MNB211

Gender & Work

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Gender & Work

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1947

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Is Gender Inequality present for Women in the Workplaces of the 21st century?
The purpose of this essay is to provide a convincing argument as to whether or not gender
inequality is present in workplaces in the 21st century. Using research conducted into the
differences in gender equality in workplaces, not only in the UK but China too, I hope to
present convincing evidence in relation to the initial question. I will research factors affecting
main issues such as - culture and historical factors that could have an effect on gender
equality in organisations today, gender in management levels and employment
discrimination.
Starting off with China, I am going to explore the effect culture and historical events
have on the workplaces of today. During the Mao era, between 1949 and 1978, China was
part of a planned economy. However, the strength of the communist party at the time
influenced the government and so Chinese women went from being considered a family,
private person to a social person. Ruled in the Constitution of the Peoples Republic of China,
women were empowered when they announced "equal rights with men in all areas of
political, economic, cultural, social, and domestic life. (1954.) At the moment, the Chinese
economy is operating in a mixed economy and is moving forward into the 21st century. The
effect that the Peoples Republic of China had on closing that gap of what was previously a
male dominated labour market was hugely positive. Employment of women increased
significantly and almost doubled within a span of seven years. Data from the National Bureau
of Statistics of China shows a jump from 7.% in 1949 to 13.48% in 1956 (National Bureau of
Statistics of China, 2009.) The bureau also commented that by 1980 a third of women in
China were employed. The culture change in China had a profoundly positive effect on
gender equality in the workplaces of the country. In relation to the question, the introduction
of such laws as the Constitution of the Peoples Republic of China encouraged shows that
steps were taken in the previous century to overcome gender inequalities in all areas of life.
The initial outcome of this was positive for China, but maybe more could be done to ensure
such equality is present in workplaces today.
Moving onto the same issue in the UK and how the culture and events in history have
shaped gender equality in workplaces today. A pivotal turning point in equal rights for men
and women in the UK is when all women over the age of twenty-one got the right to vote in
1928. (Equal Franchise Act 1928.) Before this time, a quote describes womens rights in the
UK, By marriage, the personal identity of the woman is lost. Her person is completely sunk
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in that of her husband, and he acquires an absolute mastery over her person and effects.
Hence her complete disability to contract legal obligations; and except in the event of
separation by divorce, or other causes, a married woman in the United Kingdom cannot
engage in trade.(Levi, 1863.) This demonstrates how little rights women had in relation to
gender equality and describes how men had all of the rights in a marriage. Another prominent
point in the history of women working in the UK is during the World Wars. As all of the
men were overseas, women were propelled out of their domestic sphere of work and into the
world of male work. During world war one, twenty-four million women were known to be
working in the UK. Just before world war two began, the 1938 women in employment figures
show 19.75% of women were in work. This rose to 27% in 1945 which was the last year of
the war. (Gazeley, 2008.) These changes show the culture of British women, stepping up
when needed most. Again, to relate the point back to the original question, the British
government put steps in place to enable women to have more power in society. This could be
a key influencer of how women have empowerment today. Had it not been for the changes in
the law regarding the vote, how much longer would womens views have been ignored? The
demonstration of how the gendered role barriers were broken down during war time is
significant as it shows that women are able to do mens jobs.
The issue of gender equality in management positions first became a popular
topic in the United States in the 1970s. Since then, research has gone on around the world
which allows us to make comparisons between different countries. Regarding the situation in
China, in an article called An Iron Hand in a Velvet Glove: Challenges Facing Chinese
Female Managers, she describes how even though it may seem that the women of China
have ample opportunity to climb the career ladder, preconceptions of gender roles still lie and
create bias often. (Gow, 2013). A suggestion made by a representative from China Financial
Futures Exchange reads, If there can be more planning and implementation of programmes
and policies to offer more opportunities for women, including internships for female students,
apprenticeships and promotion structures, this would help women in the corporate hierarchy.
(Hui, 2013.) Activists against gender discrimination in China are willing for it to stop but the
main difficulty for women in China trying to reach higher levels of management is the
predetermined view of women causing bias throughout organisations.
Employment discrimination in relation to gender still plays a part in economies
around the world. A major factor affecting gender discrimination towards women surrounds
the topic of children. Concentrating on the troubles in China, there is an obvious problem of
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them not having suitable rules and regulations in place to prevent gender inequality
happening with regards to employment discrimination. The lack of gender-equality rules and
regulations in the workplace makes it easy for discriminatory practices to take hold. (Gow,
2013.) An issue that is apparent, not only in the Chinese employment situations but also the
UK, is women having children whilst employed. In China, although it is illegal to
discriminate against employing women for this reason, it still goes on. Established in 1979,
the Chinese one-child policy plays a large role in employment discrimination. (Greenhalgh,
2008.) Women in China recently revealed that some women were being asked to sign labour
contracts stating that they wouldnt get married or get pregnant during certain periods of the
year. Even though it is classed as illegal, such things are still happening. This answers the
question precisely, gender inequality is most definitely present in the workplaces of China in
the 21st century.
In conclusion, the effects of historical happening on the culture and pre-conceptions
of people are different according to what part of the world you live in. As shown above, the
historical happenings in China have shown it to be a male dominant culture, where the
woman was always considered below the man. These old fashioned ideas are now part of the
culture for many Chinese people. Some may say a social norm. This is also the case in
Britain, but I would argue to a lesser degree. The emergence of female power has been more
prevalent in British culture, in my opinion. Efforts by both governments are being shown to
be made but these efforts arent working to a high enough standard in many cases. Laws are
being overlooked and sometimes even ignored, and although workplaces of the 21st century
are seen to be taking into consideration gender equality, are they really? The impact of
historical happening and the culture built into people from when they are born has a large part
to play in gender inequality. If differences in gender roles were not highlighted, then the
children in the world today would think no different towards women or men and have no
preconceived thoughts and feeling of what men and women should be like, act like, or what
jobs they pursue. I believe the resolve for this issue lies in changing cultures that have been
around for hundreds of years. It would be a difficult task but the outcome would make for a
more gender equal society.

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Reflective Analysis
Learning of how women are undervalued and unfairly treated in various labour markets in
various countries spurs me on to aim highly in my career and reach the higher levels of
management. It encourages me to do so because of the lack of representation of women at
these levels. By doing so the power that may come with reaching higher management levels
may enable me to be able to help other women who are undervalued to realise their potential
and for others to realise it also.
An important point that must be taken from the research I have presented is that fact
that laws and legislations put in place by government have side effects that were not initially
thought of when considering the laws. As discussed above, the one child policy in China was
intended to be a method of population control, but as well as that it ended up effecting
employment discrimination too. I have realised that the certain laws may have a positive
outcome for what the law was intended for, but have negative side effects as part of the
implementation.
I have also learnt in the case of the Chinese economy, that even if economies look to
the outside that they will never change, revolution can occur and positive changes made. As
happened to China in 1954, the changes from that day have been a huge step in the right
direction for gender equality in the workplace. It is a lesson to never give up fighting for what
you believe in as even an issue as large as the gender equality, can be changed.
To make significant changes in the attitude towards gender equality in the work place,
I believe it will take everybody working towards the same goal. Officially that is what
everyone is trying to do at the moment, they say. But behind closed doors what actually goes
on is anyones guess. If we all aimed towards one mutual goal then gender inequality in the
workplaces in the 21st century could be significantly reduced. The culture bred into people
has a large part to play for the reasoning as to why gender discrimination still takes place in
the workplaces of the 21st century. Changing culture is a large scale task, but in order to
overcome this discrimination towards women I think it is necessary.
Future research could be based on changing the negative parts of culture of a society
so that this issue gets resolved sooner rather than later, before gender inequality towards
women becomes the norm.

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Reference List
Burnett, J. (2010). Women 's Employment Rights in China: Creating Harmony for Women
in the Workplace. Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies. 17 (2), Article 8.

Constitution of the Peoples Republic of China. (1954). Retrieved from:

http://www.hkpolitics.net/database/chicon/1954/1954ae.pdf

Gazeley, Ian. "Womens pay in British Industry during the second world War." Economic
History Review. (2008): 651-671

Gow, E.. (2013). An Iron Hand in a Velvet Glove:Challenges Facing Chinese Female
Managers. Available: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/the-lauder-globalbusiness-insight-report-2013-building-blocks-for-the-global-economy/. Last accessed 1st
April 2014.

Grant Thornton International Business Report. (2013). Women in senior management:

setting the stage for growth. Available:
http://www.grantthornton.ie/db/Attachments/IBR2013_WiB_report_final.pdf. Last accessed
28th March 2014.

Greenhalgh, S. (2008). Just One Child: Science and Policy in Deng's China. United States
of America: University of California Press.

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Levi, Leone (1863). International commercial law being the principles of mercantile law of
the following and other countries, viz.: England, Scotland, Ireland, British India, British
Colonies, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Buenos Ayres, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hans
Towns, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
United States, Wurtemburg. London: V. and R. Stevens, Sons, and Haynes. p. 23.

National Bureau of Statistics of China. (2009). Employment in China.Available:

http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/. Last accessed 3rd April 2014.

Sharma, S., Sharma, M. (2012). Gender equality in the workplace: the perceptive reality
. Social Sciences Directory. 1 (1), pp 19-33.

The Council of Europe. (n.d). Gender Equality. Retrieved from: http://hub.coe.int/what-wedo/democracy/gender-equality.

Yuan, L (2005). Reconceiving Women's Equality in China : A Critical Examination of

Models of Sex Equality. London: Lexington Books.