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You may be one of the millions of people who wonder why women are still so up in arms about equality in the workplace. More women are graduating from college now. Females hold 52 percent of middle management positions in the nation, and the gap in pay between women and men has narrowed significantly in the last two decades.
It’s understandable that some people are left in a state of confusion, but it’s really a simple matter of knowledge. Before you endorse your next payment statements, take a moment to read through a few reasons why women are still warring against inequality and sexism in business.
Some current estimations
The average pay gap between women and men is still a whopping 78 cents on the dollar. When you take a look at the board seats held by women in Fortune 500 companies, only 14 percent of members fit the bill.
Class action lawsuits against large companies for sexual harassment and discrimination have surged in recent years. Over $787 million in settlements have been paid out, with women receiving a significant amount as compensation for harassment. There are several reasons behind the compensation, including the fact that more and more female employees are speaking out against harassment and working with legal experts to sue employer in California (and elsewhere). As a result, more companies are making changes to their policies to prevent sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace.
Women are less likely to be promoted
The disparity for women in the corporate community is so clear that there is a term for those who actually succeed in reaching top positions. Breaking the “Glass Ceiling” in business is when a female is promoted past the typical figurative barrier for female professionals.
In the majority of situations, women are less likely to receive that big promotion over a male candidate in contention for the same position. Women still face the excuses like, “You may become pregnant.” One woman made the papers, because she was fired for allegedly being “too pretty.”
More women graduating from college
If more women are graduating from college, it would be expected to see that there are more women in corporate and officer positions. This isn’t happening. Even though more women are graduating with distinguished college degrees, the workforce has taken a turn towards regression.
The salary gap shrinking
It may be that we’ve focused on the salary gap shrinking for so long, that the industry has forgotten to continue progression. Gains in salary seen during the eighties and nineties have done a little worse than leveling off; they have come to the point where men are beginning to pull away once again.
Fortune 500 companies such as Apple and Microsoft have only appointed a total of 3 women to corporate positions in nearly 20 years. Some experts in the field fear that it will take another two generations to repair and regain the advantage for women once again.
Possible reasons for the stalemate
As was stated earlier, it seems a piece of the stalemate puzzle may be that women have simply become too complacent with their gains. Given the strides made in the past 50 years, women seem to be taking what they can get.
Current changes in leadership of the country don’t necessarily bring much hope for progression in professional gender gaps. Also, social outrage has been diverted towards other serious disparities in our nation as of late.