Gender inequality in a business world. The issue has been faced so many times by millions of women who find themselves unfairly treated. The headlines of articles such as “Women: you’ve lost out on £1.2m because of unequal pay” and “Baroness Brady: ‘The only reason to look down on other women? If you’re helping them up’” outline the need to tackle this gender gap in the business society. However, being a feminist myself, the idea of feminism in the corporate field has been misunderstood and misinterpreted.
In general terms, feminism has gone a long way from getting women the right to vote (appart from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Vatican City, Brunei, UAE, etc.) to women being able to take on jobs that are more suitable to men, due to physical abilities. Being a feminist in general terms, means to support women’s right to be able to do activities that men are able to do and get awarded for them the same way as men. That said, feminist movement has been taken over by women who mislead the society, by acting in inappropriate ways (e.g. nude protests, violance etc.). They are extremists.
When it comes to corporate environment, women are quite often percieved that way, the extrimist way, however it is rarely the case. The truth is gender inequality exists in the corporate world more than it does in general terms. Women have always been paid lower than men for the same job. Thinking from a leadership role it is understandable that women are of lower efficiency than men, as they tend to have children, needing paid months off, are more emotional than men and tend to be more understanding and not strict enough, as well as many other common traits associated with women coworkers. As a female student thriving to be successful in the business world, I start to think that the only way a female can have a successful career is by abstracting herself from any ability to feel as well as having no social or personal life, which can be distructing from the role she takes on at work.
It becomes a problem, even when looking at the most simple terms. The population curves of the LEDCs (Less Economically Developed Countries) show a wide base, meaning more children are being born, so the population keeps steady, when looking at the population curve of the MEDCs (More Economically Developed Countries) we see that the base of the pyramid is narrower, as more women work and refuse to have children (however the issue of decreasing population is not limited to this factor only). Decreasing population could lead to global issues.
In order to tackle this problem, corporations need to become more sensitive to the needs of women, in order to keep the societies healthy. There needs to be a compromise between gender in the workplace and the treatment should be according to the needs of each gender, not necessarily equal.
Other sources: http://www.wisegeek.org/in-which-countries-are-women-not-allowed-to-vote.htm