Research Paper on "Gender Roles and Sexuality in the Workplace"

Research Paper 10 pages (3151 words) Sources: 8

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Gender Roles and Sexuality in the Workplace

Gender study is an important topic in the modern era as the world is moving towards the phase where manpower is required to the maximum. No doubt, machines have replaced labor but there are certain situations, in which manpower is required. In order to gap the deficit of manpower, policy makers invite the deprived sector of society to play its role in the development. Organizations and countries both are concerned about the use of talent available to them and focus on the need of unleashing the potential wherever and whenever it can be found.

Nature has assigned certain roles and responsibilities to different genders and it is assumed that both the genders can play the role at their best which is assigned to them by nature. However, it is no surprise to mention that there are unlimited skills which human beings can enjoy hence shuffling of roles and responsibilities takes place on regular basis. There are certain benefits of changing roles between men and women; however there are certain challenges as well. Both genders can perform the majority of tasks but their specialization always remains limited to certain jobs they have developed expertise in and have natural talent for.

The last decade of 20th century has exhibited a great impact on the roles and responsibilities held by the genders. As a result of this, several issues have surfaced which are closely linked with the field of sociology. This paper will analyze the roles of gender and sexuality at workplace in the modern age. The paper will take into consideration the changes that have occurred in this regard.

Before elaborating the changes in the gender roles, it is important to discuss a few terms which are related to the role of gender at workplace. These include: roles, norms, stereotypes, sexism and patriarchy.

A role is a desired attitude linked with a status and the norms are the common values that provide guidance to people about how they should behave in certain situations. Norms regulate duties and rights that an individual possesses in a society. For instance, a mother is supposed to look after the affairs of households whereas a father is supposed to earn for the family and take the major decisions concerning the home.

Due to the rapid changes in the society, these roles and responsibilities often undergo a change. Sometimes the roles change so drastically that it is difficult to predict how the status is going to change. For example, this decade has seen a radical change in terms of the increase in the number of working women which means that women are now also earning, paying attention to their office and household chores. Consequently, there has been a change in the previously assigned roles of fathers and mothers.

The other important term to be discussed is about stereotyping. It means that people have strong beliefs that people belonging to certain status have particular characteristics. The negative effects of stereotypes result in sexism which means that a particular gender, more commonly women, is considered to be inferior. This issue is faced by women when they are paid less for the same work as their male counterparts.

Sexism further gives rise to patriarchal system in which male dominated ideas are given importance and those presented by women are oppressed. In a patriarchal system, it is believed that the role distribution is done naturally and cannot be changed in any way.

Gender Biasness in Terms of Pay

Talking in the perspective of workplace, it must be taken into consideration that workplace is the official vicinity or facility allocated to workforce so that organizational functions can be performed therein. Much literature is available on the need to have favorable workplace environment so that employees can perform their duties with relaxed mind and play an effective role in the development of their organization. The modern 21st century has led to creation of diverse workforce in which people belonging to different backgrounds are hired and organizations are responsible to satisfy them all. Background is a vast term that includes religious affiliations, caste, creed, nationality, educational qualification, lifestyle, gender, age and preferences etc. There are many factors which distinguish an individual from the other, leading to increase in diversity at workforce.

As diversity is on continuous rise, the employers need to evaluate their policies from two perspectives. The first one is to cater for the needs of individuals as employees of the organization and the second one is about focusing on employees' needs particularly the ones which are different from others. In other words, organizations need to have a fair system of remuneration depending upon the work performed by the employee regardless of his gender, age and other preferences. At second level, organization needs to have a strong system to identify the differentiating needs of the employees which can help them perform better. The former factor is more important as organizations mainly hire people for their likely performance in the organization and not on the basis of their other qualities which are personal to them. In case an organization manages to cater for the latter requirements, the essence and importance of the first issue is not reduced. It remains the core responsibility of organization.

In the context of gender issues and the basic remuneration they get, ideally speaking there must be the uniform statement in the policies and procedures of the organization for both men and women. The remuneration offered to the employees must be on the basis of works assigned to them and not on the basis of gender. Unfortunately in many organizations it is not the case.

In industrial settings male workers are paid more than female workers. As the issue is criticized in literary circles, organizations tend to attribute certain justifications with it. One of the justifications is related to the role of women played in the house management. Organizations support their action by stating that male workers are responsible for managing bread and butter for their families. They have dependants hence they need to earn high amount. On the other hand, females usually earn for themselves only and have no dependants. Hence, it is justifiable that they are paid less.

This argument is not valid on the grounds that in a society where male and females are independent and every one earns for him, females deserve to get right return for the job performed by them. Furthermore, it is important to say that there are uncountable cases in which females are responsible for upbringing of their kids. In a society where family system is weak and the number of unmarried couples is perhaps larger than that of married couples, fathers usually run away after they come to know that their girl friend is pregnant. Consequently, all responsibility is shifted to mother and she needs to work hard to earn bread and butter. In case, she gets the baby aborted she faces certain health issues which hinder her from doing the jobs which are performed by normal women.

In the light of these arguments, it is unfair to offer lesser remuneration to females as compared to male workers especially when both of them are performing the same task. Organizations should focus on the performance of employees and ignore the fact of gender while determining their pay packages. Hence bonuses and other incentives should be rewarded on the basis of performance and not the gender. There should be fair standards for monetary benefits and gender biasness should not be considered as a reason to formulate policies related to pay and packages.

Gender Biasness in Terms of Work Assigned

Another important point related to gender differences at workplace is about the roles and responsibilities assigned to both the genders. It is an interesting topic and people hold different views about it. The discussion revolves around whether females should be assigned the similar duties as men. Many experts support the view of equality while there is a big group which favors equity (Bolino and Turnley 29).

It is important to take into consideration that male employees are not equal to female employees. There are many differences which exist between them based on their gender. The first and foremost point is related to physical structure and differences which do not allow females to perform duties which are easily performed by males. In addition to tenderness in their organs, females have reproduction system hence they feel weak because of certain processes which are obstacles in the way to lift weight.

The difference in physical activities does not imply in any manner that females are inferior on the grounds of mental capabilities as well. There are many cases in which women are appointed on physical tasks only as they are not supposed to perform the duties requiring mental abilities. At times, the duties assigned to females are not suitable to them. Many of them are asked to lift weight in construction areas or help in transportation of items. Many females are… READ MORE

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