Workplace Gender Discrimination Research Articles

Divergent Psychological Consequences of Gender Discrimination in the Workplace Among Women and Men

We examine whether the psychological consequences of perceived workplace discrimination differ between women and men. We argue that the types of experiences that women vs. men view as discriminatory are different; while the majority of women’s perceptions of discrimination in the workplace emerge from experiences that appear to align with patriarchal norms, the majority of men’s perceptions of discrimination emerge from experiences that appear to reflect institutions’ efforts to reduce discrimination against women. These differences in types of perceived discriminatory experiences give rise to divergent psychological consequences. We argue that the experience of workplace gender discrimination 1) reduces self- efficacy among women but not among men and 2) reduces the sense of belonging for both women and men. We further argue that these effects contribute to a reduction of well-being among members of both genders, with the negative effect on well-being being more pronounced among women than among men. We examine these predictions in two surveys of working adults. We discuss implications for research on the experience of discrimination and for organizations seeking to reduce the negative consequences of perceptions of discrimination.

Multidimensional gender discrimination in workplace and depressive symptoms.

Discrimination is associated with depressive symptoms and other negative health effects, but little is known about the mental health risks of workplace gender discrimination. We aimed to investigate the association of workplace gender discrimination and depressive symptoms among employed women in South Korea. The 6th wave (2016) survey datasets of the Korean Longitudinal Survey of Women and Family (KLoWF) were analyzed for 2,339 respondents who are identified as wage workers. Depressive symptoms were evaluated by the short-form (10-item) Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale. Association of workplace gender discrimination and depressive symptoms was assessed using multivariate logistic regression, adjusted for potential confounding variables including age, income satisfaction, education level, marital status, and currently diagnosed disease. We then measured the age effect using age stratification multivariate logistic regression model. Women who experienced gender discrimination at workplace had higher odds of depressive symptoms regardless of the type of the discrimination including hiring, promotion, work assignments, paid wages, and firing. These associations were consistent in younger women below 40 years of age in regard to hiring, promotion, paid wages and firing, whereas inconsistent among older women above 40 years of age. We did not investigate the effect of workplace gender discrimination on depressive symptoms in a longitudinal manner. Workplace gender discrimination was found to be significantly associated with depressive symptoms after adjustment for socio-demographic factors. Further, women under 40 years of age were especially vulnerable to workplace gender discrimination.

Grabbing the Sharp End of the Knife to Bring Liberation, Peace and Justice to South Africans: lessons from Ellen Kuzwayo and Phyllis Naidoo

abstract The tableware sparkles, the fresh flower arrangements are fragrant, soft, live jazz music tones permeate the air as the luncheon, which is of a world-class standard, gets underway. I am attending the celebration to mark the opening of new teaching venues at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, named after political stalwarts Ellen Kuzwayo and Phyllis Naidoo. Tributes are paid to these prototypical giantesses, who had worked as teachers during a part of their lives. My interest is piqued: Who were these political icons whose memory was being preserved in the buildings? What obstacles did they experience as women in the struggle for political emancipation? How might these insights inform our cultural identity as South African women in modern day society? In the present, pluralistic, patriarchal South African society, women encounter a multitude of challenges, including HIV and Aids, gender-based violence, unemployment, poverty, workplace gender discrimination and child abuse. However, women have broken the shackles of the past by resisting gender oppression and political injustices. Historically, women experienced exclusion within social and political spheres. For example, it took 31 years before women were permitted to join the African National Congress (ANC). Currently, the invisibility of women, compared to men in South African political history, is attributed in a large part to patriarchy. In order to address this vacuum, I use a feminist lens to look into the past to understand the herstorical accounts of these women, and locate the challenges and enablers which can serve to inform the empowerment of women today and in the future.

Workplace Gender Discrimination and Job Performance in Egypt: The Moderating Role of Equity Sensitivity

Workplace gender discrimination is a significant problem in Egypt. However, there is limited research on Workplace gender discrimination and its consequences. The current research tries to examine the relationships between workplace gender discrimination and task and contextual job performances. Moreover, the moderating effect of equity sensitivity on these relationships is also investigated. A convenience sample on 312 working women was drawn from different work settings in Cairo, Egypt. They responded to a three-part questionnaire that assesses workplace gender discrimination, equity sensitivity, and job performance. The results indicated that workplace gender discrimination was negatively associated with both of task and contextual performances. Moreover, equity sensitivity was found to moderate the relationship between workplace gender discrimination and contextual performance only. These results were discussed in the light of the extant theoretical and empirical literature. In addition, limitation, future research and conclusion are also reported.

Gender pay transparency mechanisms: Future directions for South Africa

The gender pay gap – that is, the difference in wages between men and women for the same or substantially the same work, or work of equal value – still features prominently as a stumbling block in achieving South African gender equality. If South Africa is to dislodge its stagnant gender pay gap, especially for women in the middle and upper levels of the wage distribution, pay transparency – making gender differences in wages known to employees, government and the public – can compel employers to remunerate fairly and equally. We undertook a comparison between the global and national mechanisms of gender pay transparency to propose a way forward to increase transparency in gender pay for South Africa. In addition to a discussion of existing mechanisms, a summary of the gender pay transparency mechanisms of 16 countries is provided as supplementary material to the article. We found that South Africa could strengthen legislated transparency mechanisms, especially with regard to pay reporting and pay audits, provided that sanctions are attached to non-delivery of these duties. Reigniting the debate on strengthening and improving South African legislation and interpretation of existing governance codes in relation to the implementation, monitoring and enforcement of gender pay transparency mechanisms could strengthen the existing collective bargaining framework and provide the impetus to demonstrate that South Africa sees gender equality as an achievable reality, not an improbable ideology.
 Significance:
 
 Despite the presence of constitutional rights and enabling legislation to prevent workplace gender discrimination, South Africa continues to see a stagnant median gender pay gap of between 23% and 35%.
 This study provides a global analysis to reinvigorate the debate on how South Africa can strengthen transparency mechanisms to close the gender pay gap.
 Legislators, activists, board members, trade unions, academics, and organisational leaders are provided with suggestions on transparency mechanisms to improve efforts towards economic gender equality for South Africa.

#MeToo in EM: A Multicenter Survey of Academic Emergency Medicine Faculty on Their Experiences with Gender Discrimination and Sexual Harassment.

IntroductionGender-based discrimination and sexual harassment of female physicians are well documented. The #MeToo movement has brought renewed attention to these problems. This study examined academic emergency physicians’ experiences with workplace gender discrimination and sexual harassment.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional survey of a convenience sample of emergency medicine (EM) faculty across six programs. Survey items included the following: the Overt Gender Discrimination at Work (OGDW) Scale; the frequency and source of experienced and observed discrimination; and whether subjects had encountered unwanted sexual behaviors by a work superior or colleague in their careers. For the latter question, we asked subjects to characterize the behaviors and whether those experiences had a negative effect on their self-confidence and career advancement. We made group comparisons using t-tests or chi-square analyses, and evaluated relationships between gender and physicians’ experiences using correlation analyses.ResultsA total of 141 out of 352 (40.1%) subjects completed at least a portion of the survey. Women reported higher mean OGDW scores than men (15.4 vs 10.2; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.6–6.8). Female faculty were also more likely to report having experienced gender-based discriminatory treatment than male faculty (62.7% vs 12.5%; 95% CI, 35.1%–65.4%), although male and female faculty were equally likely to report having observed gender-based discriminatory treatment of another physician (64.7% vs 56.3%; 95% CI, 8.6%–25.5%). The three most frequent sources of experienced or observed gender-based discriminatory treatment were patients, consulting or admitting physicians, and nursing staff. The majority of women reported having encountered unwanted sexual behaviors in their careers, with a significantly greater proportion of women reporting them compared to men (52.9% vs 26.2%, 95% CI, 9.9%–43.4%). The majority of unwanted behaviors were sexist remarks and sexual advances. Of those respondents who encountered these unwanted behaviors, 22.9% and 12.5% reported at least somewhat negative effects on their self-confidence and career advancement.ConclusionFemale EM faculty perceived more gender-based discrimination in their workplaces than their male counterparts. The majority of female and approximately a quarter of male EM faculty encountered unwanted sexual behaviors in their careers.

Exploring customers’ situational and word-of-mouth motivations in corporate misconduct

The purpose of this study was to understand customers’ motivations in engaging in information forwarding and negative word-of-mouth behaviors in light of alleged corporate misconduct. To do so, an online survey was conducted in Singapore using alleged workplace gender discrimination as the corporate misconduct (N = 461). Situational motivation in problem solving was found not only to predict customers’ issue-specific information forwarding behaviors, but also to predict their word-of-mouth motivations. However, only four of the tested WOM motivations were found to influence negative WOM, and outrage was found neither to impact WOM motivations nor behaviors. The theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed.

Higher exposure, lower vulnerability? The curious case of education, gender discrimination, and Women's health

Workplace gender discrimination persists in American society and women's experiences of discrimination are linked to diminished mental and physical well-being. While higher socioeconomic status (SES) decreases exposure to a number of work-related stressors, research suggests higher SES may also be associated with increased rates of perceived gender discrimination at work. We conceptualize educational attainment as a “metamechanism” that shapes women's work lives, family lives, as well as their ideologies. We argue that these factors in turn structure women's exposure and vulnerability to gender discrimination. We assess the influence of educational attainment on women's perceptions of workplace discrimination, as well as its health consequences, by analyzing national data from the 2002–2014 General Social Surveys. Our analyses show that women with high levels of education are more likely than women with lower levels of education to work full-time and in well-compensated, male-dominated occupations, and it is in these contexts where women are most likely to perceive gender discrimination. While educational attainment is associated with increased reports of workplace gender discrimination, it also sometimes provides women with resources that buffer its negative health consequences. For women with lower levels of education, perceived gender discrimination is associated with worse mental health, lower quality sleep, less happiness, and lower job satisfaction, but these particular health tolls diminish or disappear at higher levels of education. Our results shed light on the multi-level processes through which gender and education work together to structure health outcomes.

Gender Discrimination in the Workplace: Effects on Pregnancy Planning and Childbirth among South Korean Women.

Introduction: This study aims to investigate the association between gender discrimination in the workplace and pregnancy planning/childbirth experiences among working women in South Korea. Methods: We analyzed data from the Korean Longitudinal Survey of Women and Families (KLoWF) for the years 2007 to 2016. The study population consisted of 7996 working women, between the ages of 19 and 45. Gender discrimination was measured through the 6-item Workplace Gender Discrimination Scale, evaluating discrimination in terms of recruitment, promotions, pay, deployment, training and lay-offs. Multiple logistic regression analysis was employed to measure the association between gender discrimination and the pregnancy planning/childbirth experience. Results: Compared to individuals experiencing no discrimination in the workplace, those experiencing low [odds ratio (OR): 0.78, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.61–0.99] or medium (OR: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.54–0.89) levels of discrimination had decreased odds of pregnancy planning. Likewise, individuals scoring low (OR: 0.70, 95% CI 0.54–0.92), medium (OR: 0.68, 95% CI: 0.51–0.92), or high (OR: 0.47, 95% CI: 0.27–0.80) levels of discrimination also had decreased odds of childbirth experience when compared to the no-experience group. When stratified by income, compared to individuals experiencing no discrimination in the workplace, those experiencing gender discrimination had decreased odds of pregnancy planning for low income (low OR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.45–0.92; medium OR: 0.55, 95% CI: 0.52–0.97; high OR: 0.45, 95% CI: 0.24–0.87), medium income (medium OR: 0.53, 95% CI: 0.37–0.77; high OR: 0.29, 95% CI: 0.14–0.63), and high income groups (low OR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.49–0.84; medium OR: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.52–0.92). Conclusions: The present study finds that gender discrimination in the workplace is associated with decreased odds of pregnancy planning/childbirth experience among working South Korean women. Furthermore, low and medium income groups were especially more likely to be affected by the level of gender discrimination in the workplace when planning pregnancy.

Gender Discrimination against Female Managers and Professionals in Sri Lankan Private Sector

Gender discrimination and sexual harassment contradict with the rights of women protected by law and practices at private sector organizations in Sri Lanka that may limit the career advancement of female employees. Several empirical researches on gender discrimination confirmed the impact of gender discriminations and sexual harassments on work motivation and productivity. However, this debilitating effect on the motivation and productivity of the female managers and professionals in Sri Lanka has not seen any empirical conclusion. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between workplace gender discrimination and sexual harassment with employees works motivation and productivity. The study conducted by selecting 66 female employees (44 female managers/ professionals, 22 HR managers) as a sample from 22 medium and large scale organizations covering the Sri Lankan private sector. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses conduct on collected data through a self-administered questionnaire. The results confirmed the incidents of gender discrimination and sexual harassment are present in recruitment and promotions activities in the selected organizations. However, the results did not support the relationships between gender discrimination and the loss of motivation and productivity at work.

Cutting for Equity-Reconstructing the Culture of Surgery that is Still Toxic for Women Surgeons.

Women surgeons face sexism, hostile workplace environments, gender discrimination, sexual harassment and isolation in their training and practice settings, sometimes at significant personal cost. The stakes for telling these stories have been very high for female surgeons who fear exposure, lack of support, and retaliation. Times are changing and with more voices being raised, women are feeling more empowered to speak up. With the advent of #MeToo and #TimesUpHealthcare, communities are developing that create spaces for women to tell their stories. These narratives document the experiences of women surgeons and the resilience they demonstrate in overcoming the gender-related obstacles they face. While each experience is unique, there is considerable overlap in the themes revealed by these narratives. Despite the variations in their stories, these surgeons are in agreement that the culture of surgery needs to change and that the contributions that women can bring-empathy, collaboration, compassion, kindness, wisdom, empowerment, and zero tolerance for abusive behavior, to name a few-will enrich the culture of surgery and improve patient care.

Economics or ethics? Exploring the role of CSR expectations in explaining consumers’ perceptions, motivations, and active communication behaviors about corporate misconduct

The purpose of this study was to explore the role of corporate social responsibility expectations in explaining consumers’ perceptions, motivations and communication behaviors about corporate misconduct, especially in the context of allegations of workplace gender discrimination. A survey was conducted in December 2016 among 473 Americans. The results show that while people with economic CSR expectations do not evaluate corporate misconduct negatively, those with ethical CSR expectations perceive it morally wrong. However, both types of CSR expectations were found to impact consumers’ motivations to engage in communication behaviors about the crisis. Theoretical and empirical implications are discussed.

Chimeria:Grayscale: An Interactive Narrative for Provoking Critical Reflection on Gender Discrimination

Roleplaying has a history of serving diverse aims, including art, entertainment, therapeutic purposes, and political action (Piper 1973; Gygax 1978; Boal 1993; Matthews et al. 2014). This paper presents an interactive narrative called Grayscale that uses roleplaying to provoke critical reflection through modeling workplace gender discrimination. Grayscale's interface resembles a streamlined email system, constituting what Henry Jenkins has termed an “embedded narrative” since the narration is distributed across elements in the space (e.g. emails, notes, draft messages).

Perceived Workplace Gender Discrimination and Employee Consequences: A Meta-Analysis and Complementary Studies Considering Country Context

We draw on relative deprivation theory to examine how the context influences the relationship between employees’ perceptions of gender discrimination and outcomes at work using a meta-analysis and two complementary empirical studies. Our meta-analysis includes 85 correlations from published and unpublished studies from around the world to assess correlates of perceived workplace gender discrimination that have significant implications for employees. We extend relative deprivation theory to identify national differences in labor laws and cultural norms as contextual factors that affect the threshold for feeling deprived and moderate the relationship between perceived workplace gender discrimination and employee outcomes. Findings show that perceived gender discrimination is negatively related to job attitudes, physical health outcomes and behaviors, psychological health, and work-related outcomes (job-based and relationship-based). Correlations between perceived workplace gender discrimination and physical health outcomes and behaviors were stronger in countries with more broadly integrated labor policies and stringently enforced labor practices focused on promoting gender equality. Correlations were also stronger in countries with more gender-egalitarian cultural practices across multiple employee outcomes of perceived workplace gender discrimination. Further, results from two complementary studies (one employee survey and one experiment) supported the meta-analytic findings and provided evidence of the relative deprivation rationale central to our theory. Implications for research and practice include the need to consider the influence of the country context in organizational decisions to prevent and address gender discrimination and its consequences for employees and ultimately, for employers.

Discrimination, Harassment, and Gendered Health Inequalities: Do Perceptions of Workplace Mistreatment Contribute to the Gender Gap in Self-reported Health?

This study examines the extent to which discrimination and harassment contribute to gendered health disparities. Analyzing data from the 2006, 2010, and 2014 General Social Surveys ( N = 3,724), we ask the following: (1) To what extent are perceptions of workplace gender discrimination and sexual harassment associated with self-reported mental and physical health? (2) How do multiple forms of workplace mistreatment (e.g., racism, ageism, and sexism) combine to structure workers' self-assessed health? and (3) To what extent do perceptions of mistreatment contribute to the gender gap in self-assessed health? Multivariate analyses show that among women, but not men, perceptions of workplace gender discrimination are negatively associated with poor mental health, and perceptions of sexual harassment are associated with poor physical health. Among men and women, perceptions of multiple forms of mistreatment are associated with worse mental health. Gender discrimination partially explains the gender gap in self-reported mental health.

Workplace gender discrimination among curing workers of India

This research paper explored the issue of gender discrimination in workforce in the coffee curing and manufacturing sector of India based on unit level data that was collected from Employment-Unemployment Survey (2011-2012) conducted by National Sample Survey Office (NSSO). The findings paradoxically reflected masculine nature of coffee industry despite relatively higher percentage of female workers in coffee curing industry (34%) compared to national average of 25.51% (Census of India, 2011). Following National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector definition of formal sector consisting of all unincorporated private enterprises owned by individuals or households with less than ten workers, only 50% of male workers belonged to formal sector while no female worker belonged to formal sector while only 31% of male workers and no female worker were entitled to social security benefits. The appalling condition of female workers was evident from female to male wage ratio, it was 0.43. Introduction of automation and absence of trade union had resulted in minimal presence of female workers that in turn had increased helplessness of female workers in the coffee curing sector.

Workplace gender discrimination among curing workers of India

This research paper explored the issue of gender discrimination in workforce in the coffee curing and manufacturing sector of India based on unit level data that was collected from Employment-Unemployment Survey (2011-2012) conducted by National Sample Survey Office (NSSO). The findings paradoxically reflected masculine nature of coffee industry despite relatively higher percentage of female workers in coffee curing industry (34%) compared to national average of 25.51% (Census of India, 2011). Following National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector definition of formal sector consisting of all unincorporated private enterprises owned by individuals or households with less than ten workers, only 50% of male workers belonged to formal sector while no female worker belonged to formal sector while only 31% of male workers and no female worker were entitled to social security benefits. The appalling condition of female workers was evident from female to male wage ratio, it was 0.43. Introduction of automation and absence of trade union had resulted in minimal presence of female workers that in turn had increased helplessness of female workers in the coffee curing sector.

Madonnas and Whores in the Workplace

Much has been written about “lookism” – the preferential treatment given to those who conform to societal standards of beauty. But in a recent case before the Iowa Supreme Court, a gender discrimination plaintiff alleged a sort of “reverse-lookism,” claiming that her male employer terminated her long-term employment because the employee was too physically attractive, thus tempting the employer to think about entering into an extramarital affair. To the great surprise of many who followed this case, the Iowa Supreme Court sided with the employer, declining to find him liable for gender discrimination. As one might expect, uproar ensued, with the media, the public, and the academic community eviscerating the court for its failure to recognize and rectify gender discrimination. In story after story, reporters, academics and pundits framed this decision as one involving an “irresistible woman” and a man’s “uncontrollable lust.” Yet while such characterizations made for catchy headlines, they were not quite true: The court’s decision did not hinge upon outmoded stereotypes regarding gender roles, but rather contained a plausible factual and legal basis for denying the plaintiff’s claim. This article picks up where the Iowa Supreme Court left off, exploring the complicated reasons behind this employee’s failure to win her case, and suggesting alternate theories under which a similarly-situated employee successfully could challenge this type of termination. The article also probes the reasons behind the vehement (and often misinformed) public reaction to this case. It explores the ways in which the media systematically misrepresents women, particularly in the context of suits involving workplace gender discrimination, and examines the consequences of these errors, arguing that attempts to force women in the public eye into one of two molds – either pure and pristine with muted sexuality, or sexually promiscuous and vilified – has dramatic consequences for other employees in the workplace, for policymakers, and for the public at large.

Liberating Sexual Harassment Law

Sexual harassment law and the proposed solutions to that paradigm’s deficiencies teach a disheartening and peculiar lesson to women and gender performance minorities: “You may be disadvantaged at work because of your gender or your gender performance nonconformity. Discrimination against you is okay.” This albatross has inexplicably burdened sexual harassment law for the more than thirty-five years since it emerged as a redressable form of unlawful discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This Article coherently explains the reason for it. It makes a simple claim: Sexual harassment law has failed to eradicate workplace gender discrimination, not because that goal is beyond its capacity, as is frequently claimed, but because it is beyond its scope. Sexual harassment law might have changed workplace relations (for the better), but it has not made sexual harassment an anomaly because it was not meant to do so. To accomplish its task, the Article reframes the intractability of problems within the sexual harassment paradigm by viewing the law as an educative process structured by a clear curriculum. Drawing together educational literature and sexual harassment discourse, it (1) maps how sexual harassment law conforms to the essential elements of the dominant curriculum model; (2) shows how existing critiques function within that model; and (3) proposes an alternative critique of sexual harassment law that pinpoints the main deficiency of sexual harassment in its conformity to a educational model that serves to maintain the status quo and inhibit, rather than promote, liberatory social change. On this foundation, the Article argues that the challenge is to create a “dialogical” method for law in which the beneficiaries of sexual harassment law are empowered to determine what behaviors serve to entrench their marginalization and, thereby, define their world and the change they want to see in it. Through its reframing of sexual harassment law, this Article liberates sexual harassment law from its reified limitations, creating space for a legal revolution that will liberate workers.

Threats to Feminist Identity and Reactions to Gender Discrimination

The aim of this research was to examine conditions that modify feminists’ support for women as targets of gender discrimination. In an experimental study we tested a hypothesis that threatened feminist identity will lead to greater differentiation between feminists and conservative women as victims of discrimination and, in turn, a decrease in support for non-feminist victims. The study was conducted among 96 young Polish female professionals and graduate students from Gender Studies programs in Warsaw who self-identified as feminists (M age = 22.23). Participants were presented with a case of workplace gender discrimination. Threat to feminist identity and worldview of the discrimination victim (feminist vs. conservative) were varied between research conditions. Results indicate that identity threat caused feminists to show conditional reactions to discrimination. Under identity threat, feminists perceived the situation as less discriminatory when the target held conservative views on gender relations than when the target was presented as feminist. This effect was not observed under conditions of no threat. Moreover, feminists showed an increase in compassion for the victim when she was portrayed as a feminist compared to when she was portrayed as conservative. Implications for the feminist movement are discussed.