HRM Report: Strategic Solutions for Gender Inequality at CQU

This report examines the critical issue of gender inequality in the workplace, focusing on the gender pay gap, discrimination, and the role of Human Resource Management (HRM) in addressing these challenges. It analyzes the causes of gender inequality, including workplace discrimination, l...Read More

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Managing Human Resource
Gender inequality issues

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Executive Summary
Gender difference occurs in many aspects of person’s life whether it is occupation, family and
economy. However, people are now aware about these issues but awareness at a slow pace.
There are number of reasons such as racism, sexual harassment, unsafe workplace environment
and discrimination which have become the cause of serious issues for women. HR department
has the solution of this issue as strategic human resource management policies can be executed
by them. These policies can include motivation and rewards scheme, learning and development
program and employee relationship.

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Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Thesis Statement..............................................................................................................................4
Recognition of the problem.............................................................................................................5
Cause of the issues...........................................................................................................................7
Inability of the HR department towards the issues..........................................................................9
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
The policies of human resource are constantly changing and it is required for the human resource
department to implement appropriate policies to address the issues. The report will observe the
issue of gender inequality suffered by female workers around the world and this report will be
prepared by evaluating the news article posted by John Hilton. It has been found that it is the
major issues in corporation as females are not getting same position and remuneration as
compared to male employees. The issue of gender inequality has been proved by number of
studies and news report in the business industry worldwide. It has been found that the female
workers of Australia are facing the issue of gender inequality as they are paid lower
remuneration in comparison of male workers (Lengnick-Hall, Lengnick-Hall, Andrade & Drake,
2009). The report will evaluate the role of the strategic human resource management in the
context of improving the condition gender inequality. Moreover, recommendations will be given
in the assignment in the context of gender inequality and unequal pay.
Thesis Statement
Gender inequality is a huge issue in the workplace where women are being treated unfairly in the
way that they are paid and it involves workplace discrimination, pay gaps, domestic violence and
financial issues.

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Recognition of the problem
Gender inequality problem is the major issue which increase the demotivation in among
employees. Female workers are facing issue of ‘gender pay gap’ for similar tasks. Discrimination
is also the issue which is faced by the female workers as they are not allowed to promote at
senior level position (Lips, 2013). It has been found from the released data by the Workplace
Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) that various organizations are focused towards this issue and
implement the strategy address the issue of gender pay imbalance. It has been stated by director
of WGEA that more than 11,000 employees have become aware about the gender inequality
issues and took initiative to bring the change in the organization by removing the gender
inequality (WGEA, 2017).
Gender equality and women’s empowerment strategy has been focused by the Australian
Government which brings the three priorities that will be helpful to guide on gender equality.
These three priorities are enhancing, promoting and ending violence. Equal Employment
Opportunity is defined as freedom from discrimination at the workplace based on colour,
inequality in gender, racism, religion and age (Jackson, Schuler & Jiang, 2014). It has been
analyzed that in Australia, the government has passed the bill of Equal Employment Opportunity
to maintain the balance of work by providing equal opportunity to men and women which is able
to promote the equal pay in the companies (Baird, Williamson & Heron, 2012). It is the
responsibility of the HR department to manage the diversity at the workplace because diversity
brings the new ideas for accomplishing the task of the company. Equal Employment Opportunity
is liable to gather the data and implement the strategies to reduce the discrimination at the
workplace. The issue of gender inequality has become the major issue and still woman are seen

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as the weaker sex who unable to handle workload and stress in a work environment as well as
men. Various initiatives has been taken by the Australian Government but HR department of the
company is unable to follow the policies which being the cause of maintaining the issue of
gender inequality (Bertrand, Goldin & Katz, 2010).

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Cause of the issues
Gender inequality is the key issue but another issue is that female employees are not given senior
level position enough in the organization. Along with that there are number of issue such as lack
of rights, workplace discrimination, pay gaps, financial issues and gender stereotypes. It has been
found that financial opportunities are given to men commonly in comparison of women.
Furthermore, the rights of women are generally influenced by men due to the gender inequality.
Social issues is generally associated with gender inequality and women are considered to be
weaker physically and psychology (Dorius & Firebaugh, 2010). As consequences, women have
become the victims of domestic violence. The role of Corporate Social Responsibility is integral
to spread the awareness about the issues between the companies. It is the belief of modern
organization that HR department is liable to reduce the discrimination between the employees
and provide equal opportunity and pay scale to men and women (Wilson & Tagg, 2010). It has
been found that HR department did not give proper attention towards the development of female
and ignored them to promote at high position because they consider them less competent than
men. The position of women at managerial level is held not more than 24 percent throughout the
world which is quiet lower (Broadbridge & Simpson, 2011).
There are number of causes of the gender pay gap such as bias in pay decision and hiring.
Another cause can be deemed as the lack of workplace flexibility (Hook, 2010). For instance, it
has been found that the female employees are getting less salary in comparison of male
employees at most job levels within Google.

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Figure 1: the pay disparity at Google
Source: (Wakabayashi, D., (2017).
It has been found that gender pay gap is done in all jobs and women are not getting what they
deserve. However, they do similar work but they get less pay in comparison of men. Here, some
examples of various occupations with male and female income are mentioned below which is
quiet enough to describe the condition of the female’s income in various occupation in all over
the world.

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Figure 2: Gender Pay Gap
Source: (Irvine, 2016).
It shows that not even in business industry, gender inequality issues can be found in every sector
where women are getting less income. It can be concluded that the HR department of large
organization are failed to maintain the gender equality within the organization and it is required
for them to implement the strategic human resource policy within the organization to reduce the
discrimination at workplace (Purce, 2014).
Inability of the HR department towards the issues
It is the responsibility of the HR department to maintain the gender equality within the
organization and to ensure that every employee should be treated in same manner. The employee
relation are not maintained by the HR executives in the organization which being the cause of
discrimination and gender inequality (Cania, 2014). Gender inequality brings the so many issues
in the company such as racism, lack of safety at workplace, discrimination, sexual harassment
and unequal pay. These issues are liable to reduce the productivity of the employee and increase
the attrition rates in the company which impact the image of the company in front of outsiders
(Klasen & Lamanna, 2009). The financial situation of the company can be affected adversely due
to huge range of employee turnover which may enhance the recruitment cost of the company.
Along with that discrimination is the foremost cause of decreasing the productivity of the female
employee who face this issue. Strategic HRM policies should be implemented in the organization
to not get affected due to discrimination. Many reputed companies have taken initiative towards
reducing the discrimination such as Apple, Google and Toyota. These companies are focused

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towards making positive environment at workplace by implementing the strategic HRM polices
(Cascio, 2018).
HRM polices have the integral role in the success of the organization as it develops the
equality between employees and due to lack of it many employees have to face the serious issues
such as discrimination, inequality, unsafe workplace and negative working environment. It has
been found that HR department of the company are ignoring women to get promoted in senior
level due to fear that women cannot continue the job due to household responsibilities even when
they outperform their male colleagues. There are number of female workers who have reached at
top level in different companies such as Ginny Rometty (CEO of IBM), Lynn Good (Chief
Executive Officer of Duke Energy), Beth E. Mooney (CEO of KeyBank) and Susan Wojcicki
(CEO of YouTube). These examples are shown that after having the responsibilities of family,
women can approach the higher position in the company and handle the every situation if she
gets opportunity to prove herself (Lagerberg, 2016).
Recommendations
There are some recommendations which would be helpful for the HR department to address the
issue of inequality unequal pay of female workers. Female employees are also eligible to attain
the growth in the company and it can be easy if they get effective assurance from HR
department.
 HR department need to implement the strategic HR polices for creating the positive
environment at the workplace so that the female workers of the company can enhance
their productivity towards accomplishing the task.

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 Motivation is the key of success and motivated employees are more enthusiastic than
unmotivated people and can do perform in well manner. HR department of the company
should conduct the rewards and recognition program to motivate the female employees.
This strategy will be helpful to reduce the attrition rate in the business.
 Training and development program should be arranged by HR department for employees
and make sure that in training there should not discrimination regarding gender equality.
Training and development program will assist female employees to understand the
working scenario and increase their confidence towards working.
 The strategy of Equal Pay Act should be involved in the company so that the issue of
unequal pay can be reduced. HR department should be substantially similar and maintain
the policy of equal pay act for them who are working in similar position at same place
otherwise it will reduce the productivity of the employee and increase the rate of female
workers attrition which enhances the recruitment cost.
 Strategic HRM policies are helpful to create the firm boding between female workers.
HR of the companies should provide the various communication channel to the female
workers where they can say about the issues from which they are suffering and resolve
the issues of them as soon as possible. HR should encourage the female employees by
analyzing their activity on daily basis and asking them about the problems while
performing the task.

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Conclusion
In the limelight of above discussion, it has been concluded that the role of human resource
management in the company is vital as it increase the productivity of the employees and reduce
the gender inequality by providing them equal opportunity for growth. It has been analyzed that
the gender inequality issue is the biggest issue in all over the world and the awareness about this
concern is constantly spreading. HR department has become more aware about this concern and
provide the equal opportunity to the male and females. There are numerous successful ladies in
all over the world who have spouse and children but they are very ambitious and dedicated
towards their work and get the position of CEO. Gender inequality can be reduced by
implementing the strategic HRM policies such as reward and recognition program, training and
development program and efficient employee relationship with female employees.

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References
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.
Cania, L. (2014). The impact of strategic human resource management on organizational
performance. Economia. Seria Management, 17(2), 373-383.
Cascio, W. (2018). Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill Education.
Dorius, S. F., & Firebaugh, G. (2010). Trends in global gender inequality. Social Forces, 88(5),
1941-1968.
Hook, J. L. (2010). Gender inequality in the welfare state: Sex segregation in housework, 1965–
2003. American journal of sociology, 115(5), 1480-1523.
Irvine, J. (2016). Australia's top 10 jobs with the biggest gender pay gap revealed. Retrieved on
7th February 2018, from: .
Jackson, S. E., Schuler, R. S., & Jiang, K. (2014). An aspirational framework for strategic human
resource management. The Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), 1-56.

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Klasen, S., & Lamanna, F. (2009). The impact of gender inequality in education and employment
on economic growth: new evidence for a panel of countries. Feminist economics, 15(3),
91-132.
Lagerberg, F. (2016).Women in business: turning promise into practice. Retrieved from
https://www.grantthornton.global/en/insights/articles/women-in-business-2016/
Lengnick-Hall, M. L., Lengnick-Hall, C. A., Andrade, L. S., & Drake, B. (2009). Strategic
human resource management: The evolution of the field. Human resource management
review, 19(2), 64-85.
Lips, H. M. (2013). The gender pay gap: Challenging the rationalizations. Perceived equity,
discrimination, and the limits of human capital models. Sex Roles, 68(3-4), 169-185.
Purce, J. (2014). The impact of corporate strategy on human resource management. New
Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals), 67.
Wakabayashi, D., (2017). At Google, Employee-Led Effort Finds Men Are Paid More Than
Women. Retrieved on 7th February 2018, from: .
Wilson, F., & Tagg, S. (2010). Social constructionism and personal constructivism: Getting the
business owner's view on the role of sex and gender. International Journal of Gender and
Entrepreneurship, 2(1), 68-82.
WGEA. (2017). Equal Pay Day. Retrieved on 7th February 2018 from
https://www.wgea.gov.au/media-releases/equal-pay-day-4-september-2017

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