Report on Gender bias at the workplace

Introduction of Gender bias at the workplace

The aim of this paper is to provide brief information regarding gender bias in the workplace. The paper has discussed the examples of gender biases in the organization. In the organization, female employees have to face various issues that immerge from gender bias. The paper has not only discussed the examples of gender bias in the workplace but has also identified the ways through which gender bias can be mitigated or controlled at the workplace.

The bias that affects women performance of Gender bias at the workplace

Due to gender bias, there are different issues that women have to face in the organization. Performance bias is one of the most common biases that female workers have to face in organizations. The performance bias occurs when the organization provides more opportunities and resources to men rather than women employees. Studies have shown that women are given fewer tasks as compared to man because the organization thinks that women might unable to perform well if are given a huge amount of tasks. Another bias which the women face in the organization is regarding performance reward (Cundiff, Danube, Zawadzki, & Shields, 2017).

The employees in the organization especially female employees sometimes do not get an equal reward as compared to men. The salaries, bonuses or incentives received by male employees’ increases with a higher rate as compared to female employees. The salaries of the female employees increase but the increasing rate of salary as compared to men is lower. This clearly shows that male employees are getting more benefits than female employees. Due to such issues not only the performance of the organization get effected but also the working environment of the organization gets disturbed up to a lot of extents (J., D., & Sackett, 2015).

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The gender bias creates the issues such as glass ceiling due to which the female candidates unable to achieve higher positions in the organization. Many employers or managers does not consider female candidates suitable for the leadership roles. The top management of the organization think that leadership roles should be performed by male employees. In many organizations around the world the top positions are usually dominated by men. The organizations should allow equal opportunities so that female employees can also get career growth and can get equal pay as male employees get in the organizations they work.

Gender bias examples at the workplace of Gender bias at the workplace

There are many women who have to face gender bias in the organizations. The gender bias begins with the recruiting process of the organization. Many studies have shown that the organization recruit more man employees than women or in other words most of the corporations prefer male candidates over female candidates. It has also be seen that many corporations place job ads which target men instead of women. Sometimes the employer who place such ads does not know that their job ads are gender biased. Therefore it can be said that women have to face gender bias in the recruitment process as well

Along with biased recruitment process in has also been seen through studies that job description in many organization also contain gender bias. In the job description the words such as outspoken, confident and strong are used which clearly indicate that the organization is attracting male workers in the organization instead of female candidates.  In the research studies it has been seen that male candidates apply for such jobs were they meeting the criteria of the employer up to 60% whereas the female candidates only apply for such jobs where they are meeting the employer criteria 100%. Overall it can be said that if the employer has set strict requirement for the job than it is clear that the organization unintentionally reducing the chance of hiring female employees (Reiners, 2019).

The statistics regarding gender bias in the organizations highlight various issues which female candidates have to face. The statistics have shown that approximately 42% women in the organizations have to face gender discrimination at some point in the organization. The women and men both are likely to recruit male candidate in the organization. Up to 46% women are recruited in the organizations through blind auditions or applications. 40% of women and men have noted double standard for female employees in the organization. According to 34% of women and men male employees perform risk assessment better than female employees (Reiners, 2019). According to these statistics it can be said that the issue of gender bias persists in many organizations around the world.

As discussed earlier the recruiting process include the activities that can be consider as gender bias. The interviews are performed in the organizations before hiring the employees. In the interview such questions are asked from the candidates which can be considered as gender bias. One example of gender bias interview questions is that male candidates are asked to provide solution to the math problem in the interview tests whereas female candidates are asked to provide answer to the verbal questions. The managers or employers who are responsible for recruiting the employees ask female candidates about their future plan and responsibilities rather than technical questions related to the job. Asking such questions is not unethical but there is difference in the process of recruiting both male and female candidates. The managers who recruit the employees are also unconsciously gender biased. Most of the managers prefer male employees for the leadership responsibilities. It has been seen that hiring managers question the leadership styles of the female candidates (J., D., & Sackett, 2015).

The career development and professional growth in the organization of the female candidates get effected due to gender biases. As discussed earlier the gender bias creates the issues such as glass ceiling due to which the female candidates unable to achieve higher positions in the organization. Many employers or managers does not consider female candidates suitable for the leadership roles. The top management of the organization think that leadership roles should be performed by male employees because they have the capability and leadership skills which are necessary for such posts. Due to above discussed issues female employees have to face career development issues (Chisholm-Burns, Spivey, & Josephson, 2017).

There are many studies who have shown issue regarding the gender pay gap. The research studies have shown gender pay gap between 3% to 51%. There are many reasons which cause gender pay gap such as skills, working hours, education and job experience. The gender pay gap means that female workers are earning less than male workers. The major reason of gender pay gap are the gender biases due to which women unable to get equal pay. The women faces problems like glass ceiling in the organizations and that why they unable to achieve high earning (Reiners, 2019).

Source: (Reiners, 2019)

The benefits which the organization provide to their employees have different effect on both male and female employees. The organizations have to understand what benefits should be givin to both male and female employees. The needs and preferences of the female employees are different from male employees which should be considered by the organizations. Sometimes the organization provides the same benefits to both male and female employees due to which female employees have to face issues. Therefore it is important that the needs of the female employees should be addressed and the organization should give them benefits that actually help them in doing the job (Simons, 2011).

Source: (Reiners, 2019)

It can be said that gender bias in the organization have huge impact on the employees and their ability to perform their routine activities. The gender bias will not only reduce the performance of the female employees but also if the situation gets worse than the turnover in the organization will increase up to lot of extent. Therefore the employers should realize the issue of gender bias and take strict actions so that both male and female employees will get equal opportunities in the organization. Through this the organization can experience growth and its profitability and efficiency will increase (Wang, Chich-Jen, & Mei-Ling, 2010)

The motivation level of the employees decrease up to lot of extent when they think that the organization is not providing them equal opportunity for career development. When the motivation level of the employees decrease their performance and overall efficiency also declines as a result. The end result will be employees’ turnover and decline in the performance and profitability of the overall organization. Therefore it is important to understand by the top level management to identify the issues which are causing gender bias and establish a strategy through which gender bias in the organization can be mitigated or eliminate completely (Simons, 2011).

How gender bias can be mitigated in the organization

The first way is to collect the data of the employees regarding their performance. After that each employees should be given reward according to its performance in the organization. Through this strategy each employee will get reward based on its performance and skills in the organization. it means that whether the employees is male or female the reward is going to be given based on their efforts and performance in the organization. This strategy will mitigate gender bias in the performance reward system and all employees are going to get reward on merit (Reiners, 2019).

The organization before performing the recruiting process should identify the gender biases present in the recruiting process. In the job description the words such as outspoken, confident and strong should not be used because it clearly indicate that the organization is attracting male workers in the organization instead of female candidates. The job description of the employees should be designed in such way that it attracts both male and female employees in the organization. The employer should not set strict requirement for the job so that the organization’s unintentional chance of attracting less female employees can be reduced significantly (Reiners, 2019).

The organization can take help of the latest technologies available such as artificial intelligence and HR software for managing the employees. Through latest technologies the employees will get the reward and bonuses according to the set criterion and the issues like gender bias can be reduced. The organization should take feedback from its employees from time to time so that it can know whether its employees are facing any issue in the organization or not. If the employees are facing any issue than it is the duty of the HR department to resolve the issues of the employees and create strategy so that no such issue will ever arise in future.

Conclusion of Gender bias at the workplace

It is concluded that gender bias in the organization have huge impact on the employees and their ability to perform their routine activities. The gender bias will not only reduce the performance of the female employees but also if the situation gets worse than the turnover in the organization will increase up to lot of extent. Therefore the employers should realize the issue of gender bias and take strict actions so that both male and female employees will get equal opportunities in the organization. Through this the organization can experience growth and its profitability and efficiency will increase.

The organization before performing the recruiting process should identify the gender biases present in the recruiting process. In the job description the words such as outspoken, confident and strong should not be used because it clearly indicate that the organization is attracting male workers in the organization instead of female candidates. The job description of the employees should be designed in such way that it attracts both male and female employees in the organization. The employer should not set strict requirement for the job so that the organization’s unintentional chance of attracting less female employees can be reduced significantly.

 References of Gender bias at the workplace

Chisholm-Burns, M. A., Spivey, C. A., & Josephson, M. A. (2017). Women in leadership and the bewildering glass ceiling. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 74(5), 312–324.

Cundiff, J. L., Danube, C. L., Zawadzki, M. J., & Shields, S. A. (2017). Testing an Intervention for Recognizing and Reporting Subtle Gender Bias in Promotion and Tenure Decisions. Journal of Higher Education, 89(5), 611-636.

J., K. A., D., D. S., & Sackett, P. R. (2015). A meta-analysis of gender stereotypes and bias in experimental simulations of employment decision making. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(1), 128–161.

Reiners, B. (2019). WHAT IS GENDER BIAS IN THE WORKPLACE? Retrieved from https://builtin.com/diversity-inclusion/gender-bias-in-the-workplace

Simons, R. (Ed.). (2011). Human Resource Management: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities. CRC Press.

Wang, F.-J., Chich-Jen, S., & Mei-Ling, T. (2010). Effect of leadership style on organizational performance as viewed from human resource management strategy. African Journal of Business Management, 4(18), 3924-3936.