Gender and Career

Gender and career- a useless relation our society still abides by-

?Vedant and Sanjana are two friends. One of them is a nurse and one- a fire fighter.

?And which of them is the nurse?

I doubt you will ever think twice before concluding.

?And India is not the only country that associates gender with certain jobs like these. You can see this discrimination even in Europe and the USA.

?We have left behind the Mediterranean era ages ago, and still this kind of stereotype is lurking in our mind set.

?The extent of this discrimination-

And this is why so many employers are preferring men while hiring. Women are often not getting equal chances in the workspace because apparently, they cost more money to the company as the organisation has to grant several additional benefits like maternity leaves and period leaves.

?This discrimination is especially high in the technology and finance sector and positions like management. People are more likely to take a job seriously if their manager is a male. Whereas a strict female manager is only termed as “bossy”.

?A study shows that if the initial finance manager assigned to a person is male in nature, the person relates the work as a “man’s job” and is more regular to pay the timely payments, even when the manager is swapped in the middle.

?Some experiments also showed that just swapping the email signature with some male colleagues without the clients knowing helped the women to close a client faster with less negotiation.

?Basically, we are not discriminating against genders. We are discriminating the jobs.

?And that is why, even the male workers are facing some issues equally. And it brings down the overall working environment.

?Studies also tell us that sectors like health and wellness, educational attainment and economic opportunity are facing average gender discrimination of 32% (as of 2017), and this number is only increasing.

But with given opportunities, women are proving their worth in all the sectors.

And likewise, men with the so-called “womanly” sectors like secretaries and medical technicians are not valued duly. And these stereotypes often decrease the quality of work of a person and how the value is perceived.

?What the science says-

But is this really scientific?

?Science portrays that some of the stereotypes are true only to some extent. Men are physically stronger than women- but only on average. So many women are much stronger than plenty of men around the world.

?This mindset is only slowing us down. We are not encouraging our girls to have a career in sports like our boys, and we are assuming that women are not strong in “STEM” fields. Also, boys with an interest in humanities cannot make up their subject of preference because people might not see them as “manly” enough.

?And just like this, we are wasting so many opportunities for growth.

What needs to be changed-?

It is really unhealthy to let these discriminations continue, especially in 2022. We should take action at every level to diminish this mindset.

• ?Personal level-

1. Every parent or family member can prepare the girl children of the home by empowering and encouraging them to have big dreams.
2. They should create a gender-neutral atmosphere at home so the children do not start to discriminate between cooking as a women's job or earning as a man's duty.
3. We often have this unconscious bias while choosing the extra-curricular activities for children, and tend to let girls join singing and dancing classes over cricket. Stay tuned to the child's own interests and act according to them.

• ?Societal level-

1. Increasing the opportunity of study and work for women.
2. Idolising and creating more role models of women excelling in their careers.
3. Promoting women empowerment through gender-neutral stories and movies.
4. Organising scholarships and other rewards for women taking their education more seriously.

• ?Corporate level-

Eliminating the gender biases also helps increase the revenue for the organisation. The authorities can make this changes to help all their employees get equal chances -

1. Implementing a gender-neutral hiring process.
2. Organising workshops to deal with unconscious biases.
3. Flexible working hours and de-stigmatising take a break for personal issues for both men and women.
4. Review salaries and boost transparency for equal pay and other benefits.
5. Have strict policies on sexual harrassment and take quick actions when an incident is reported.
6. Implementing meritocracy. Encouraging more female workers to take up managerial positions.

• National level-

1. Promote gender equality through campaigns like "Beti bachao, beti padhao."
2. Build more schools and other conveniences targeted for girls so they can get enough opportunities.
3. Implement relevant restrictions and surveillance systems so women feel safe to come home late at night and put all their concentration on the work.

A better future-

It's 2022 and a high time we should focus on leveraging all human resources to take the journey of the human race to even a greater height.

And the key to doing that is taking help from all kinds of talents and encouraging everyone to pursue the courses most aligned with them, regardless of their gender.

?Let me know your thoughts in the comment section.?