Classifying Gender Discrimination In the Workplace

Although we, as a society, have come a long way from the oppression of women in South Africa, there are still instances where gender discrimination in the workplace is an issue. Despite all the efforts being made to stamp out this problem, complaints of gender discrimination in the workplace have in fact increased. Whether this is due to an increase in awareness of a woman’s rights or whether the incidence level has increased is hard to tell. It is therefore important for both employers and employees to be aware of what constitutes gender discrimination in the workplace and how this can be prevented.

The first and most prolific form of gender discrimination in the workplace is through the inability of women to enter into management or executive positions in a company. This basically means that men will be placed in higher level positions before a woman is considered for a high level vacancy. Some companies even go as far as the outright refusal of employing women in certain positions within the company. It is important to note here that there is sometimes a reversal of roles here where some companies prefer woman employees and discriminate against men instead. Bi-sexual and homo-sexual individuals can also fall prey to gender discrimination in the workplace.

The second factor that is often an issue is the amount of money that a woman will earn performing a certain job when compared to her male counterpart in the same position of employment. Statistics reveal that women earn around 15% less than their male counterparts. It is very important to address the issues of gender discrimination in the workplace as soon as they are detected to eliminate this problem once and for all.

To find out more about what can be classified as gender discrimination in the workplace, please contact us.