Discuss why businesses aren’t immune to ethical concerns like gender discrimination.
In my opinion, Nelson’s words are true. In fact, it’s a universal phenomenon that businesses aren’t immune to ethical concerns like gender discrimination. In fact, gender discrimination is very widespread and severe. It is not limited to the process of recruitment but also exists in every area of occupation, from salary and career promotion, career training and the conditions of working, particularly in the areas of violence and sexual harassment in the workplace.
There are many reasons why business is easy to produce gender discrimination. First of all, biological differences between male and female are the main reasons for workplace gender discrimination. According to the dualism theory of 1980s, Julie A. Nelson (2010) describes that men’s characters are rational, autonomous and mathematical while women are good at emotion, dependence and qualitative analysis. Moreover, dualism is hierarchical, and the masculine side is generally considered to be of high value. In general, men are considered more suitable for jobs with high physical requirements as well as management and public service jobs and other jobs related engineering and technology. On the other hand, women are generally seen as better suited to service, sales and clerical work. In addition, positions that need to interact with the public, like flight attendants and receptionists, usually have the requirements of minimum height, maximum age and other physical appearance.
Secondly, the objective reason for workplace gender discrimination is the conflict between the enterprise’s pursuit of profit maximization and the non-socialization of women’s reproductive costs. Employers often ask women about their family plans because they are afraid of women’s leaving after marriage. They sometimes ask women to accept pregnancy tests or to comply with strict conditions regarding the plans of marriage and pregnancy. Many employers find ways to force pregnant workers to resign, demand unreasonable working hours or increase their workload. (Dovelyn, 2017).
Thirdly, other factors like the traditions of society and culture, the buyer’s market, lack of legal policies and poor enforcement have great influences on gender discrimination.
How to avoid workplace discrimination? You can take the following steps to reduce workplace discrimination. The first step is to develop your company’s discrimination policy and incorporate it into your employee handbook. The second step is to develop employee training of anti-discrimination. The last useful strategy is to work with your lawyer. Because of the complicated anti-discrimination law, employers should communicate with lawyers when there is discrimination. (webpage, 2018).
As Julie A. Nelson (2010) points out that life of business and economy are part of life of society and ethics. Justice and care are an orientation that can be used by men and women to solve the dilemmas we face in our common life on this planet. Are we quick enough to overcome the old dichotomy and make the most of our abilities? Mollie Painter Morland (2011) argues that while these equal feminists succeeded in making the case for equal rights and opportunity, their efforts did not allow women to develop their own leadership styles or challenge existing stereotypes about leadership. In fact, Nikala Lane & Nigel F. Piercy’s studies (2003) showed that female managers scored higher in motivating others, promoting communication, creating high quality jobs and listening to others, while they scored the same in strategic planning and problem analysis as male managers. Mollie Painter Morland (2011) also points out that leaders may be the first to benefit from the insights of systematic leadership, but it is clear that developing diverse leadership will benefit the organization, all its members and stakeholders.
Therefore, we should give women the same cares and opportunities as men, not discriminate against them.
Number of words: 598
References:
- Dovelyn.2017.Triple discrimination: Woman, Pregnant and Migrant, Preventing Pregnancy Discrimination among Temporary Migrant Workers: Lessons from Malaysia, Taiwan, and Thailand. Fair Labor Orgnization.
- Julie A. Nelson.2010.Care Ethics and Markets: A View from Feminist Economics.
- Mollie Painter Morland. 2011. Gender, Leadership and Organtization. Values and Ethics for the 21st Century.
- Nikala Lane, Nigel F. Piercy. 2003. The Ethics of Discrimination: Organizational Mindsets and Female Employment Disadvantage. Journal of Business Ethics 44: 313–325.
- Web page.2018. 11 types of workplace discrimination employers should be aware of.https://www.rocketlawyer.com/blog/11-types-of-workplace-discrimination-employers-should-be- -of-925296
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