We live in a country where there is a high demand for equal rights for all. But still today there are still many women treated unfairly in contrast to men. Men tend to receive higher pay and better access to promotions. This reality of inequality has been portrayed in the movie, “What Men Want” directed by Adam Shankman.
The movie, “What Men Want”, starring Taraji P. Henson, presents a scene where Taraji’s character, “Ali, is overlooked for a promotion she thought was hers” (Rosa and Radloff), but instead was given to one of her fellow male coworkers. Within the embarrassing scene, “Ali’s boss tosses a football to the man who’s getting the [promotion], but Ali intercepts it” (Rosa and Radloff). This scene within the movie illustrates a feeling that many women know way too well, it’s the feeling of losing an opportunity over male privilege.
In today’s society, women are more likely to be ‘top performers’, but less likely to be the boss. Only 5% of Fortune 500’s CEOs are women as presented in The Women’s Leadership Gap. “Institutionalized discrimination refers to the unjust and discriminatory mistreatment of an individual or group of individuals by society and its institutions as a whole, through unequal selection or bias, intentional or unintentional, as opposed to individuals making a conscious choice to discriminate”. Women are more likely to be ‘top performers,’ but less likely to be the boss. Why is that? If women work harder why aren’t we getting the recognition deserved. For example, my mother works in a school and she wanted to get a promotion, so she worked really hard, probably harder than anyone else in her job, just to be promoted. And when the promotion was given, she didn’t receive it and a male coworker, who barely attended work, received it. She was mad, but not only because she didn’t get the promotion, but because when she asked why she didn’t get it they said because the male coworker is more dedicated to the job because he doesn’t have kids. This made my mother later realize that your color and gender has an effect on the outcome of your future. This shows that even though women tend to work harder than men they aren’t rewarded nearly as much as men. But not only are women rewarded less than men, they are also paid less.
Women’s median earnings are lower than men’s in nearly every occupation, according to another report released this week from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, a nonprofit think tank. For example, “In 2020, women earned 81 cents for every dollar earned by men” as presented by PayScale. The evidence provided by PayScale demonstrates the gender pay gap or gender wage gap, which is the average difference between the remuneration for men and women who are working. And the gender pay gap displays that women are generally considered to be paid less than men. For example, my aunt works in a business firm, she has been working there for over 20 years. And she wants higher pay and bonuses, but they won’t give it to her although she has been working at her job longer than anyone else has. She told me that most males at the firm tend to get higher bonuses and pay than she does. She was so frustrated, but still continues to try to get more pay. This displays the idea that gender privilege is present still today.
Systematic inequalities are “patterns of differential group treatment repeated across time even in the absence of overt discrimination”. Systematic inequalities are policies that keep people of color and women from gaining power, which are enforced through laws and etc. For example, CEOs or people in headquarters of a company are mainly men, white men to be specific. About 46.9% of the labor force is made up of women. And only 5% of those women are CEOs. Of the companies that made up the 2019 Fortune 500 list, only 33 of those companies had women CEOs. This illustrates the idea that there is a miniscule number of women in higher positions in businesses.
In brief explanation, women tend to be treated unfairly in the business world. We are paid less and given less promotions, even though they tend to work more than men. And institutionalized discrimination and systematic inequalities can be used to demonstrate the ideas of gender inequality from all aspects. Women are strong and hard working, we deserve to be treated fairly. If we live in a country where there is freedom and equality then why aren’t 50% of CEOs women? And why aren’t men and women given equal pay?
Works Cited
Rosa, Christopher, and Jessica Radloff. “Taraji P. Henson Hopes Her New Movie Inspires Women to ‘Keep Fighting.'” What Men Want. Glamour.com,
www.glamour.com/story/taraji- p-henson-on-what-men-want. Accessed 8 Feb. 2019.
THE STATE OF THE GENDER PAY GAP 2020. PayScale,
www.payscale.com/data/gender- pay-gap.
The Women’s Leadership Gap. Center for American Progress,
www.americanprogress.org/ issues/women/reports/2018/11/ 20/461273/womens-leadership- gap-2/
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