About Gender Discrimination
Workplace gender discrimination happens when someone is unfair at work because of another person's gender or any conditions or mindsets resulting from gender. Gender discrimination can take place against women or men, by women or men. For legal purposes, teachers or students discriminating against students based on gender is also classified as workplace gender discrimination.
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Facts
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It is illegal to give different benefits to male and female employees. There are several federal laws that ensure men and women are treated equally at work and elsewhere, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Equal Pay Act requires that men and women be given equal pay for equal work in the same workplace. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency that attempts to see that employers follow these laws.
In addition to federal agencies like the EEOC, most states have their own agencies that ensure state and federal laws against discrimination are enforced.
Identification
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Generally speaking, anytime someone is treated unfairly based on gender, gender discrimination is taking place.
Sexual harassment is one type of gender discrimination. Sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct of sexual nature.
Gender discrimination does not have to be sexual in nature. Stereotyping, unequal pay and hiring discrimination can all fall under gender discrimination.
Although gender discrimination can take place against men, one of the most common forms of gender discrimination is discriminating against pregnant women. Pregnancy and related conditions such as severe morning sickness are protected under Title VII as temporary disabilities. Employers cannot treat pregnant women any differently than they would treat other temporarily sick or disabled employees. -
Effects
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Because of gender discrimination that has occurred in the workplace over time, women and men are left with stereotypical ideals about each other and the work that each gender should be able to do. The most common term for this is the "glass ceiling," which is an artificial barrier based on stereotypes that prevents qualified women from advancing at work. Sometimes this is because an employer is more likely to put a male up for promotion than a female, but sometimes women limit themselves. For example, according to the "Psychology Help" blog, entrepreneurial women in fields such as private practice psychotherapists will statistically choose to charge less and therefore make a smaller profit than their male counterparts.
The effects of gender discrimination in the workplace go both ways. Because women are traditionally viewed as the "weaker sex," men take on industrial, labor-intensive jobs much more often. As a result, industrial work-related injuries are almost always of men. Also, on average, a man in a full-time job works 41.9 hours a week while a woman in a full time job only has to work 37.6 hours.
Misconceptions
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Treating employees unfairly based on gender is against the law, but in some cases, treating men and women differently is not. For example, discrimination against people based on their marital or parental status (mostly while hiring) is not officially illegal unless it happens to coincide with gender discrimination.
Height, weight and lifting requirements at work are perfectly legal as long as they are necessary for safe and efficient performance of work related tasks.
Even though some exceptions have been made in court, all transgender people are not currently protected under Title VII. Discrimination against transgender people is currently taken on a case-by-case basis.
In very rare cases, Title VII allows gender discrimination while hiring if gender is an essential part of the job. Casting directors who need to hire an actress as opposed to an actor for a certain role are a common example.
Solution
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If you think your rights have been violated because of your gender, the Equal Rights Advocates (ERA) suggest writing down what happened and reporting the discrimination to your employer in writing. You should know that you are entitled to view your personnel file in order to determine if you have been discriminated against. If the issue cannot be resolved, you should use your work grievance policy to file a complaint against the person who discriminated against you. Usually this is done through a human resourses department. If the dispute still cannot be solved, you can file a complaint with a government agency such as the EEOC, and file a lawsuit.
Victims of gender discrimination may be entitled to back pay, hiring, promotion, reinstatement, front pay, compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorney's fees, expert witness fees, court costs and more.
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