Intro to Government & Politics-Honors

Research Paper

March 2, 2015

Keeping Women Down

Shanna Welch
"What's Holding Women Back?" The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 23 Jan.
2015. Web. 2 Feb. 2015.
Hypothesis: Although America has made great strides towards gender equality,
discrimination and bias still exists in the workplace, keeping women from achieving
equal rank and pay as men.

It is a long way to the top of the corporate ladder, but for women, it is an
even longer, yet less rewarding journey. The United States has made headway over
the past several decades when it comes to women in the workplace, but women are
not nearly as dominant as men in the corporate world. Women struggle more than
men do when it comes to promotions and advancing in their careers, and they are
also receiving less pay than males who hold the same titles. Studies have shown
that Americans see women as being distinguishably more ethical, honest, and fair
than men, and also as better mentors (Pew Research Center, 2015), yet women still
have a hard time becoming respectable leaders and earning equal pay. Although the
gender discrimination may not be as harsh as it was in the past, there is still
evidence that some bias against females in the workplace remains, preventing
women from taking over many elite positions.
It is obvious that women in the United States have made progress when it
comes to work, as they currently make up almost half of the labor force. In recent
years, women have made up forty-eight percent of the private sector of the
workforce, and out of government workers, fifty-seven percent are female. To
compare, in 1964, women only held thirty-one percent of private sector jobs and
thirty-nine percent of government jobs (The Economics Daily, 2014). The growing
gender diversity has also been shown to help lead businesses to more success.
Grant Thorntons International Business Report reveals that the fastest-growing
businesses are those that have an above-average percentage of women holding top

positions (Lagerberg, 2014). In 1995, no women held any of the chief executive
officer positions for Fortune 500 companies, but there are now twenty-six women
who are CEOs for Fortune 500 companies (Pew Research Center, 2015). This shows
improvement in diversifying gender in workplaces, but it is still a slow and difficult
process for women.
Although nearly half of all workers in the United States are female, the
proportion of women at the peak of the corporate ladder remains very low. Based on
data from 2013, only seventeen percent of Fortune 500 company board seats were
held by women, and the twenty-six female CEOs for Fortune 500 companies still
represent just less than five percent of those positions (Catalyst, 2014). In 2013,
researcher Ben Waber and his team set out to analyze a few workplaces to see if
women simply lacked the skills and traits it took to be promoted to top-level
positions. For example, at a banking call center of more than ten thousand
employees, Wabers team found out that the women were in fact more productive,
completing calls twenty-four seconds faster than the men did, which converted into
a nine percent difference in productivity. However, women still won fewer
promotions than the males did, despite being more productive at the banking call
center. In addition, Waber studied a pharmaceutical company where fifty percent of
the employees were women. Based on interaction, leadership abilities, and other
traits, women at the pharmaceutical company seemed to be just as probable as
men to be promoted, yet only thirteen percent of their top executives were female
(Waber, 2014). According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center,
Americans believe women are more compassionate than men and are actually
better at being organized leaders. They also do not think men are any more
intelligent or innovative than women (Pew Research Center, 2015). Therefore,

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women possess the skills it takes to become leaders in the business world, yet are
still being cheated out of reaching those elite positions.
Moreover, women are receiving less pay than their male colleagues. Professor
Emilio Castilla of the MIT Sloan School of Management conducted studies on about
nine thousand employees and their career histories, and found that men born in the
United States received higher pay increases than women and minorities did, despite
having the same job, authorities, and performance evaluations (Siegel Bernard,
2014). Even if a female does reach the top ranks of a company, her pay is typically
not the same as what a man of equal rank would receive. The women who are top
executives of Standard and Poors 500 Index receive on average, eighteen percent
less pay than their male counterparts. CEO of General Motors, Mary Barra, recently
became the first female leader of any global car manufacturing company, but
analysis shows that she will likely end up earning under half of what her male
predecessor did (Lagerberg, 2014). Women start out being hired at lower salaries
than their male peers, and end up working smaller schedules and usually have more
leaves of absences, which contributes to the pay gap. If women were paid for what
they were actually worth, it could end up increasing companies payrolls about onehalf to eight-tenths of a percent, which could actually total up to being thousands of
dollars or more for some large companies (Siegel Bernard, 2014). Whether or not it
is fair that women are being paid less than men with equivalent backgrounds and
titles, it is clear that a gap in pay between genders does exist.
Of the reasons that may be holding women back from advancing in the
workplace, their education is not one of them. From the graduates of the 2011-2012
class in the United States, women earned fifty-seven percent of all bachelors
degrees, sixty percent of masters degrees, and fifty-one percent of doctorate

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degrees that year. In fact, women have been earning more college degrees than
men each year since 1982 (Catalyst, 2014). Between 1982 and 2013, 44.1 million
college degrees were earned by women, while men earned about ten million less
(Rickard, 2014). More specifically, women have been earning more masters
degrees than men since 1987, and more doctorate degrees since 2006 (Catalyst,
2014). In 2013, for every one hundred men that graduated with a college degree,
one hundred forty women did the same (Rickard, 2014). For decades, women have
been earning more college degrees than men, proving that females do not lack the
education to become business leaders.
Women are clearly not lagging in terms of education, but disparity in the
workplace between genders still exists. One indication of gender bias as work is how
qualities that are desired in male leaders, such as independence and assertiveness,
are actually disapproved of in women (Rickard, 2014). When attempting to speak up
in work meetings, women are sometimes shot down or interrupted, while being
seen as too aggressive. Many women refrain from having a voice in businesses
because they fear backlash. To determine whether this fear was justified or not,
Victoria Brescoll and the Yale School of Management conducted a study where one
hundred fifty-six adults rated CEOs in difference scenarios on a scale of seven
points. It was found that male CEOs who spoke up more often than others received
better ratings than the males who did not speak up as much. On the other hand,
female CEOs who spoke up more than their peers were penalized with lower ratings
than the female CEOs who were more reserved, proving that female leaders did in
fact receive some backlash for volunteering ideas in meetings (Brescoll, 2011).
Since females are punished for speaking up, they also are not as inclined to ask for
raises because they do not want to risk being seen as less likeable or being

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penalized (Siegel Bernard, 2014). With women being frowned upon for having a
voice, it makes it that much harder for them to advance in their careers or shrink
the gender pay gap on their own.
Women are also being punished just for the fact that they can bear children.
Although it is now seen as acceptable for women to be away from their home and
family to work like men, they are still usually expected to be responsible for the
majority of the household and parenting duties over their husbands. Because of
this, women are seen as not being able to dedicate as much time and effort to their
career full-time (Rickard, 2014), and are less apt to work certain hours or longer
days if they have to tend to families as well (Siegel Bernard, 2014). Managers of
both genders say that they believe top-level positions require a person to be
available extended hours of the day and have flexible schedules, which makes them
worry that women cannot hold these positions because they will always have family
interferences (Rickard, 2014). To add to the bias, men seem to receive perks for
having children, while women are penalized. A 2007 study by Cornell University
researchers sent twelve hundred seventy-six fake resumes out to real jobs that were
looking to hire. These resumes consisted of the same educational credentials and
work backgrounds, but differed in gender and whether or not they had children. The
study found that the resumes of the males who had kids were hired the most, and
the resumes of women who had children were the least desirable. The interviewers
of this study told the researchers that they thought the women would be more likely
to sacrifice work and prioritize family obligations instead, yet saw men who were
fathers as being more responsible, and therefore wanted to hire those men over
anyone else (Waber, 2014). Because of this motherhood penalty, more than one-infive Americans do say that they believe womens careers and hopes of leadership

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roles are better off if they do not have any children (Pew Research Center, 2015).
Women continue to be discriminated against for being mothers because managers
worry that they will not be as devoted to their work, but even women who do not
have children are still held at a disadvantage to men.
On top of everything else holding women back, there still exists the
traditional beliefs and gender norms. It may not be as distinct as it was in the past,
but most people still think that leadership and controlling roles should be acquired
by men, while women are expected to hold administrative staff positions and run
departments such as human resources (Rickard, 2014). Based on the Pew Research
Centers online surveys from over eighteen hundred adults in November 2014, most
Americans believe organizations such as professional sports teams or large oil and
gas companies would be better off being run by a man. On the other hand, most
believe that hospitals or retail chains are kinds of organizations that would be better
off with a female leader, showing that there is still stereotype over what type of
activities are for men and what type are for women. The same survey also found
that forty-three percent of Americans believe women have to do more to prove
themselves worthy than their male colleagues, because they are held to higher
standards than men. Moreover, forty-three percent of Americans also said that they
are just not ready for more women to hold top leadership positions yet. Fifty-three
percent of those surveyed believe that men will continue to reign top-level business
positions in the future (Pew Research Center, 2015). After all of the progress women
have made, a large portion of Americans still plan on keeping women from obtaining
major leadership roles in the corporate world.
Unless women in the United States have already advanced as far as they are
going to when it comes to competing for titles in businesses, more positive strides

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will need to be taken to eliminate all of the gender bias from the workplace.
Americans would need to change the way they view gender roles, starting with
television, movies, and language (Waber, 2014). To reach complete gender equality,
women cannot continue to be penalized for the same things that men are rewarded
for, such as being aggressive and speaking up at work, or having children and
families. Although sexism in the United States may have declined, there are clearly
still subtle discriminations against females in the workplace, making it difficult for
women to advance in rank and pay and be seen as equals to their male
counterparts.

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Works Cited
Brescoll, Victoria L. "Who Takes the Floor and Why: Gender, Power, and Volubility in
Organizations." Administrative Science Quarterly 56.4 (2011): 622-41. Sage
Journals Online. Web. 21 Feb. 2015.
"Knowledge Center: Women in the United States." Catalyst. Catalyst Inc., 10 June
2014. Web. 21 Feb. 2015.
Lagerberg, Francesca. "Women in Business: From Classroom to Boardroom." Grant
Thornton. Grant Thornton International, 07 Mar. 2014. Web. 21 Feb. 2015.
Rickard, Caraline. "Getting Off The Mommy Track: An International Model Law
Solution To The Global Maternity Discrimination Crisis." Vanderbilt Journal Of
Transnational Law 47.5 (2014): 1465-1515. Academic Search Complete. Web.
21 Feb. 2015.
Siegel Bernard, Tara. "Vigilant Eye on Gender Pay Gap." New York Times. 15 Nov.
2014: B1+. Academic Search Complete. Web. 2 Feb. 2015.
Waber, Ben. "Gender Inequality in the Workplace: What Data Analytics Says."
Businessweek. Bloomberg, 30 Jan. 2014. Web. 21 Feb. 2015.
"Women and Leadership." Pew Research Center's Social & Demographics Trends
Project. Pew Research Center, 14 Jan. 2015. Web. 21 Feb. 2015.
"Women in the Olympics and the Workplace." The Economics Daily: U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics. U.S. Department of Labor, 21 Feb. 2014. Web. 21 Feb. 2015.

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