As a female member of the American workforce, the chance of you experiencing gender discrimination at work at some point during your career is high. Both men and women across California and the rest of the United States may be victims of gender discrimination. However, it affects members of each sex differently.
Per SRHM, about four out of every 10 working women in America have experienced work-related gender discrimination.
Examples of gender discrimination
Women in the workplace experience many different instances of gender discrimination. Sometimes, it manifests as a woman receiving less money than a man while performing the same job and having the same skills. In other cases, female employees face different performance standards than men working in the same roles. Sometimes, gender discrimination manifests as team members excluding a woman from an important meeting or subjecting her to unwanted sexual advances.
Repercussions of gender discrimination
Studies show that gender discrimination at work decreases self-efficacy, or an individual’s confidence in his or her ability to successfully complete tasks, among working women. However, it does not do the same for male employees. Many women with low self-efficacy also find themselves lacking motivation or disengaging from work-related tasks as a result. Gender discrimination also contributes to a toxic work environment. When this happens, it has the potential to hinder the success of an entire business or organization.
U.S. employees who work for companies that have at least 15 individuals on staff have certain protections available to them when it comes to gender discrimination. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlines many of these provisions.