Gender Inequality in the Workplace

The assignment delves into the persistent issue of gender inequality within workplaces. It analyzes various contributing factors to the gender pay gap, including societal biases, occupational segregation, and discriminatory hiring practices. The analysis highlights the significant consequences of this pay disparity on women's economic well-being and career progression. Furthermore, it explores potential solutions and interventions aimed at addressing gender inequality and promoting a more equitable and inclusive work environment.

Running head: GENDER INEQUALITY ISSUE 0
Managing and Retaining Staff

GENDER INEQUALITY ISSUE 1
Executive Summary
Gender inequality and unequal pay are serious problems that are faced by female
employees in every industry globally. The awareness about these issues is growing between
corporations but at a considerably slower pace. Women in the workplace face serious issue
due to gender inequality such as racism, unsafe workplace environment, sexual harassment
and discrimination in promotion to senior positions. Strategic Human Resource Management
policies can be implemented by HR department to address this issue such as establishing
motivation and reward schemes, learning and development program and effective employee
relationship that can assist in sustaining companies’ future growth and reducing gender
inequality issues.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Thesis Statement........................................................................................................................3
Gender Inequality Problem........................................................................................................4
Current Situation Analysis.........................................................................................................5
Failure of HR Department..........................................................................................................5
Recommendations......................................................................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References..................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
In today’s competitive business world, human resource policies are continuously
changing, and human resource department of corporations has to formulate appropriate
policies to address these issues. This report will examine the gender inequality issue faced by
female workers around the world by evaluating the news article posted by “Human Resources
Director”. Gender inequality is a significant issue faced by female employees in modern
corporations because they did not equal remuneration for equal work as compared to male
employees (Ridgeway, 2011). Many studies and news reports have proved the discrimination
faced by women in the business industry worldwide. In Australia, female workers are
suffering from high gender pay gap because they get paid less for equal among of work than
compared to male employees (Lips, 2013). This report will examine the gender inequality
issue faced by female workers around the world and evaluate the discrimination faced by
them. This report will analyse the role of strategic human resource management in addressing
the issue of gender inequality. Further, various recommendations will be given in the report
to address this issue.
Thesis Statement
The issue of Gender inequality is faced by women worldwide that are negatively
affecting them and appropriate strategic human resource management policies can be
implemented by the organisations to address this issue.

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Gender Inequality Problem
Women employees throughout the world are facing ‘gender pay gap’ problem
because they receive less salary for similar work than compared to male employees. Women
employees also face discrimination from HR department because they did not prefer to
promote female workers at senior positions in the enterprise (Wilson & Tagg, 2010). As per a
recent report posted by Human Resources Director, the 2016-17 data provided by Workplace
Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) showed that a large number of corporations are taking
initiatives to address the issue of gender pay imbalance. WGEA’s director stated that more
than four million employees and eleven thousand employees are showing strong
improvement and awareness regarding the gender inequality issue (Hilton, 2017). However,
along with numerous advancements, the gender pay gap still exists in Australia. Currently,
there is a gender pay gap of 15.3 percent in Australia and male employees still out-earn
female workers in every sector (WGEA, 2017). The HR department of corporations
implement policies to address the issue of gender inequality, yet still, a large number of
women face discrimination at the workplace.
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) is referred as independence from
discrimination in the workplace based on race, religion, gender, or age of different
employees. In Australia, the Equal Opportunity for Women in Workplace Amendment Bill
2012 was passed by the government to provide equal opportunity to male and female
employees, and it promotes equal pay in companies (Baird, Williamson & Heron, 2012). The
HR department is responsible to effectively manage diversity in the organisation and reduce
discrimination between workers. The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace
Agency is responsible for collecting the data and formulating appropriate policies to reduce
discrimination against women in Australian companies (Strachan, 2010). The issue of gender
inequality is present in most of the countries throughout the world despite various initiatives
taken by the governments. In modern corporations, HR department implements appropriate
policies to manage diversity in the organisation and reduce the discrimination against female
workers. HR executives have failed to take appropriate initiatives to address the problem of
gender discrimination in organisations (Powell & Greenhaus, 2010). There are various
strategic HRM policies that can be implemented by companies to reduce the gender
inequality issue.

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Current Situation Analysis
Traditionally, it was considered that men go to work and women stay at home to
perform homemaking duties such as cooking, cleaning and taking care of children. But,
women have proven that they are equal to men in every measure, and they have achieved
tremendous success in every industry. Even after proving their capabilities, women
throughout the world face issue of gender inequality and discrimination. The awareness about
this issue is spreading between companies with the popularity of Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) principles (Fernandez-Feijoo, Romero & Ruiz, 2012). Both national
and international initiatives are taken by the governments to address the issue of gender
inequality in the business sector. Modern organisations also ensure that HR department
implements appropriate policies for reducing gender inequality in the corporations and
provide equal remuneration to female workers for similar work (Dezso & Ross, 2012). HR
department did not promote female employees at top-level managerial positions because they
consider them less competent than male candidates. In 2016, women held 24 percent of
senior managerial role throughout the world, but the pace is considerably slower because it
has only raised 3 percent since 2011 (Lagerberg, 2016).
Various recent incidents have proved that HR department of modern corporations has
failed to address the issue of gender inequality and unequal pay gap. For example, more than
170 female employees of BBC are taking actions against the gender pay gay in the
organisation. In BBC, most of the female workers receive less salary than compare to their
male colleagues for similar work (Kentish, 2018). Recently male actor Mark Wahlberg
received €1.5 million for reshooting his movie, whereas, female co-star Michelle Williams
was paid less than 1 percent of Wahlberg’s salary (Aodha, 2018). This proves that along with
business industry, women employees are facing gender inequality and unequal pay issue in
every sector. These incidents prove that HR department of large corporations has failed to
address the issue of gender inequality. The HR executives are requiring analysing the
situation in their enterprise and implementing strategic HRM policies to address the issue of
gender inequality and pay gap (Broadbridge, & Simpson, 2011).
Failure of HR Department
HR department of an enterprise is responsible for performing the activities of
employees’ diversity management to ensure that female workers are not discriminated in the
firm. The HR executives have failed to address employee relations challenges which increase

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the issue of gender inequality. Due to lack of strategic HRM policies, women employees face
various issues in the enterprise such as lack of safety at workplace, sexual harassment,
racism, discrimination and unequal pay (Malach, Learner & Schwartz, 2010). These
problems increase the employee turnover and attrition rates in companies which reduce their
productivity and performance. High rate of employee turnover result in increasing
recruitment cost of the enterprise which negatively affects their financial situation. Due to
gender discrimination, female workers face negative working environment which hinders
their performance. Many leading organisations such as Apple, Google, Microsoft and
Facebook implement strategic HRM policies to reduce the gender inequality in their
organisation which assist them in maintaining a positive working environment (Garcia,
2015).
Due to lack of effective HR policies, women in offices face serious issues such as
sexual harassment, racism, unsafe workplace, negative working environment and
discrimination in promotion to top-level managerial promotions. HR department hesitates to
promote women in senior managerial promotions even when they outperform their male
colleagues due to old perception that women cannot lead. Many female leaders, such as Mary
Barra (CEO of General Motors), Indra Nooyi (CEO of PepsiCo), and Sheryl Sandberg (COO
of Facebook), have proved that women can be more successful leaders than men (Financial
Express, 2017). Effective HRM policies are required to be implemented by modern
corporations to promote female employees for the senior position. After the news of Gender
pay gap, BBC has provided that female employees will fill more than 50 percent of its senior
managerial position by 2020. Other corporations should also implement initiatives to promote
women at a top-level position which will assist in reducing gender inequality and unequal pay
issue (Bertrand, Goldin & Katz, 2010). HR executives of other corporations are requiring
implementing strategic HRM policies to address the issue of gender inequality and unequal
pay.
Recommendations
Following recommendations can assist HR department to address the issue of gender
inequality and unequal pay face by female workers throughout the world and also increase
the number of senior managerial positions.

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i. HR department should establish a positive working environment in the organisation
by implementing Strategic HRM policies. Positive working environment means
establishing safe workplace regulations, reducing gender discrimination, and
effectively managing diversity in the firm (Hirsch, Schank & Schnabel, 2010).
ii. HR department can implement policies for motivation and reward for female workers
which assist them in encouraging their performance. HR executives should implement
reward programs for female workers which provide the incentives for their
performance. It will assist in reducing the female employee attrition rate in
corporations which will also increase their profitability since it will reduce
recruitment costs (Tooksoon, 2011).
iii. Effective learning and development programs should be implemented by HR
department for the development of female employees. Learning programs can assist in
improving the skills and abilities of female workers that will assist HR department in
promoting them to senior managerial positions.
iv. The HR department should also implement Strategic HRM policies for improving the
relationship with female workers. HR executive should promote the work of women
employees and provide them equal pay for equal work. Effective communication
channels between female workers and HR department can assist them analysing the
problems, and discriminations face by women in the organisation. HR executive can
take appropriate actions to address these issues which will reduce the gender
inequality in the firm.

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Conclusion
From the above observations, it can be concluded that female employees face the
issue of gender inequality and unequal pay in every industry worldwide. The awareness about
this issue is continuously growing, and HR department is promoting more women to senior
managerial roles, but the pace is considerably slow. In Australia, the gender pay gap is 15.3
percent which is considerably high, and it means that women are getting less pay for equal
amount of work. Recent incidents such as BBC gender pay gap prove that HR department of
larger corporations has also failed to address these issues. Due to gender inequality, female
workers face various issues including unsafe working environment, sexual harassment,
racism and discrimination in promotion to senior managerial positions. HR department can
implement various Strategic HRM policies such as motivation and reward facility, learning
and development program and effective employee relationship with female employees that
can assist in addressing the issue of gender inequality. Organisation should address the issue
of gender inequality and unequal pay since it increases their reputation and fulfil their
corporate social responsibilities which result in sustaining their future development.

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References
Aodha, G.N. (2018). After huge gender pay gap revealed, Mark Wahlberg donates €1.5m
reshoot salary to Time's Up. Retrieved from http://www.thejournal.ie/mark-walhberg-
gender-pay-3796830-Jan2018/
Baird, M., Williamson, S., & Heron, A. (2012). Women, work and policy settings in
Australia in 2011. Journal of Industrial Relations, 54(3), 326-343.
Bertrand, M., Goldin, C., & Katz, L. F. (2010). Dynamics of the gender gap for young
professionals in the financial and corporate sectors. American Economic Journal:
Applied Economics, 2(3), 228-55.
Broadbridge, A., & Simpson, R. (2011). 25 years on: reflecting on the past and looking to the
future in gender and management research. British Journal of Management, 22(3),
470-483.
Dezsö, C. L., & Ross, D. G. (2012). Does female representation in top management improve
firm performance? A panel data investigation. Strategic Management Journal, 33(9),
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Financial Express. (2017). Mary Barra, Sheryl Sandberg, Ruth Porat to Indra Nooyi, here
are Fortune’s 10 most successful women in business world. Retrieved from
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Garcia, A. J. (2015). Diversity Inclusion in Silicon Valley Technology
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Hilton, J. (2017). Is HR doing enough to address gender inequality?. Retrieved from
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Hirsch, B., Schank, T., & Schnabel, C. (2010). Differences in labor supply to monopsonistic
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data from Germany. Journal of Labor Economics, 28(2), 291-330.

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Kentish, B. (2018). BBC gender pay gap: 170 female employees demand apology over salary
differences and 'culture of discrimination'. Retrieved from
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/bbc-gender-pay-gap-employees-
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