WORKPLACE INEQUALITIES 9 WORK PLACE INEQUALITIES Name of the University Author Name

WORKPLACE INEQUALITIES 9 WORK PLACE INEQUALITIES WORK PLACE INEQUALITIES Name of the Student Name of the University Author note Intersectionality refers to the sociological theory that describes several threats of discrimination against individual of different race, gender or ethnicity. Kimberle Crenshaw first introduced the term in 1991 in her famous work Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color. Intersectionality, as Crenshaw defines, refers to the different means by which gender

Running head: WORK PLACE INEQUALITIES
WORK PLACE INEQUALITIES
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Intersectionality refers to the sociological theory that describes several threats of
discrimination against individual of different race, gender or ethnicity. It is the way by which
multiple inequalities are being defined. Intersectionality happens when an individual is
advantaged in one way and disadvantaged in another way. Kimberle Crenshaw first introduced
the term in 1991 in her famous work Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics,
and Violence Against Women of Color1. In the journal, Crenshaw talks about the politicization of
violence against women. She specifically identified the violence against African-American
women. She described that Black women are discriminated at the workplace first for being a
women and then for being Black. Intersectionality, as Crenshaw defines, refers to the different
means by which gender and race interact to “shape the multiple dimensions of Black women’s
employment experiences”. According to Brah and Phoenix, intersectionality is a concept
emphasizing the various elements of social life that are inseparable2.
With the advancement in technology and science, the emergence of globalization and
new concepts in business, the human race has shown many promises. However, it still has to
develop in one particular area and that is gender equality. Women in workplaces are still being
subordinated. Many would argue that women have advanced magnificently over the past few
decades in terms of working equally with men. It is but true that although there has been a rise in
women’s participation in the economy and politics of nations, they are still perceived as weaker
and hence less deserving. Speaking about gender inequality, two types of job segregation can be
seen. The first is vertical where individuals are not appointed to higher ranks in an organization
because of race, gender or age. The second is horizontal segregation where one gender dominates
1 Crenshaw, Kimberle. "Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of
color." Stanford law review (1991): 1241-1299.
2 Brah, Avtar, and Ann Phoenix. "Ain’t IA woman? Revisiting intersectionality." Journal of International Women's
Studies 5.3 (2004): 75-86.

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the other in terms of workforce. To put it simply, horizontal segregation refers to the fact the
there are jobs where men are assumed to overpopulate women and vice versa. A good example
of horizontal segregation is men’s domination in the public sphere and women in the private
sphere. Over the years, the graph showing male workers in the public sphere and women in the
private sphere has largely remained consistent with some minor fluctuations. As per various
reports, women comprise less than 65% of workforce in the European Union and men on the
other hand comprise close to 80% of the total workforce in the public sphere. In countries like
India and other Asian nations, women are stereotyped as homemakers, not having any need to
work in public organizations.
The notion that women make great homemakers and not leaders stems from the age old
belief of men. According to the dominant gender that is male, women possess qualities that are
most suited to take care of the family and home. Sociological theories that developed overtime
further established this fact although implicitly. The sociology theorists like Max Weber, Emile
Durkheim, C Wright Mills, Erving Goffman and Michael Foucault amongst others are some
theorists who made a division in the role of gender in the society. Durkheim introduced the
‘division of labor’ in the society that all men should have equal amount of work, nowhere does
he mention the role of women. Weber too has similar notions about women.
Many studies and researches have shown that women are more effective than men are in
terms of leading an organization. According to a study conducted by Paul Gregg and Jonathan
Wadsworth, it was revealed that women are not less than men are when all the contexts of
leadership are taken into consideration3. Further, the study showed that women showed
3 Gregg, Paul, and Jonathan Wadsworth, eds. The labour market in winter: the state of working Britain. Oxford
University Press, 2011.

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significantly more effectiveness than men in terms of other aspects of leadership. Despite these
findings, women are still devalued whether in the society or in the workplace. The key reason for
this could be attributed to the perceived notion of people regarding the responsibilities of
women. In fact, even women are responsible for their current devaluation because as it has been
seen, many women in the past did not feel the need to perform any outside responsibility as they
had men to do it. In the modern workplace too, women have the ingrained bias like men that
resists them from valuing their own work.
Sigmund Freud, the famous psychoanalyst, in his theory of psychosexual development
states that women are less moral than men are in the sense that their superego was inferior and
less developed. He reasons his assumption by stating that women do not have the genitalia and
that they are envious. According to the moral development theory of Kohlberg, men are far
ahead then women in the society for the fact that they reach the stages of development in quick
time and women stay behind. These theories and assumptions made the renowned theorists have
contributed further towards shaping the ideology and overall thinking of the future generations.
Gender plays a vital role in deciding the wage of workers in almost all the organizations,
either small medium or large. McKie et al. cite the example of food retail in order to present this
gender gap in wages. According to the authors, food retail is a sector where gender segregation is
the most visible because the companies prefer part-time women workers who are paid way less
than other male workers do4. The women workers work on low wage in order to combine their
responsibilities to care and paid work. The analysis by the researchers found that shop assistants
in food retails in Scotland tend to prioritize the unpaid care work and restrict the workers to be
promoted. In recent years, women working in the film industry have raised their voice against
4 McKie, Linda, et al. "Autonomy, control and job advancement: the case of low paid women working in food
retail." Work, employment and society 23.4 (2009): 787-796.

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the unequal pay offered to them compared to the men. A case of Mark Wahlberg, the Hollywood
top rated actor being paid almost 1500 times more than his female costar Michelle Williams
brings forth the gender pay gap issue predominantly. Many film actors and others from the
industry spoke out against it. Claudia Goldin, a sociologist explains this biased attitude of people
regarding gender pay by pointing to the workplace flexibility that women seem to lack at the
time of childbirth and after5.
Gallant further provides insights into the under-representation of women in leadership at
higher education institutes. The author points out that this has become a relentless global
phenomenon. He uses the symbolic interactionism theory to reevaluate the issue6. As per the
symbolic interactionism theory, an interactive environment provides humans with the best
opportunity to express them clearly. The evaluation that involved eight women participants
brought to the surface the ambiguities in the thoughts of these women regarding leadership.
Gallant finds that only 56% of women were represented in higher education in 2013 although
only a few women represented senior posts in academic field. This study shows that women have
been molded in such a way that even they are not able to realize the discrimination. Their long
perceived notion about their position in an organization is still that of inferior or subordinate to
men.
Anitha et al. on the other hand, talk about the South Asian Women (SAW) within the
sphere of industrialization7. The authors bring forth two cases from the past – the Grunwick case
of 1976 and the Gate Gourmet case of 2005 – in order to provide a clear image of discrimination
5 Goldin, Claudia. "A grand gender convergence: Its last chapter." American Economic Review 104.4 (2014): 1091-
1119.
6 Gallant, Andrea. "Symbolic interactions and the development of women leaders in higher education." Gender,
Work & Organization 21.3 (2014): 203-216.
7 Anitha, Sundari, Ruth Pearson, and Linda McDowell. "Striking lives: multiple narratives of South Asian women’s
employment, identity and protest in the UK." Ethnicities 12.6 (2012): 754-775.

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against SAW in the UK. In 1976, majority of East African Asian ethnicity women went on a
strike against the biased representation of African Asian ethnic women at the Grunwick Film
Processing Laboratories8. In 2005, another incident in the UK resurfaced intersectionality when
South Asian Women especially women from the Punjab province of India were wrongly treated
at the Gate Gourmet company that provided meals to British Airways passengers. The women
were made to work in harsh conditions to prepare food for the BA and in addition, they were
allowed less time for break, less leaves and less pay9. The authors have highlighted the identity
crisis of SAW population in the UK especially three decades ago. They try to analyze the clash
between the diasporic identity on one hand and their identity as women on the other. This study
presents a better view of the gender inequality intersecting with the equality on grounds of
ethnicity.
Yasmin Hussain in her book titled Writing Diaspora: South Asian women, culture and
ethnicity further mentions the discrimination of individuals on grounds of ethnicity and gender10.
The author makes a point about intersectionality and its representation in the popular media. The
book mentions the plight of South Asian Women over centuries in the UK and how their voices
have been expressed through works of art. She inquires about the realization of the people
regarding the condition of women of different ethnicity presented through movies and literature.
In recent years, it has been found that ethnic and gender discrimination in the UK has
cost the country a combined loss of more than 125 billion pounds. A study by the Center for
Economics and Business Research (CEBR) found that UK loses 123 billion pounds every year
8 Bergamin, Stephan, and Markus Braun. "Integration Management as a Gateway to Performance
Transformation." Mergers and Acquisitions. Springer, Cham, 2018. 33-72.
9 Brown, Phoebe. "‘Othering’and the Persistence of Imperial Attitudes: Media Representations of Ethnicity, Gender
and Class in the Grunwick Dispute." (2018).
10 Hussain, Yasmin. Writing diaspora: South Asian women, culture and ethnicity. Routledge, 2017.

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on grounds of gender discrimination in the workplace while 2 billion pounds is lost in matters
where discrimination based on ethnicity is recorded11.
Nirmal Puwar sheds further light into the discrimination of the Black people and other
working class bodies stating that the white men in the British senior civil service occupy all the
important posts while the black senior civil servants are positioned subordinate to the white
officials12. The author highlights the role of black civil servants in understanding the somatic
norm that underlies the representation of white men. Men in today’s world are still discriminated
on grounds of their ethnicity13. The recent cases from Australia where students from the Asian
ethnicity were brutally attacked raises concerns regarding the situation of ethnic minorities
around the world. The case of UK especially after Brexit further proves this. In the U.S. as well,
cases of discrimination based on ethnicity is still prevalent. Palantir, a tech company at the
Silicon Valley in U.S. was charged 1.7 billion dollars to settle the lawsuit that alleged racial
discrimination against it. The company was found discriminating against Asian applicants who
applied for job14.
11 'Workplace Discrimination Costs UK £127Bn Per Year' (Economia.icaew.com, 2018)
<https://economia.icaew.com/en/news/february-2018/workplace-discrimination-costs-uk-127bn-per-year> accessed
29 April 2018.
12 Puwar, Nirmal. "The racialised somatic norm and the senior civil service." Sociology 35.3 (2001): 651-670.
13 Slutskaya, Natasha, et al. "Masculinity and class in the context of dirty work." Gender, Work & Organization 23.2
(2016): 165-182.
14 Sam Levin, 'Palantir To Pay $1.7M Over Accusation It Discriminates Against Asian Applicants' ( the Guardian,
2018) <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/26/palantir-racial-discrimination-lawsuit-asians-peter-
thiel> accessed 3 May 2018.

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References:
Anitha, Sundari, Ruth Pearson, and Linda McDowell. "Striking lives: multiple narratives of
South Asian women’s employment, identity and protest in the UK." Ethnicities 12.6 (2012): 754-
775.
Bergamin, Stephan, and Markus Braun. "Integration Management as a Gateway to Performance
Transformation." Mergers and Acquisitions. Springer, Cham, 2018. 33-72.
Brah, Avtar, and Ann Phoenix. "Ain’t IA woman? Revisiting intersectionality." Journal of
International Women's Studies 5.3 (2004): 75-86.
Brown, Phoebe. "‘Othering’and the Persistence of Imperial Attitudes: Media Representations of
Ethnicity, Gender and Class in the Grunwick Dispute." (2018).
Crenshaw, Kimberle. "Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence
against women of color." Stanford law review (1991): 1241-1299.
Gallant, Andrea. "Symbolic interactions and the development of women leaders in higher
education." Gender, Work & Organization 21.3 (2014): 203-216.
Goldin, Claudia. "A grand gender convergence: Its last chapter." American Economic
Review 104.4 (2014): 1091-1119.
Gregg, Paul, and Jonathan Wadsworth, eds. The labour market in winter: the state of working
Britain. Oxford University Press, 2011.
Hussain, Yasmin. Writing diaspora: South Asian women, culture and ethnicity. Routledge, 2017.

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WORKPLACE INEQUALITIES
Levin S, 'Palantir To Pay $1.7M Over Accusation It Discriminates Against Asian Applicants'
(the Guardian, 2018) <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/26/palantir-racial-
discrimination-lawsuit-asians-peter-thiel> accessed 3 May 2018
McKie, Linda, et al. "Autonomy, control and job advancement: the case of low paid women
working in food retail." Work, employment and society 23.4 (2009): 787-796.
Puwar, Nirmal. "The racialised somatic norm and the senior civil service." Sociology 35.3
(2001): 651-670.
Slutskaya, Natasha, et al. "Masculinity and class in the context of dirty work." Gender, Work &
Organization 23.2 (2016): 165-182.
'Workplace Discrimination Costs UK £127Bn Per Year' (Economia.icaew.com, 2018)
<https://economia.icaew.com/en/news/february-2018/workplace-discrimination-costs-uk-127bn-
per-year> accessed 29 April 2018