Gender, Wage And Racial Discrimination In The Workforce Today

Discrimination in 2019; this cannot be real. With the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act 1964 continuously being revised, how is it honestly possible. Unbelievably discrimination happen more often than people think. When the Title VII was created so was the EEOC to investigate the discrimination claims. The Title VII states that managers well preserve an environment without discrimination based on national origin, color, religion, race, and sex. In 2017, over 84,000 claims were made to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) (Charge Statistics (Charges filed with EEOC) FY 1997 Through FY 2017, n.d.). Over 33% of the cased files pertained to race; 30.4% sex, and 48.8% was retaliation – all statutes. Some cases hold multiple reason of discrimination. Example, one case may have race, sex, and retaliation associated with the claim. Of the 84,254 claims in 2017, 41,097 also carried the clause of retaliation; being the highest on the list of discriminations. In this paper I will be researching and discussing some issues on workplace discrimination.

Racial Discrimination

Racial discrimination is the second highest discrimination in 2017, according to the Charge Statistics. There were 28,528 cases filed with the EEOC, this does not include cases filed with state or local Fair Employment Practices Agencies. The Title VII requires that all people should be judged on the same job requirements and not be omitted because of race. Bertrand and Mullainathan (2004) researched and found that people applying for a job, if the names suggested the individual was Black. For this research there were 1,300 resumes sent out to hiring advertisement. Changing only the names on the applications to sound White. The White pronounced names had a 50% chance of getting a callback than Black pronounced names. The researchers when a step further and altered the quality of the resumes and found that Whites with a nice quality resume had a 30% chance at a callback than lower quality White resumes, but with Black applicant the higher quality resumes only had an 8% chance over the lower quality Blacks (Bertrand, M. & Mullainathan, S., 2004). This is clear evidence of racism in the workforce. That is just worker getting through the door to have a job. Stauffer and Buckley (2005) found that White supervisors would give White workers higher scores on the performance rating than Black workers, compared to Black workers rating their White workers. Racial discrimination is also associated with college students and teenagers having less incentive to achieve goals and increased emotional distress, irritation, and communication problems which leads to bad behavior (Sellers, R. M., Caldwell, C. H., Schmeelk-Cone, Kh., & Zimmerman, M. A., 2003)

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Harassment

Schneider, Hitlan, & Radhakrishnan (2000) describes racial harassment as the expression of verbal slurs, jokes, and derogatory remarks or by prohibiting from or not informing a group of people about activities or social event. In the same report Schneider et al., (2000) also found that 40% to 76% of minority workforce reported one unwelcome race-based experience at work the previous two years. Demographic variables play a role in the possibility of facing harassment and discrimination. Studies found that there was a larger number of college women report harassment than college men (Swim, J. K., Hyers, L. L., Fitzgerald, D. C., & Bylsma, W. H., 2003). Studies have also found that discrimination receivers have a higher distress, disturbing tension (Forman, 2003), lesser self-worth (Jasinskaja- Lahti & Liebkind, 2001), less satisfaction in life (Liebkind & Jasinskaja, 2000), and a lesser realization of self-competence and psychological resiliency (Wong, Eccles, & Sameroff, 2003).

Sex Discrimination

Illegitimately imposing a term or condition of employment based on sex. Title VII make it clear that provocative dress restriction is a violation and considered sexual harassment (Chau, 2005). However, in modern day there is a new form of sex discrimination. In the olden days, it was not uncommon for companies to try are justify a practice of discrimination, by claiming perceived differences between men and women. In the case, City of Los Angeles Department of Water & Power v. Manhart, the company was charging woman a higher monthly contribute to their pension than men. The departments reasoning for this is women tend to live longer than men (Kramer, 2014). Modern day discrimination is men and women not being able to imitate to the standards of the work environment. Example is a truck driver that dress in women’s clothing, or a transgender that cannot find a bathroom to use while still transitioning from one sex to the next. Another example, this one affected me personally, is a mother of a newborn that needs breaks to breast pump for her child. In 2017 the EEOC had 25,605 charges files about sex discrimination. It is the third largest complaint to the EEOC in that year (Charge Statistics (Charges filed with EEOC) FY 1997 Through FY 2017, n.d.).

Pay & Education

Statistics show that among all races and sexes, White males make more money (Bell, 2017). While other male have the same education, they sugnificantly less than White males, and White woman with the same education make less than Black males. Asian and Hispanic males with the same education make more than White woman. Other than unseen reasoning, there is no other reason for White man and to make more money than other skin color or sex. The difference in pay between White men and White women is 58% with advanced degrees and 64% with Bachelor’s degrees. The percentages are higher between men and woman of other races than White. Pay between men and women in other races; differences are in the 70% and 74% range. Although, Figure 1’s dates are from 1979 to 2014, the different in pai is still there. The $300 or so remains across the chart when comparing the education and pay.

White Men Left Behind There is a viewpoint that says, ‘I can fight for minorities and I can fight for women,’ and if you get that, you make up for the vast majority of the voting block and you win. And white males have been left aside a little bit in the politics of who speaks for them.

Sean Duffy (R-Wisconsin)

This statement was made the morning after Donald Trump accepted the Republican Party’s nomination for Presidency (Craig, 2017). Hours later the previous Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, announced that he would be campaigning for Senate stating, 'what makes me different is I also demand respect for the rights and heritage of European Americans” (Craig, 2017). In 2009, the New Haven fire department discounted tests scores that was to be used for promotion, because the results would have been discriminatory against Black fire fighters. The court side with the White fire fighter in this case because they were discriminated against over their skin color (Ricci v. DeStefano, 2009). Craig (2017) points out white Americans are certain that anti-White discrimination is increasing, and the discrimination of others are decreasing fast. Racial diversity noticeable leads Whites to direct an upsurge of undesirable feelings about racial minorities (Skinner, A .L. & Cheadle J. E. , 2016) and prompt a decease amount of backing for cultural diversity (Danbold, F., Huo Y. J., 2015). The United States is to diverse for one race to last much longer.

Changing Polices and Effects

Sellers et al. (2003) explains that there are serious consequences to racial discrimination, it impacts badly on emotional, physical and work result. Organizations understand the need to adjust the actions and policies that are undoubtedly discriminatory, often this polices are neglected and leave space for substantial disparities across groups. Studies show that if organization placed high concern on obeying the legal, professional standards and showing concern for employees’ well-being, that employees were less likely to engage in racial or sexual harassment (Peterson, 2002). A company can change the organization’s diversity climate and advocate for fair polices as a way to prevent racial discrimination. If the diversity in the organization is vast the changes for discrimination is low. When change happens there are effects tat take place as well. Research shows the if workers find the polices to be discriminatory or that the employees feel they have been discriminated against by supervisors or coworkers, workers feel less commitment to an organization, and the worker have a negative attitude at work (Ensher, E. A., Grant-Vallone, E. J. & Donaldson, S. I., 2001). The gap of discrimination remains, in spite of the progressive study and the changing of policies. Creating training programs that help individuals address their inter biasness and to show the different forms of discrimination. One of the greatest effects that discrimination has on an organization of any kind is finances. The Affirmative Action Office encourages an environment free of discriminatory behavior and offers help to supervisors to achieve that goal (Rao, 1996). Do stockholders punish unethical behavior? In Rao (1996) study of the effect discrimination has on the stock returns he finds that there is a momentary effect on the market, but is could not conclude the market has the power to punish organizations that do not comply with ethical conduct. However, social responsibility pins an organization to the realization that it cannot do as it wants.

Despite years of legislation attempting to outlaw discrimination it is a significant ethical issue in business (Ferrell, O.C., Fraedrich, John, and Ferrell, Linda, 2017). Title VII protects individuals from discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, public assistance status, disability, age, national origin or veteran status. Despite Title VII of the Civil Rights Act being in place, discrimination still exist, and from the new forms of sex discrimination, White men left behind, and discrimination is being claimed at a high rate, it does not look like the battle for equality will ever truly end. It is a significant problem that cost individuals, organizations, and society an enormous setback in our search for equality. While discrimination in today’s workforce is pretty indirect, there will need to be other tactics to help legislation crack down on such undesirable actions. Organization will need to create policies and practices that enforce anti- discrimination, anywhere from termination of the job to demotions.

References

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