Regulating Workplace Gender Demographics
by Alejandra Moreno
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, women have made up half of the workers in the labor force since 2010. However, women are still highly underrepresented in top management positions for some unexplained reason. Prejudice of this sort can be seen throughout the United States workforce, like in: Fortune 500 companies where only 12 women held executive positions in 2011, Executive Government since not a single woman has been President, Congress since in 2011 women only held 17 Senate seats out of 100 and 92 out of 435 House seats, U.S. law firms since in 2010 women made up only 19.5% of partners and 11% of the biggest law firms did not have women in their governing committee, and the science and engineering employment sectors since men outnumbered women 73% vs. 27% as of 2009 (Ferro, 2012). A new policy, in which all businesses are required to encourage and coach women into applying to higher working positions, should be enforced to level out gender demographics in top management positions.
The enforcement of this new policy would push businesses into creating seminars to increase women’s drive to move up the ladder, coach women and give them the proper guidance to increase in rank, and to implement policies of their own to ease women’s balance of family matters and work. This policy would require businesses to hold at least one inspirational
seminar and two coaching sessions per year, in which all female employees are required to attend and the meeting instructors are trained professionals that meet the proper standards set by the government. At the end of each year, all female employees would then answer a small survey to verify that the companies did in fact comply with these requirements and give input on how to improve the sessions. In addition, the policy would encourage companies to be more understanding of women’s family responsibilities so they will offer more flexible schedules.
Since some people might object to this new policy because they might interpret it as preferential treatment for women, the government should make it clear that it is actually not. This policy is a way of increasing women’s morale and drive to strive for better jobs since in previous years they have been grounded by the glass ceiling and discrimination. It would let women know that the discriminatory notions of past decades are gone and society welcomes them to thrive just as men in the workplace.
“An understanding of the full range of factors that underlie women’s decisions to accept promotion to board level or not, as well as of the factors already known to hold some aspiring women back, may provide valuable insights into the dynamics at play within the workplace” (Broughton, 2009). This policy would focus on understanding what holds women back from pursuing higher positions, which is crucial to helping encourage them. By the implementation of this policy, female demographics in top management positions should increase over the next few years. This would be the next step towards becoming an egalitarian society.
References
Ferro, L. (2012, March 19). Gender Inequality in the U.S. Today. Trust Women. [Web blog]. Retrieved from
http://www.trustwomenpac.org/2012/03/gender-inequality-in-the-u-s-today
Broughton A. M. L. (2009, March). Encouraging Women into Senior Management Positions How Coaching Can Help. IES. Retrieved from http://www.employment-studies.co.uk/pubs/summary.php?id=462
by Alejandra Moreno
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, women have made up half of the workers in the labor force since 2010. However, women are still highly underrepresented in top management positions for some unexplained reason. Prejudice of this sort can be seen throughout the United States workforce, like in: Fortune 500 companies where only 12 women held executive positions in 2011, Executive Government since not a single woman has been President, Congress since in 2011 women only held 17 Senate seats out of 100 and 92 out of 435 House seats, U.S. law firms since in 2010 women made up only 19.5% of partners and 11% of the biggest law firms did not have women in their governing committee, and the science and engineering employment sectors since men outnumbered women 73% vs. 27% as of 2009 (Ferro, 2012). A new policy, in which all businesses are required to encourage and coach women into applying to higher working positions, should be enforced to level out gender demographics in top management positions.
The enforcement of this new policy would push businesses into creating seminars to increase women’s drive to move up the ladder, coach women and give them the proper guidance to increase in rank, and to implement policies of their own to ease women’s balance of family matters and work. This policy would require businesses to hold at least one inspirational
seminar and two coaching sessions per year, in which all female employees are required to attend and the meeting instructors are trained professionals that meet the proper standards set by the government. At the end of each year, all female employees would then answer a small survey to verify that the companies did in fact comply with these requirements and give input on how to improve the sessions. In addition, the policy would encourage companies to be more understanding of women’s family responsibilities so they will offer more flexible schedules.
Since some people might object to this new policy because they might interpret it as preferential treatment for women, the government should make it clear that it is actually not. This policy is a way of increasing women’s morale and drive to strive for better jobs since in previous years they have been grounded by the glass ceiling and discrimination. It would let women know that the discriminatory notions of past decades are gone and society welcomes them to thrive just as men in the workplace.
“An understanding of the full range of factors that underlie women’s decisions to accept promotion to board level or not, as well as of the factors already known to hold some aspiring women back, may provide valuable insights into the dynamics at play within the workplace” (Broughton, 2009). This policy would focus on understanding what holds women back from pursuing higher positions, which is crucial to helping encourage them. By the implementation of this policy, female demographics in top management positions should increase over the next few years. This would be the next step towards becoming an egalitarian society.
References
Ferro, L. (2012, March 19). Gender Inequality in the U.S. Today. Trust Women. [Web blog]. Retrieved from
http://www.trustwomenpac.org/2012/03/gender-inequality-in-the-u-s-today
Broughton A. M. L. (2009, March). Encouraging Women into Senior Management Positions How Coaching Can Help. IES. Retrieved from http://www.employment-studies.co.uk/pubs/summary.php?id=462