Gender Inequality and Unequal Pay: Impact on Female Workers and HR Policies

This report analyzes the issue of gender inequality and unequal pay faced by female workers globally and evaluates the role of strategic human resource management in addressing the issue. It also provides recommendations for HR policies to minimize gender inequality.

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Managing Human resources

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Executive Summary
Gender inequality and unequal pay to the employees are the major problems that are
faced by the female workers of the organization worldwide. The awareness about these problems
is enhancing between different companies. Women in the organization have to face many
problems due to the gender inequality like the unsafe environment and also discrimination in the
promotion to senior positions.
Policies of the Strategic human resource management are implemented by the
department of human resource management so that the problems can be considered like
motivation factor and learning and development programs so that the companies can sustain in
the growth and can minimize the inequality issues.

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary.....................................................................................................................................2
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................4
Thesis statement.........................................................................................................................................5
Gender inequality issue...............................................................................................................................5
Equal opportunities.................................................................................................................................6
Current Situation evaluation.......................................................................................................................6
Failure of human resource department......................................................................................................7
Human resource policies.........................................................................................................................7
Recommendations.......................................................................................................................................8
Learning and development......................................................................................................................8
Strategic human resource policies...........................................................................................................8
Proper communication............................................................................................................................8
Motivation and reward policies...............................................................................................................9
Positive environment...............................................................................................................................9
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................9
References.................................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
News Story 2 – Is HR doing enough to address gender inequality?
In the recent scenario, the policies of human resource are changing and it is important for
the companies to formulate proper policies so that the issues can be considered properly. In this
report, the issue of gender inequality that is faced by female workers globally will be considered
by analyzing the news article posted by the Australian Human Resource Ditectors (Hitton,2017).
Gender inequality is a major problem that is faced by the female employees in the organization
as they do not get equal wages for the equal work done by them in comparison to the male
employees of the organization. There are many reports that have given evidence of the
discrimination that is faced by the female employees in the organization.
In Australia, the females employees face the problem of high gender pay gap just
because they get low wages for the work done by them. This report will give emphasis on
gender inequality problem faced by the women of the organization and also evaluate the
discrimination faced by all the women. The report will also evaluate the role of strategic human
resource management in considering the issue of gender inequality. There are many
recommendations that will be elaborated in this report to consider this issue in a proper manner .

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Thesis statement
The issue of Gender inequality is faced by female women globally that gives negative
impact on them and also policies of human resource management can be implemented by the
companies' so that this issue can be considered (Baird, Williamson and Heron, 2012).
Gender inequality issue
Female employees in the world face the problem of "gender pay gap" issue as they get
less salary for the same work done by them as compared to the male employees. From the human
resource department, it is seen that the female employees of an organization face problems as the
companies do not provide proper assistance to the female employees who are on top position
(Hirsch, Schank & Schnabel, 2010).
According to the directors of many companies, it is evaluated that there are many
workers who are giving focus on proper improvement and awareness related to the issue of
gender inequality. It is seen that there are many benefits still in Australia then also gender pay
exists. The male employees of the organization learn more than the female who is doing the
same work. The human resource department tries to implement the policies so that the issues can
be considered as there are many female workers who are facing discrimination in the
organization (Bleidorn, Arslan, Denissen, Rentfrow, Gebauer, Potter & Gosling, 2016).
It is also essential to take into consideration equal employment opportunity so that the
discrimination cannot take place in the organization. Discrimination will be based on gender,
age, race, and religion. It is also analyzed that in 2012 bill was passed by the government if
Australia related to the equal opportunity for women. In this, it is stated that equal opportunities
will be given to the female employees so that the company can easily retain the employees. It
also helps to promote equal pay in the organizations. Diversity should be managed so that the
discrimination cannot take place in an organization. Managing the diversity is the responsibility
is of human resource department (Coates, 2015).
Equal opportunities
The equal opportunity for a female in the workplace agency is responsible to gather the
information and implement the policies so that discrimination can be reduced against the
Australian companies who are against female. It is also evaluated that the problem of gender

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inequality is present in many companies globally , though there are many initiatives that are
taken by the governments to control the issue. In modern companies, the human resource
department tries to implement the strategies related to a human resource so that the
discrimination can be managed against the female employees.
The executives of the human resource have failed to consider corrective steps so that the
problems can be considered of the discrimination taking place in the companies. There are many
strategic human resource policies that are important to implement so that the inequality related to
female can be reduced in a proper manner (Card, Cardoso, & Kline, 2015).
Current Situation evaluation
Earlier it is seen that women stay home and are involved in doing household activities
and men go to work. But in the recent scenario, it is seen that the women have proved that they
can do work as compared to men and also there are many women who have attained success.
Women proved the capability of themselves that they can also do same activities that the men do.
The gender inequality is the issue that is spread between the companies by taking into
consideration corporate social responsibility. The government has taken many initiatives so that
this issue can be raised in different organizations (Ingalhalikar, Smith, Parker, Satterthwaite,
Elliott, Ruparel & Verma, 2014). There are many companies who ensure that human resource
department should implement the policies so that gender inequality can be reduced and equal pay
is given to the women of the organizations.
It is seen that human resource department does not promote the women employees at the
top positions because they consider that they are not capable to conduct the activities of top
management. There are many fewer females who have attained good position in the organization
just because of the mindset of the people that women are not capable to conduct the activities
(Broadbridge & Simpson, 2011).
There are many recent problems that are considered in the companies and also the issues
are not considered. There are female women's who received a low salary as compared to the
male employees who are doing the same job (Wilson & Tagg, 2010). This states that there are
many women's who face issue related to gender inequality. There are many organizations who
have not considered the issue of gender inequality. The human resource executives analyze the

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situation of the organization so that proper human resource management policies can be
implemented and the issue related to gender inequality can be addressed. It is important for the
companies to minimize the issue related to pay and gender inequality (Voyer & Voyer, 2014).
Failure of human resource department
Human resource department plays an important role to conduct the activities of the
organization. The diversity related to the employees also helps to ensure that the discrimination o
does not take place between the employees of the organization. There are many human resource
managers who failed to consider the employee relation challenges that enhanced the issue of
gender inequality (Lai, Lombardo, Auyeung, Chakrabarti & Baron-Cohen, 2015).
Just because of the lack of strategic human resource policies the female employees of the
organization face various problems in the organization like unequal pay, a security issue in the
organization and discrimination between male and female employees. These issues enhance the
turnover of the employees in the organizations that give negative impact on the overall
productivity and performance of the organization (Dezsö & Ross, 2012). The rate of employee
turnover increases and it enhances the cost of recruitment of the organization that gives negative
impact on the overall financial position of the company. There are many organizations like apple
and google who consider the human resource management policies so that the gender inequality
can be minimized and proper help is given to the employees to create a positive environment.
Just because of gender discrimination there are many women employees who face the problem
and create a negative environment that affect the performance of the employees who are
conducting their day to day activities (Hilton, 2017).
Human resource policies
If proper human resource policies are not considered then it is evaluated that negative
impact is given on the overall outcome of the organization. Women face issues like negative
work environment and unsafe workplace (Meyers‐Levy & Loken, 2015). Human resource
department hesitates to motivate the women and also it is seen that negative impact is seen at the
time of promotion. Proper human resource policies are necessary as it helps the companies to
achieve overall goals and objectives in an effective manner. Proper human resource policies are

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essential to be implemented in the companies so that female employee can be promoted to the
top management.
There are many female leaders like Ginni Rometty (IBM) and Safra Catz of Oracle have
proved that female can also lead the company as the same way men do. Also, there are many
organizations who try tries to implement the human resource policies so that the female can be
promoted to the top management and gender inequality can be reduced. Human resource should
be implemented in the organization as it helps to consider the issue of gender inequality and
unequal pay (Strachan, 2010).
Recommendations
These are the recommendations that can help human resource department to consider the
issues related to gender inequality and unequal pay given to the female employees. The
recommendations are:
Learning and development
There should be proper learning and development programs so that human resource
policies can be implemented for the development of female workers. The learning programs can
help in enhancing the skills and abilities of the female workers so that human resource
department can promote the female on senior managerial positions.
Strategic human resource policies
The human resource department should try to implement the strategic human resource
policies so that the relations between the employees can be improved with the women who are
working in the organization.
Proper communication
Human resource executives should try to promote the work of the female workers so that
equal pay can be given to the employees of the organization. Proper communication channels
should also be maintained so that human resource department can help them to evaluate the
issues faced by women employees of the organization and can also minimize the gender
inequality issue of the company (Ridgeway, 2011).

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Motivation and reward policies
Motivation and reward policies should also be implemented so that the female employees
can be encouraged to give their best towards the activities assigned to them. Human resource
executives should consider the reward programs so that the female employees can also earn
incentives and can be retained in the organization for a long time. It will help the female
employees to reduce the gender inequality rate in the organization which will assist to enhance
the profitability since the cost of the recruitment is less.
Positive environment
The positive environment should also be created in the organization so that the female
workers can implement the human resource policies in a proper manner. Positive working
environment means that the employees feel comfortable to conduct the activities of the
organization and also establish workplace diversity in the company (Malach Pines, Lerner,
Schwartz, 2010).
Conclusion
By analyzing the report it is concluded that the female employees of the organization face
the problem of gender inequality and also unequal pay in every organization. It is important to
control these issues as it helps to grow and promote women for top management. Just because of
gender inequality the women face problems by considering the unsafe working environment,
negative working environment and also discrimination in promoting the female workers on top
management.
Human resource department can easily implement the human resource policies like
motivation and give rewards and incentives to the employees based on the overall performance
of the workers that helps to minimize the issue of gender inequality. The companies should try to
consider the issues of gender inequality and unequal pay so that the image of the company can be
enhanced and the social responsibilities of the company can be considered for achieving the
success of the company. Proper human resource strategies help companies to achieve overall
strategies in an effective manner.

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