Research Paper on Gender Roles

For several years, the issues of Gender have been discussed by various authors who are trying to give their opinions regarding the matter. Women are the most affected people when it comes to gender making them feel as inferior to men while in a real sense, both men and women are equal. Many institutions have been established over the years to enlighten women about their rights so that in case there is any element of gender discrimination, they can report to those institutions. The primary agenda for all this action was to promote equality among all genders. The many types of gender-based discrimination that women had to experience over the years and how they were able to unit and fight for their rights. It is important to ensure equality among the employees by giving them equally opportunities for them to develop themselves.

Some employers have the notion that men can perform better individual jobs than women. This had led to the employment of many men while leaving women to look for other jobs which are believed can measure their standards. In recent times, it is most likely to find vast organization having more men working in that organization than women. Recent researches have established that most employers prefer working with men rather than women although women can perform the same job if not better. There are many reasons put forward by different employers as to why they do not prefer working with women. One of the reasons is that, women mostly demand for high paycheck than men. This cannot be the case because all organization has rules and procedures concerning the payment of workers

The research conducted was to highlight the gender discrimination that was reported at Wal-Mart. Some female employees reported that they were not given the same positions like their counterparts because of the gender issues. As such, it was important to conduct research to determine if those issues were indeed true. The report was ensuring that the court charges Alam et with cases of gender discrimination which was against the law. Wal-Mart is one of the companies with the huge number of employees in America. As such, it is a requirement for them to observe gender equity regarding hiring and treating their employees. From the experiment, it was evident that gender tends to influence the action of people in the real world.

According to the reports, Wal-Mart has a total of 815,000 women employees which constitute to 57% of the U.S workforce. However, there are various cases that have been reported on how the management underpay female worker and also harassing them. The experiment was to determine who was involved, what, where and when those cases were observed. To understand the experiment, it was proper to use the structural, functional theory which sees society as one complex system that needs to work together for them to promote solidarity and stability. The theory tends to focus on a certain aspect such as the norms, the culture, and tradition of an institute. In that light, it was certain that the Wal-Mart was believed to have the culture of placing men at the better position compared to women.

Some people tend to grow up with certain traditional aspects in which women are seen as inferior races. As such, once such people get into power and a position of authority, they would still practice their traditional beliefs. That was one of the reasons that were believed to promote gender inequity in Wal-Mart according to the report from the experiment.

Many females in Wal-Mart were paid much less compared to men who were in the same position. In 2001, it was reported that women earned $5,200 less compared to men who were working in a similar position. 1.5 million female employees accused Wal-Mart of discrimination in promotional, pay and job assignment. If the court finds the guilty of those charges, they would have to pay a huge fine or face course from the government. As such, it was important to determine how the management was practicing such aspects.

According to the structural-functional theory, the lives of people is guided by social structures. As such, people tend to believe or work according to the ay the society is used to conduct things or matters. In that light, for many centuries women have experienced cases of discrimination in the workplace. In fact, it led top the formation of certain policies that protect women from such cases. Wal-Mart was likely to face that cases of gender discrimination which was prone in that society. Based on that, it was easy for the women to file a case against the company even if Wal-Mart was not guilty of any charges (Radosh, 2015). The society tends to work in a manner. It is certain that such actions would not have been taken if it was a male employee who was facing similar charges.

The case against Wal-Mart is similar to millions of cases filed in the country that relates to gender discrimination. According to the research, the way the society relates is what promotes gender discrimination among the people. Young girls are usually given certain roles such as to help their mother and clean the house while men of similar age group are given more task. As such, such actions make them grow up believing that men should handle certain task while women a different one. When it comes to employment opportunities, may employee believe that men can work better in certain jobs compared to women? Also, the mentality of the society that it is the responsibility of men to take care of the families affects the issue of payment . Some employees believe that they need to pay more male workers as they have a huge responsibility compared to women. Such cases have changed over the years as women have also take the role of men in the society (Smiley, 2011). In fact, some women are more involved in the affairs of their family compared to the men. Based on that, cases of gender discrimination should not be observed in the society.

It is certain that the female employee might have filed that cases due to the Normasnal culture of the society. As much as Wal-Mart might not be guilty of those charges, the society tends to believe that women are usually discriminated in the workplace. Based on that, it was easy for them to concern the public that indeed Wal-Mart was not observing gender rules in the workplace. According to Structural-functional theory, it is the responsibility of the society to work as a complex system. In that light, people need to change that aspect of gender discrimination through their society.

References

Smiley, S., & Donnellan, C. (2011). Gender roles. Cambridge: Independence.

Radosh, P., Hunt, D., Williams, E., Western Illinois University., & Insight Media (Firm). (2015). Gender roles. Macomb, Ill: Western University University.