Women who show up to work each day in California and other parts of the United States face a high chance of experiencing gender-based discrimination. About 42% of working women report having experienced it in some form or another. Female employees are also about twice as likely as male employees to report experiencing some form of gender-based discrimination on the job.
Per the Pew Research Center, a survey involving almost 5,000 adults offers insight into how often women face gender bias in the workplace compared to their male colleagues.
What the survey revealed
Almost a quarter of all women who participated in the survey reported that they had colleagues or supervisors treat them as if they were less competent than male colleagues who were performing the same job. About a quarter of all women surveyed also said they received less money than male colleagues despite performing the same job duties. Survey findings also revealed that female employees are three times more likely than male workers to experience on-the-job sexual harassment.
How education factors in
Survey results also showed that a woman’s level of education helps determine how likely she is to experience gender-based discrimination at work. The higher a woman’s level of education, the more likely she is to experience it. Almost 60% of female employees with advanced degrees reported facing gender-based discrimination on the job. Yet, only about 40% of working women with bachelor’s degrees said the same.
The survey responses also showed that women in the workplace face differing degrees of gender-based discrimination based on their race, ethnicity and political leanings.