Gender Bias at workplace

Presented to-

What is gender Bias?

Unequal treatment in employment opportunity and expectations due toattitudes based on

the sex of an employee or group of employees. Gender bias can be a legitimate basis for a
lawsuit under anti-discrimination statutes.

Gender bias occurs because of personal values, perceptions and outdated, traditional views about men
and women.

Gender Bias Starts Early

As per various study it is believed that Gender bias begins as early as elementary school education--long
before entering the workforce.

The quality of teacher contacts varies between the genders. Boys receive more teacher reactions of
praise, criticism and remediation.

This early form of gender bias continues through years of education and into the workforce.

Workplace Gender Bias

In your workforce, you may observe gender bias in many different forms and degrees.

With respect to traditional jobs versus nontraditional jobs, women are often relegated to

a) Low-paying, clerical and administrative jobs.

b) Non Diversity in Training.

c) Less Acknowledgement.

d) Unequal treatment in promotion, pay, benefits and privileges

The Effects of Gender Discrimination in the Workplace

Lost Productivity

- Victims of gender discrimination lose motivation and morale necessary to perform their jobs
effectively.

- Things that may lead to this loss of morale and motivation could include jokes about an
employees gender that imply inferiority, offensive jokes of a suggestive or sexual nature and
jokes implying that an employees work is sub-par due to his or her gender.

Promotions
 - Stereotypical views regarding gender can cause supervisors to engage in the illegal practice of
passing a person over for promotion due to gender. While this can happen to both genders,
supervisors most often pass over women for promotion due to preconceived notions about their
roles and abilities.

- Supervisors may pass over qualified males for promotions in industries that employ a high
percentage of women compared to men, such as teaching positions or those industries involving
care of children.

The Effects of Gender Discrimination in the Workplace

Family Responsibilities

- Women who have young children at home may experience push-back when interviewing due to
family responsibilities. Although law prohibits a prospective employer from asking about family
responsibility outright, it often comes out during the interview process anyway.

- This may provoke the hiring manager to pass over a qualified female candidate if he feels she will
be torn between her home and job responsibilities. If the woman makes it into the position, her
supervisor can view her employee file to see that she has young children signed up on insurance
or other benefits. He then may choose to give her less responsibility or assign menial tasks to her
that do not fit her job description. Although illegal, this practice still exists in offices today.

The Effects of Gender Discrimination in the Workplace

Destruction

- Those discriminated against may feel such strong resentment and loss of self worth that they
resort to destruction as a way to get back at the discriminatory employer or coworkers.

- Destructiveness may manifest itself as physical violence against others, destruction of property
or propagation of malicious rumors about people in the company and the company itself.

How to Become Bias-Free in Your Workplace and Its Advantages

Creating a bias-free workplace takes more than just posting an equal opportunity statement on your
employment applications.

Becoming bias-free requires a truthful assessment of your workplace policies and practices to ensure you
are being fair to applicants, employees and customers.

The primary advantage is that employees feel their work environment is a safe one, free from unfair
treatment, discrimination and harassment. Other benefits include an enhanced business reputation, high
job satisfaction among employees and low exposure to legal claims arising from unfair employment
practices.

How to Become Bias-Free in Your Workplace and Its Advantages

Step 1

- List the areas in your workplace where you believe bias currently exists or areas subject to
biased attitudes of employees and supervisors.

- Assess everything from your employment practices to your customer services policies. Look at
the composition of your customer base to determine if you are offering products and services
that complement or serve the diverse needs of your customers. For example, if your retail store
is located in a diverse community, ensure you carry products that appeal to a wide range of
customers.

Step 2

- Examine your companys recruitment and selection processes.

- Review your processes from an applicants point of view.

How to Become Bias-Free in Your Workplace and Its Advantages

Step 3

- Evaluate your leadership training and employee development programs. Include training for
supervisors on how to minimize and eliminate bias in assessing employee performance.

- Hold supervisors accountable for conducting performance appraisals in as objective a manner as

possible.

Step 4

- Develop training for employees on how to prevent bias from creeping into their interactions, as
well as how to recognize and report biased behavior.

- Incorporate training on nondiscrimination laws; however, expand the definition of personal

characteristics underlying distinctions that create biased attitudes.

How to Become Bias-Free in Your Workplace and Its Advantages

Step 5

- Check your physical surroundings for working conditions that suggest employer bias based on
position or status.

- For example, maintain working conditions for front-line employees that are just as comfortable
as the working conditions for executives. If executives and high-level managers have access to
the executive dining room, provide an employee cafeteria that all employees can use.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Suggested Approach to Gender Discrimination at

Workplace
 Some Suggested initiatives employers can implement to identify and eliminate sex discrimination in
the workplace-

Anti-Discrimination Policy

Diversity Program

Education and Training

Workplace Audit

Gender Pay Gap in INDIA

As per the report of Economic times dated 20th January,15-

A survey by recruitment firm Monster India says that the median wage earned by women is 27% lower
than what men make. On an average, men earn Rs 259.80 per hour whereas their female colleagues
earn just Rs 190.50. The online survey had 35,959 respondents across age groups, industries and
organisational hierarchies. Nearly 86% of the respondents were males.

The nature of ownership of your company also decides how much you earn. Foreign owners are the best
paymasters, says the survey. Employees of companies wholly owned by foreigners earn Rs 150 more per
hour than workers of companies where foreigners have a partial stake. Workers in domestic companies
are the worst paid, earning about Rs 115 per hour less than workers in companies where foreigners have
a stake and Rs 268 per hour less than wholly foreign-owned companies.

Gender Pay Gap in Europe

Gender Pay Gap in US