Category: Diverse Reads

Recently, for my English class, we had to write a research paper on a topic we were passionate about. I decided to write about women’s rights, more specifically women’s rights in the workplace.

Women in the Workplace

64% of women in the workplace face discrimination and deal with microaggressions every day. With no enforced laws by the government, gender becomes an obstacle and makes it harder for women to thrive in their jobs. Gender discrimination is not a new thing, especially in the workplace, where women are often seen as “less”. They are asked to prove their position more often and are frequently mistaken for having lower level jobs. People might point out how, in the past, women have been known for having the “home” jobs. While it’s true that in history, women have often been confined to their homes, they forget that if we never strayed from the past, we would still be years behind modern society as it is today. While the government has certain gender equality laws in place, they often don’t enforce them, meaning they are useless. The government should enforce their old gender equality laws and create new ones because of the parental leave rules, the pay gap between genders and women being overlooked in the chance to move up in the work hierarchy.

One reason why the government should enforce their laws is because of the parental leave rules. The United States is populous, powerful, and considered to be a global superpower. Yet, women still don’t have the right to take paid maternity leave. As of 2020, the United States was the only wealthy country in the world that didn’t offer paid parental leave and that hasn’t changed. While the US as a whole doesn’t offer paid parental leave, 9 states and the District of Columbia do. These states are California, Connecticut, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Washington, and Oregon, along with Washington D.C.. According to each states’ government, new parents are guaranteed (on average) 12 weeks of paid leave. While that is a step up from the US as a whole, many other countries’ governments are fairer with their policies.

In countries like Canada, Estonia, and Russia, parents are guaranteed a year or more of paid leave. According to the World Policy Center, most of Europe gives anywhere from 26-52 weeks of paid leave.  Additionally, in Africa, parents get anywhere from less than 14-25.9 weeks with guaranteed paid leave. Depending on the country, in South America, parents are guaranteed less than 14-51.9 weeks. Asia varies greatly, with anywhere from less than 14 weeks to more than 52 weeks. Oceania gives either no paid leave or 14-25.9 weeks of paid parental leave.

Another reason the government should create new equality laws is because of the pay gap between genders. As of 2022, women earn 80% of what men do. While this might not originally seem like a big difference, the year-round salary a woman earns is drastically different than her male counterpart. In 2018, a full-time, year-round woman worker made $10,194 less than her male counterpart. Research by the Pew Research Center done in 2021, based on how much the average man and woman made, shows that it would take 42 days of work for a woman to earn a man’s salary. Emma Watson, at the UN, said, “Because the reality is that if we do nothing, it will take seventy-five years, or for me to be nearly 100, before women can expect to be paid the same as men for the same work.” As stated by the UN Secretary General, the latest research shows that it’ll take 257 years to close the gap between what men and women get paid. 

A final reason the government should enforce their old equality laws and create new ones is because of the low chance of women getting promoted. For every 4 men that get promoted to CEO, only 1 woman earns that same promotion. The same “equality” is also shown for managers. For every 4 men, only 2 women are promoted to the role of manager. Because of this, only 20% of women in the workplace ever reach the rank of CEO. Research conducted by Professor Kelly Shue shows that the higher the job type was, the less and less women there were to be found. In a specific retail company, the bottom level started out with 56% women employees. As the corporate ladder climbs higher though, women start to disappear. In the example of the retail company, it starts out at 56%, but as it climbs higher, it decreases to 48%, 35%, and at the highest level, 14%. This means there is a 75% decrease in the amount of women employees  from the bottom level to the top level. 

With all these facts, it might not seem like the United States is really doing anything to combat gender discrimination, but this isn’t exactly true. In the Civil Rights Act, Title VII prohibits descrimination based on gender. Even if state or local laws have different views on the matter, Title VII still stands. The US also passed an Equal Pay Act in 1963. This act requires employers to pay all their employees the same amount of money for the same amount of work. While these acts and laws sound perfect and exactly like what we need, the government hasn’t made any moves to enforce them. If these laws were enforced, they could make a major difference in the way women flourish at work.

As a result of all of this, gender discrimination is still very an active enemy. In the US, most states don’t allow for parents to take paid parental leave and this is true for a few countries outside the United States too. Women earn around 80% of what men earn and this 20% shortage can lead to almost $10,000 slipping away. Lastly, women are often overlooked when promotions come around and this shows in the amount of women in each level. To stop gender discrimination from becoming an obstacle in the workplace, the government should enforce their old gender equality laws and impose new ones as well.

What is a topic you’re passionate about?