Gender Discrimination

Case Study

Introduction

Professionals often encounter difficulties in the working place, which may be connected to certain cliches and value systems spread among the workers. In this case, it is also possible to speak about gender discrimination which may occur in the working place, and which may be difficult for workers to deal with. One believes that gender discrimination is one of the worst practices which may take place at work, because it affects employees in a negative way creating tension and unhealthy atmosphere as well as making workers distracted from job since they focus on personal matters; and that is why it is essential to deal with gender discrimination and put a stop to it. The purpose of this paper is to speak about such form of discrimination and describe a practical example when an incident with male employees disrespecting a female worker took place. This description would help to analyze the problem, show its negative consequences as well as think of ways to end this problem. The paper will focus on Laura Kravitz and her job experience in a company called Madison, Jones, and Conklin, where despite the promotion and high job position, Kravitz often felt disrespected because other managers did not pay attention to her, and their behavior made Laura quit and begin a new business. Hence, this case showed how a smart and determined woman was forced to quit because of unprofessional and prejudiced behavior of coworkers, and how it affected the woman and that company afterwards.

Question a. In the beginning, it is important to state that Laura began her work in Madison, Jones and Conklin as a part of a project team, and then, thanks to her good work, was promoted and became a team leader. Nevertheless, after that, she started noticing various forms of gender discrimination toward her from senior managers. They often did not listen or paid attention to her words at meetings, did not support her ideas even when needed, and ignored many of her recommendations. Although it could look like a small thing, managers paid attention to others proposing the same ideas and giving them credit for these thoughts ignoring Laura. She also never had a mentor, and that showed managers disregard toward her career. Colleagues did not accept Laura into their social environment because of her gender. They never invited her to any social activities, and she was never able to get high-projects because male managers were given preferences in such cases. Bosses were usually finding excuses but never cared for her problems regarding gender discrimination. She also noticed that men could get a promotion faster than she did, and that was a clear sign of gender discrimination. Sadly, such discrimination still occurs a lot (Johnson, 2013).

Question b. As it was mentioned early, Laura could not deal with gender discrimination for long, and she decided to quit and start something new, which turned out to be a success. Nevertheless, she could do more in order to overcome the obstacles of gender discrimination in her working place. Firstly, she could talk to a professional in HR in the company to explain him/her situation and encourage him/her to create new norms for the company, which excluded and labeled gender discrimination as unethical and negative thing. She could also try to talk to the bosses since she did it only once and was not persuasive enough. She could have positioned gender discrimination from a business approach stating that it was affecting the companys well-being in a negative way, because the discrimination did not let talented women with fresh ideas in, and the luckiest ones who did get in could not express their ideas and be heard, which was bad for the organization in the first place (Abrams, 1989). She could also try to make bonds with other employees by herself, and she could overcome their treatment of her as well as improve it. After all, discrimination occurs so often because many employees simply do not speak about it and do not give this topic enough resonance (Finn, n.d.). That is why they would rather quit than change the situation. In Lauras case, she could insist and be more demanding from her bosses to have the problem fixed as well as cooperate with other female workers who could have had lower positions, but also felt similar discrimination. Many employees act like that uniting and gathering in order to achieve the set results (Forer, 2011).

Question c. The president could do much more in order to solve the issue of gender discrimination. There are many cases when gender discrimination occurs in the working place simply because bosses let it happen. They consider this issue not to be as important for them to intrude, or they are too conservative and old-fashioned to accept new reality in the working place. Hence, the president could have avoided being such a boss if he actually cared for Lauras problem and did something instead of merely promising and then doing nothing. One believes that president could talk to all of the managers speaking about gender discrimination and the necessity to get rid of it. He could also make a set of rules and ethical norms every employee in the company would have to follow. These rules would focus on gender discrimination as an inappropriate behavior in the working place (Leon, 2006). One can say that the president could also encourage discriminated employees to speak up in order to improve the climate in the company from within. With this analysis, one can see clearly that the president had many abilities to influence all of the employees and create an equal opportunity for both genders, but he was simply unwilling to do so. One can say that such unwillingness of bosses to cooperate and solve such issues often hurts them the most because it has a negative influence on the company.

Conclusion

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Laura Kravitzs case showed what forms gender discrimination often took place at work. It also showed possible ways for employees and bosses to deal with such problems as well as outcomes in case the issue was not treated the way it had to be. Kravits example was a good representation of careless bosses who did not pay attention to such a serious issue, which led to unhealthy atmosphere and eventual quitting of a valuable worker.

This case study made one understood a lot about human resources and discrimination in the working place. Based on the knowledge one received thanks to the analysis, one would like to recommend managers to treat the issue of gender discrimination very seriously creating a code of ethics for every employee where gender discrimination would be treated as an act that goes against the companys principles. This way, employees would be discouraged to discriminate anybody based on gender. One learned an important lesson thanks to his case study about negative consequences and losses the company carried in case it did not care and listen to employees and let them feel discriminated. Hence, one recommends managers and HR professionals to make all of the employees understand the seriousness of this issue. One also recommends all of the workers to bring this topic up in order to put an end to discrimination and encourage other workers to fight for equality.

• 9 Things Women Couldn't Do In 1913 -- And 3 Things They Can't In 2013 | HuffPost
• Fighting To End Gender Discrimination – The Forward
• Strategy to Stop Discrimination in the Workplace | Career Trend
• Workplace Discrimination: Transparency Key in Fight for Equality - ABC News

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