Recently, two female ex-employees at Nike filed a lawsuit against the company claiming that “Nike spent years hiring women at lower salaries than men, discriminating against women during performance reviews and promoting female employees less frequently than male counterparts during comparable work” (Hsu). Empowering women in the workplace should be a priority to all companies and businesses. But we are not there yet.
In our society, an increasing number of women are earning high college degrees and are surpassing the achievements of men (National Center for Education Statistics). But guess what? They’re still more likely to be working in lower-paying jobs, even when accounting for full-time and full-year employment. It would make sense that women would have the same opportunities as men in the workplace. But this isn’t necessarily the case.
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In recent years, 75% of men over the age of 16 were employed, compared to only 62% of women over the age of 16 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). Women are not getting as many advantages as men to work in major businesses and companies. This is very unfair to educated women because they possess the same capabilities as men, and there are no reasons whatsoever as to why they should not have the same opportunities presented to them.
As a young educated woman, advancing into the workplace in several years, I want to have the same rights as my male co-workers, and be presented with the same job opportunities. If the problem of gender discrimination is not eliminated by then, then I will be negatively affected, as well as other female workers. I will start to feel as if I am less important than male workers and that my contributions to the workplace are not valued, which will discourage me from trying my best.
Discrimination in the workplace usually stems from social norms and stereotypes within our society. Pervasive stereotypes and social norms about gender and work lead to discrimination in the workplace. Our society has made big advancements in social equality, but a stay at home parent is still expected to be the female. This can be applied to numerous households, including my own. My mother is a stay at home mom, mostly because of the social norms that influenced her mindset. She knows that she possesses the same capabilities as any man to achieve extraordinary results in the workplace, but she chose not to work simply because of the social norms.
Historically, it was more common for the mother to spend time at home taking care of her house and family while the father was at work. It is still commonly expected for women to perform all household duties, take care of children, and perform successfully within their jobs all at the same time. Women spend about 2 hours and 15 minutes each day performing household duties, while men only spend about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Women also spend double the time taking care of household members, such as their own children (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). Because of this unequal time distribution, most women employees cannot balance their work and personal life.
On the other hand, some people claim that gender inequality is impossible to achieve. Jordan B. Peterson discussed this topic with Cathy Newman from Channel 4 News. During the interview, Peterson argued that the gender inequality in the workplace should not be considered a bad thing and that it should be seen as a reflection of differences between women and men. Peterson explained that “men and women won’t sort themselves into the same categories if you leave alone to do it of their own accord.” This signifies that women and men have different interests, meaning that women naturally choose occupations that pay lower than the occupations men choose. However, as evidence shows, when women and men perform the same job, women still get paid lower than men (U.S. Census).
The first step to eliminate gender discrimination in the workplace needs to be taken by women themselves. This is mainly because we are the ones who have experienced, or will experience, the discrimination. Our voice would have a bigger impact. According to Martin Luther King Jr., “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” MLK Jr. was specifically talking about the hardships that African Americans had to face because of discrimination. If they wanted equal rights, then they would need to demand them.
The same solution could be applied to the gender discrimination. Women are able to demand equal rights in the workplace to stop the discrimination against them. It has significant connections to areas such as civil rights, something that should be given to all American citizens, both men and women.
The Giving Hope Foundation Mission
Recently, my family and I attended a gala for a nonprofit in New Orleans called Giving Hope which is an organization focused on providing people with the help they need by meeting their basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter, and freedom. The Giving Hope Foundation was started by very close family friends after they experienced severe life changing events that resulted in heartache and grief in which they realized they wanted to take that situation to use it to make a difference in so many people’s lives. The goal of this organization is to serve the most vulnerable among us in the community through the Food Pantry of New Orleans, Hope House Orphanages around the world, Giving Hope Retreat partnership with the New Orleans Mission, Hope Against Trafficking and Hope for a Home Adoptions. This gala was held as a way for people to come together to give money to this organization in order to help those suffering everyday in order to raise awareness for many social issues that get lost in the dark on a daily basis. They are dedicated to fulfilling the vision, “Where Love Changes Everything” in which the main goal of Giving Hope focuses on giving people a life that has been taken away from them.
Due to the fact that this organization focuses on many different issues in our society, the first one I want to discuss is their partnership with the Food Pantry. According to the chief director of the food pantry, Betty Thomas, “…in a city known for food, it is a shame that so many people are going hungry everyday.” The Food Pantry of New Orleans is a full service food pantry as well as a hot meal distribution center that feeds all people of New Orleans by being able to serve over sixty thousand people each week. Currently, through their partnering with Giving Hope, the food pantry prepares, delivers, and serves meals five days a week by providing people with free boxes of groceries that go to over 900 homes monthly in order to help families secure meals they are not able to attain on their own. The Food Pantry of New Orleans serves almost 200,000 low-income seniors and over 1.7 million pounds of groceries to low-income families each year. Through the food pantry, they are providing hope to those who are food insecure all throughout our city.
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