SDG5
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Eliminating gender discrimination in the workplace is crucial for achieving gender equality. It ensures equal opportunities for men and women, fostering greater female participation in the workforce, challenging gender biases, and empowering women in societal decision-making. Gender equality is also vital for sustainable development, as it encourages increased female participation in economic activities, promoting economic growth and social progress.
We employed qualitative and quantitative research methods to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges facing contemporary professional women in the workplace. Chao Tang designed a questionnaire targeting women with full-time work experience that was distributed across various social media platforms to collect data. Yulan Liao interviewed three female professionals, documenting the process and content in video format. Concurrently, Shijing Zhou synthesized the qualitative and quantitative research findings into a comprehensive press release, clearly depicting the challenges professional women encounter. After identifying these challenges, Yue Tian conducted a detailed analysis of the root causes of gender discrimination in the workplace based on results from previous research and proposed effective strategies to address them. Siwen Zhao created two posters urging the elimination of gender discrimination in the workplace, aiming to vividly represent the difficulties faced by female professionals and advocate for gender equality in the workplace.
Video
Poster
Report
Press Release
Gender Equality Issues in the Workplace
New York, March 25, 2024. Gender equality has always been an important issue in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Goal 5 of SDG is to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls by 2023 (United Nations, 2024). With the continuous development of the economy and society, discussions on gender equality and women’s empowerment issues have moved from the traditional political field – the right to vote and the right to work in the economy to a broader area, such as the discrimination women face in the workplace (Franco, Meruane & Derbyshire, 2020). Recent interviews with three women from different fields and a questionnaire on gender discrimination in the workplace reveal that there are still worrying issues of gender inequality and sexism in the workplace.
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The first interviewee comes from an administrative position at a university and is mainly responsible for new media-related work. She describes instances in which various men verbally offended her during her work. She believes that although most universities in the UK work hard to bridge the gender gap, such efforts are still complicated in changing individual minds. The second respondent is internally authorized. She holds that the causes of gender discrimination are mainly related to cultural and social factors and history. The long-standing gender discrimination problem in history is an important reason why women currently lose their power and face gender discrimination. The last interviewee is an auditor. In the interview, she describes the gender discrimination she faces in the workplace. She mentions that although practitioners in her industry have equal opportunities regardless of gender before obtaining the professional qualification certificate, they formally enter the workforce after obtaining the professional qualification certificate. After that, few women make it to management. All three female interviewees reveal, to varying degrees, the gender discrimination they undergo in the workplace. It can be said that their experiences are a microcosm of what women are experiencing in the current workplace.
The questionnaire we have done on gender discrimination in the workplace reveals the worrying problem of gender inequality in the workplace. According to the survey, which included 105 respondents, one of the main forms of discrimination faced by women in the workplace comes from discrimination against women’s reproductive responsibilities. This is one of the reasons why women suffer discrimination and unfair treatment in the workplace. In this survey, 66.67% of the respondents say that the interviewer will ask about their marital and childbearing status during the interview. At the same time, 36.19% of the respondents believe that their leaders ignore them in the workplace because of childbirth. Sexual discrimination in the workplace that women suffer due to their childbearing responsibilities is considered a form of the “motherhood penalty.” The reasons are usually related to the lack of an effective and complete social insurance system in society (Leal Filho et al., 2023). For example, some developing countries do not provide institutional support to women who become pregnant while working – such as giving subsidies. Some countries even require companies to reserve jobs and pay salaries to pregnant female employees – which increases the company’s labor costs. This can lead to companies preferring to recruit men rather than women (Baird & Williams, 2022).
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Figure 2 (How to Spot Gender Bias in the Workplace – GLOBIS Insights)
But this survey also shows that traditional concepts are one of the more important reasons why women are discriminated against in the workplace than the imperfect social insurance system. Among this group of respondents, 80.95% believe that the traditional concept of “men are at home and women are at home” is one of the causes of workplace discrimination. Correspondingly, 28.57% of the respondents state that their remuneration is lower than that of male colleagues of the same level. In comparison, 58.1% of the respondents believe that overall, there is a difference in the salary of women in the workplace compared with men (Castro Núñez, Bandeira & Santero-Sánchez, 2020). Traditional concepts have led to the fact that women’s abilities and roles in the workplace are most likely to be ignored and have also led to the inability of women to achieve “equal pay for equal work” with men.
The interviews and surveys discussed above all reflect that achieving gender equality in the workplace remains a long-term and complex challenge that involves many factors, including economic, social, historical, and cultural factors. This means that achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment requires a package of solutions. Legally speaking, governments should formulate and implement laws and policies that can effectively achieve gender equality, including mandating equal pay for men and women for equal work and, protecting pregnant women to avoid motherhood penalties and so on (Ararat, 2020). From an economic perspective, solutions are required to support women financially. This economic support does not mean direct subsidies for women. Still, it means that women should be provided with equal employment opportunities and career advancement opportunities, which can ensure women’s economic independence.
Additionally, education is crucial. Gender equality and the elimination of gender stereotypes should be included in national education plans and curricula. In the long term, this will help change people’s attitudes in society, thereby providing a favorable social and cultural environment for achieving gender equality in the workplace (Razavi, 2016).
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Figure 3 (UNSDG | GENDER EQUALITY: A KEY SDG ACCELERATOR)
All in all, there is still a long way to go to achieve gender equality and address the gender discrimination and inequality faced by women in the workplace. Governments, businesses, and all sectors of society should take proactive and effective measures to support women in order to eliminate gender discrimination in the workplace and achieve gender equality and female empowerment in a broader scope. This helps create a more inclusive and equitable workplace environment that provides equal opportunities and rights for all so that everyone can fully realize their potential and contribute to social development. More importantly, achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment is not only a moral requirement but also an essential part of achieving the SDGs.