GENDER DISCRIMINATION AND EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY AMONG ACADEMIC STAFF

Background to the study

According to Gregory, there are a number of reasons that contribute to gender discrimination in the workplace, including culture, prejudices, and “fear of humiliation” (2003). Our culture shapes who we are, what we do, and what we believe. One may only act in accordance with their beliefs about the ultimate goal.
In a culture where women are seen as less valuable, this idea will undoubtedly permeate the workplace. For instance, a person in the hiring authority would not select a woman to a high position if they were told that women are not eligible for them.

 

Managers that are afraid to admit that their female coworkers are capable of doing the same or even greater job than they are do so out of a “fear of embarrassment.”
When a woman comes up with an idea, for instance, at a company where it is policy to promote individuals who are inventive, the manager can reject to promote her because she might “usurp” his authority. At the workplace, gender discrimination may take many different forms. This might take the form of harassment, victimization, direct or indirect discrimination (Dipboye & Colella, 2005).

Direct discrimination occurs when individuals are directly favored or disfavored at work using criteria like salary awarding and job benefiting by preferring a specific gender. The major ways that covert discrimination is exposed are when rules are broken or when regulations are established that happen to favor one gender over another.
Workplaces are settings where harassment based on gender occurs. The greatest effect comes from this. This is because negative impacts are often those that have both emotional and psychological components. This includes sexual exploitation that occurs at work and in the workplace.

Victimization is when a person is treated unfairly by their workplace and does not apply to their opposite sex peers. One of the most prevalent forms of gender-based discrimination at work is victimization. Prejudices of a chauvinistic kind are mostly to blame.
Today, gender discrimination is a significant barrier to achieving peak performance at work. This might be seen from a variety of angles, with an emphasis on creativity and the quality of the work. The effect is significant for industrialized nations, for instance, where the economy is dominated by service-based businesses. Both sexes are taken into account when discussing gender discrimination, even though women are often the ones who experience it.

Statement of problem

In this essay, gender prejudice against women is mostly examined. In addition to violating human rights, gender discrimination also amounts to breaching the law. This essay explores this phenomena, offers an explanation for gender discrimination, discusses how it affects work performance, and offers suggestions on how to combat the problem.
In an atmosphere with gender stereotypes, women make up a large portion of the workforce. They hold roles such as the administrative and clerical among others. Due to the assumption that they prioritize their families, pregnant women and women close to giving birth are not permitted to get employment.
This exposes women to large offices with high salaries and more opportunities to advance inside the organization. The report also examines potential strategies for addressing workplace discrimination against women.

Review of the literature

By gathering information from two telecom organizations, one of which is government-owned (ufone) and the other a private multinational corporation (telenor), Qaisar, Abdul, and Aamer (2011) described gender discrimination and its impact on employee productivity, which directly impacted the organization’s profitability. They discovered a negative link between employee performance and gender discrimination in recruiting, promotion, and employee benefits. Organizations must refrain from gender discrimination in recruiting, promotion, and employee benefits in order to thrive and generate profits. Employee productivity and organizational profitability both rise in organizations with strong cultures.

Research on gender prejudice in the workplace and its effects on workers of the private and public health and education departments in the Hyderabad and Jamshoro districts was undertaken by Channar, Abbassi, and Ujan in 2011.
They discovered that the private sector discriminates against female employees more more than the public sector. Stress and gender discrimination are positively correlated, but these two factors are negatively correlated with work satisfaction, dedication, and excitement. Discrimination based on gender lowers employee happiness, motivation, dedication, and excitement while raising stress levels.

Barsha (2007) conducted study on private businesses in Pokhara using a sample of 100 ladies of various ages. They discovered that men behave favorably toward women. In structured employment, women are self-motivated and do not experience sexual harassment, gender discrimination, or the glass ceiling. The attitude of women is favorable, and they have parental support for career and professional success. Most women cite socio-cultural factors for their lack of professional advancement. Female respondents disagree that men have more talents to accomplish office job and that their work does not effect how well they function at home, and they have a higher conviction in their capacity to handle demanding tasks.

Adhikari (2014) investigated five Lucknow-based IT firms.
There is severe workplace discrimination against women since they are paid less and have fewer benefits than males, which lowers their morale and reduces their productivity. She found no discernible differences between the performance of male and female employees of either gender.

According to Swimmer (1990), promotions for female clearical personnel are discriminated against compared to those for men. Results indicate that female clerks face more challenging and unique advancement requirements than male workers.
According to Francine & Jed’s research from 2007, there is no gender difference in the rate at which female workers are promoted or given higher ranks, and there is also no difference in the compensation increases that come with promotions.

F., J., and O. (2013) carried out a research on private hospital physicians to examine the impact of gender prejudice on productivity. Descriptive and inferential statistics are used to gather and analyze both primary and secondary data. Results indicate that workers who experience gender discrimination lose motivation, which has an immediate negative impact on their productivity. Discrimination based on gender has a detrimental effect on a private hospital’s profitability.

Daniel, Adewale, Anthonia, and Olumuyiwa (2014) came to the conclusion that discrimination based on gender had a detrimental impact on employee performance. Female employees face discrimination when applying for management or higher level roles, which negatively impacts their performance.

The findings of Hersch & Viscusi (1996) show that women get more promotions than males because they are hired at lower levels, which creates more opportunity for promotions. However, promotions do not result in higher wages for women than for men.
Promotion results in greater salary growth for males.
White and visible minority women are less likely to be promoted at lower levels of organizational hierarchy, according to research by Margaret & Alison (2009), while visible minority males are likewise less likely to be promoted at lower and higher levels of organizational hierarchy.
Mustafa & Rabail (2014) performed a research in the private banking industry to look at gender prejudice in the workplace and how it affects female employees’ productivity levels.
they discovered that the employee commitment and performance were unaffected by gender discrimination.

Nick (2012) drew the conclusion from the findings that female workers in lower or intermediate position/career levels suffer more impediments to advancement than female employees in higher position.
Women working in higher positions faced additional barriers and challenges due to gender discrimination, according to Janeen & Wright’s general theory from 2000. They performed research to test this hypothesis. They could not discover any proof of the glass ceiling effect in the USA.

According to Napari & Antti (2011), men obtain greater opportunities for promotions during the first year of employment, which increases the gender gap, whereas women start their careers at lower positions and make more money than men do.
When an employer changes, male workers profit more, while internal promotions favor female employees.
Deborah (2011) found that while female employees saw higher wage increases linked to promotions, male employees were more likely to receive promotions.
Syed, Shaikh, and Herani (2010) conducted research on pay discrimination based on gender. They found that it lowers job motivation and satisfaction, which in turn lowers employee performance and organization performance and creates issues with lower level (blue-collar) workers’ retention. The findings show a significant link between gender bias and wage dissatisfaction, wages (female workers’ salaries differ from male workers’ salaries), and business productivity.

 

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