs about inequality and response appropriateness

AbstractOur goal was to identify factors that shape women's responses to ingroup members who protest gender discrimination. We predicted and found that women who perceived gender discrimination as pervasive regarded a protest response as being more appropriate than a no protest response and expressed greater liking and less anger towards a female lawyer who protested rather than did not protest an unfair promotion decision. Further, beliefs about the appropriateness of the response to discrimination contributed to evaluations of the protesting lawyer. Perceptions that the complaint was an appropriate response to the promotion decision led to more positive evaluations of an ingroup discrimination protester. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The ‘Glass Ceiling’ Phenomenon for Malaysian Women Accountants

Apparently it was claimed that organisations are often not build to accommodate women’s values, primarily because they entered organisations relatively late, and work in a relatively narrow range of occupations. Given this scenario, men and women experience organisational cultures very differently and perceive gender discrimination as an issue. The number of women with children participating in the paid workforce has increased markedly over recent decades, but many workplaces have not altered their expectations or provided work policies to allow women to balance work and family responsibilities There is considerable and increasing agreement that what in fact keeps women back are invisible and artificial barriers that prevent qualified individuals from advancing within their organisations and reaching their full potential – the ‘glass ceiling’ phenomenon. Although women in Malaysia now represent 44.5% of the working population and are just as academically qualified as men, they are grossly under-represented at the senior management positions. This study attempts to discover the obstacles that keep women from rising above certain level in the organisations in an effort to raise both their individual self-worth and the level of their contribution to economic development.

Organizational Climate and Family Life: How These Factors Affect the Status of Women Faculty at One Medical School

To compare men and women faculty's family situations and perceptions of organizational climate. In 2005, the authors sent an electronic survey to full-time faculty at the University of Minnesota Medical School to assess their perceptions of professional relationships, mentoring, obstacles to satisfaction, policies, circumstances that contribute to departure, gender equality, family situations, and work life. Of 615 faculty, 354 (57%) responded. Women and men were equally productive and worked similar total hours. Women were less likely to have partners/spouses, were more likely to have partners/spouses who were employed, and devoted more time to household tasks. Compared with men, women reported more experience with obstacles to career success and satisfaction and with circumstances that contribute to departure. More women than men perceived that they were expected to represent the perspective of their gender, that they were constantly under scrutiny by colleagues, that they worked harder than colleagues worked in order to be perceived as legitimate, and that there were "unwritten rules" and bias against women. Few faculty reported overt discrimination; however, more women than men perceived gender discrimination in promotion, salary, space/resources, access to administrative staff, and graduate student/fellow assignment. Work-life and family-life factors served as obstacles to satisfaction and retention of the women faculty studied. Many of these factors reflect challenges attributable to subtle gender bias and the intersection of work and family life. The authors provide examples showing that medical schools can implement policy changes that support faculty who must balance work and family responsibilities. Identification and elimination of gender bias in areas such as promotion, salary, and resource allocation is essential.

Stress, Gender and Policing: The Impact of Perceived Gender Discrimination on Symptoms of Stress

Police work is inherently stressful. However, the traditionally male-dominated field of policing may create increased obstacles and stressors for female officers. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine gender differences in the perception of gender discrimination and in levels of stress. The results indicate that male and female officers have conflicting attitudes about the amount and nature of gender discrimination within police work. The findings further suggest that female officers experience higher levels of stress. In addition, the results indicate a weak relationship between perceptions of gender-related jokes and stress levels for females. Interestingly, male officers who report that females are held to a higher standard experience lower levels of stress. Nevertheless, the most important stressor for both males and females is the perception of job-related problems.

Do we discriminate?

Nursing students share their perceptions of gender discrimination during the educational experience.

Minority Women in Policing in Texas: An Attitudinal Analysis

This study examines the attitudes of female officers towards their colleagues and work utilizing data from a survey of women in policing in Texas. It focuses on minority and majority officers' perceptions of other officers, sexual and racial discrimination, and stress. The findings suggest the presence of several interesting similarities and differences between minority and majority female officers. There is little evidence that female officers do not feel accepted or feel they are treated unfairly on the job. None of the respondents perceived gender discrimination within the workplace. Black and white officers perceived sexual teasing and job stress as fairly common; this was not the case with respect to Latina officers. That is, Latina officers were more likely to prefer male partners than other race/ethnic groups while black officers were more likely to perceive racial discrimination. It is held that the findings with respect to Latina officers may be associated with cultural realities which affect gender‐based perceptions. The implications of these findings for future research are also presented.

Is nurse education sexist? An exploratory study

A cross-sectional population survey of students enrolled at an Australian university was undertaken using a web-based survey, to examine the perceived prevalence of sexism and gender discrimination in each of their programs, with the aim of determining how nursing student perceptions compare to those of non-nursing students. A total of 221 students participated in the study. Results indicated that there was a perception of sexism involved in a range of programs, as well as perceived gender discrimination. Male students in general felt significantly more affected by this perceived discrimination than did female students. Moreover, students in the nursing program felt significantly more affected by both sexism and discrimination than non-nursing students, and this was particularly the case for male nursing students. These findings may have implications for the recruitment and retention of males in nursing, in a context where shortages of nurses is a problem internationally.

The effects of cultural types on perceptions of justice and gender inequity in the workplace

This study uses the horizontal and vertical distinction within individualism and collectivism as a theoretical framework to predict differences in employee perceptions of organizational justice and gender inequity. In this study we survey 514 solicitors working in law firms in Hong Kong. Results of regression analysis indicated that horizontal-collectivism (HC) had a significant positive effect on procedural justice and vertical-individualism (VI) had a significant and positive effect on distributive justice. Vertical- and horizontal-individualism (VI and HI) had positive and significant effects on both perceived gender bias and perceived gender discrimination. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings and suggest future research directions.

Perceptions of Discrimination and Justice

This article examines the relationship among perceived gender discrimination, organizational justice, and work-related attitudes (i.e., job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and intentions to leave) for a sample of Protestant clergy in Hong Kong. The moderating role of gender on the relationship is also explored. The results of regression analysis showed that (a) justice and discrimination perceptions were significantly related to job attitudes; (b) compared to men, women who perceived more gender discrimination had a lower level of organizational commitment; (c) compared to women, men who perceived more distributive justice had a higher level of job satisfaction; and (d) perceptions of justice influenced intentions to leave through their impact on job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Perceived Career Barriers among South African High School Learners

The perception of career barriers has the potential to influence individuals' career choice processes and facilitate or detract from their realising their career goals. Grade 12 black ( n = 90) and Grades 11 ( n = 140) and 12 ( n = 118) white high school learners completed a semi-structured questionnaire asking whether gender discrimination, racial or ethnic discrimination, personal characteristics or other factors were perceived as barriers to progressing in the career they would like to enter. The majority of learners did not perceive gender discrimination or personal characteristics as possible career barriers. Racial or ethnic discrimination as perceived career barriers were most problematic for Grade 11 white learners (56%), but also of concern to the other two samples (40% to 44%).

Gender discrimination and sexual harassment in medical education: perspectives gained by a 14-school study.

The authors attempted to determine male and female medical students' exposures to and perceptions of gender discrimination and sexual harassment (GD/SH) in selected academic and nonacademic contexts. An anonymous, self-report questionnaire was administered in the spring of 1997 to senior medical students at 14 U.S. medical schools. Data were collected about students' exposures to GD/SH during undergraduate medical education and outside the medical training environment. Students' perceptions of GD/SH in various medical specialties and practice settings were also measured. Of the 1,911 questionnaires administered, 1,314 were completed (response rate, 69%). Both men and women reported exposures to GD/SH. More women than men reported all types of exposures to GD/SH across all academic and nonacademic contexts. Differences between men and women in the frequencies of exposures were greatest outside the medical training environment (t = 15.67, df = 1171, p <or=.001). Within academic medical training contexts, the differences by sex were most evident in core clerkships (t = 11.17, df = 1176, p <or=.001). Women students perceived the prevalence of GD/SH to be significantly (p <or=.001) higher in a number of medical specialties than did men. However, both groups believed these behaviors to be most common in general surgery and obstetrics-gynecology. Women perceived significantly more GD/SH in academic medical centers and community hospitals. Both groups perceived these behaviors to be significantly more prevalent in academic medical centers than in community hospitals, and more prevalent in community hospitals than in outpatient office settings. This study suggests that mistreatment in the form of GD/SH is prevalent in undergraduate medical education, particularly within core clerkships. Interventions focused on particular specialties and training periods may be helpful.

Perceived discrimination in the context of multiple group memberships.

This study examined the joint impact of gender and ethnicity on expectations of general discrimination against oneself and one's group. According to the double-jeopardy hypothesis, women of color will expect to experience more general discrimination than men of color, White women, and White men because they belong to both a low-status ethnic group and a low-status gender group. Alternatively, the ethnic-prominence hypothesis predicts that ethnic-minority women will not differ from ethnic-minority men in their expectations of general discrimination because these expectations will be influenced more by perceptions of ethnic discrimination, which they share with men of color, than by perceptions of gender discrimination. All results were consistent with the ethnic-prominence hypothesis rather than the double-jeopardy hypothesis.