Gender Discrimination in the Workplace
What is gender discrimination in the workplace? This takes place in different forms, but in simple words, it means an employee or a job applicant is treated differently because of their gender.
What is gender discrimination in the workplace? This takes place in different forms, but in simple words, it means an employee or a job applicant is treated differently because of their gender. Women make up to about 49.2% of our population while only around 24% of women are employed. The male employment rate is 82.5%.
It is clear that there is a huge problem of gender discrimination in workplaces in Pakistan; it is incredible to see that to this day there are many organizations in Pakistan that still do not hire women. When protested against, their solution is to post job opportunities for women but end up hiring men only.
When I started researching why this still exists, I realized that this actually dates back to when girls are born and how they are raised. They are raised differently than men; they have to fight for their rights more than men and most of the time when not given equal rights, women give up. This stays with them when they join work and don’t stand up for what is right.
This mentality topples over to organizations where the higher management says we don’t hire women because they have problems with staying late or once it’s their age to get married, they leave the job. What they do not realize is that women tend to stay longer in jobs where they think they are being valued.
This kind of gender discrimination is not something that is intentional, but something that we need to teach and change about our society.
Women need to realize that standing up to our patriarchal society and asking for the same rights as men is not something that is looked down upon, but something that is your right. A right to equal pay, a right to equal opportunities, and the right to be not just as successful but even more successful than men.
In Pakistan, while women have the right to vote and the awareness regarding the importance of education has increased, there are still no such laws of equal pay or equal hiring in organizations based purely on experience and working abilities. There is also no ratio that is defined in organizations of what percentage of women to men ratio there should be. Laws should be enforced within organizations in order to create a neutral workplace.
By Iman Afridi
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