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Gender Divide: All you need to know

Gender Divide: All You Need to Know

Gender Divide: All You Need to Know

 7-9 minutes 

Gender divide, also termed gender gaps, refers to the imbalances in society between a man and a woman''s gender. It is the discrepancies in the unfair discriminations and differences between the genders, and more particularly, that between man and woman that leads to the case of gender divide. In fact, it is the most common type of discrimination and is largely experienced in places of work.

In this blog we are going to understand in detail about gender divide-

  • What is Gender Divide?
  • Gender Gap at Workplace
  • Gender Divide Statistics
  • Gender Divide Issues
  • Gender Divide Solutions
  • Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is Gender Divide?

Gender divide can be defined as the differences encountered by the various genders, especially men and women, in society. It ranges from work that is done in discrimination according to gender and in roles that are categorized either as masculine or feminine. All these situations target women. However, men are also discriminated against in several ways. There are many percentages with an incremental increase for the various divides, and when summed up, it forms the percentage, p. The gap is thus calculated using the following formula:

A Gartner report says that there are less than 10% of females in the leadership teams.

Not only women, but even men face these comparisons at workplaces. We have seen people talking like, ""Obviously! You are a woman; you will be good at this!"" or ""We have a man in the team. The calculations will be fine, of course!""

Everyone has made up their minds about some particular job suiting a particular gender. Employers prefer to have the company of a male member on the finance team because they have a mindset that a male employee is great with numbers and calculations. While they would prefer having a female lead in the sales department—feminine face, convincing for the clients! How is that even justifiable?

Gender Divide Statistics

Either the women are underpaid or they are not on board. It''s not just the corporate world, but all other male dominated workforce.

According to a report by the International Labour Organization, a UN agency responsible for advancing social and economic justice by setting international labor standards, the current global labor force participation rate for women is just under 47 percent, while the rate for men is 72 percent. This huge gap of 25 percent reflects the workplace situation.

To begin with, women are not willing to work when they have a family due to all the responsibilities. According to NFHS, there are only 32% of married women who are married and employed in India. Approximately 15% of the women are not paid at all.

Gender Divide Issues

Gender Inequality is spread almost in every corner of the world. There are hundreds of reasons that cause a divide between genders.

  • Most of them, women and girls, are deprived of proper education and health facilities.
  • Moreover, even if they get higher education, they are deprived of opportunities to manifest their worth in various forms of work.
  • Women are inadequately represented in decision-making at all levels.
  • If a woman reaches a higher level, then other types of ill treatment like harassment, bullying, physical attacks, and intimidations are received by her. A woman has to face this type of behavior at every place. Somehow, it discourages them from working anymore.

Gender Divide Solutions

We know what the problem is, but do we know what the solutions will be? What can we do in order to bring a full stop to this discrimination between the genders? We made the problems, so we have the solutions.

  • Promote education: The most important and strongest solution to diminish the gender divide is educating women. Most of the women are not even aware about their rights. They are taught to limit themselves in their homes and they do so. People say that if you educate a man, you benefit one family but if you educate a woman, you benefit the whole society.
  • Stringent protection rules: There should be strict rules and regulations applicable to an organization against protecting a woman that leads to the legal action, in case.
  • Promote gender equality: It is significant for all; more so for the men to understand that a job is done by a person and not by a gender. Just because a man is good at something doesn''t send the hint that a female can''t be good, in fact any better. No job is specified to any gender.
  • Value the work performed by a woman: Appreciate each time a woman does a job to raise their self-esteem and encourage them to bring forward more ideas. Words of affirmation play an important role in the emotional health of women.
  • Encourage male parental leave: Alas. Men also need certain parental leaves to take care of their children at home when their wives are out for work. Encouraging paternal leaves just like maternity leaves can also help to broaden our mindset.
  • Decision making: One should take a female opinion while making a decision since everyone has their point of view. Perhaps taking the viewpoint of a female could help you think in a whole new way.

If any person possesses a work experience and qualifications in a particular skill and dedication, they are the only person to do justice to the role or job that is assigned to them. There is no way a particular sex can do a certain kind of job.

We''re living in the 21st century. That''s when we live. We have the best of things in the world and yet such scenarios. No form of discrimination is permitted at any cost. We know the problem; we know the solution. We are the generation to bring change to the world.

Hope this helped you with some relevant information concerning mindfulness of work. We''ll bring more in for you! Till then keep reading, keep thinking and keep HRing.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How does gender disparity manifest in the workplace?

In the workplace, there are several ways through which gender disparity is manifested:

  • Unequal pay.
  • Disparity in promotions.
  • Gender-based imbalance of individuals in power.
  • Stereotyping and prejudice.
  • Pregnancy and maternity discrimination.
  • Lack of access to the correct type of training.
  • Lack of male paternal leaves.

What is the influence of gender-based inequality on mental health?

At times, gender disparity takes a huge toll on an employee''s mental health. When one feels treated differently from others, one begins to have some sort of self-doubt or feeling that ""I don''t belong here."" It stuffs them with several under-confidences. In extreme cases, it could lead to the increase in stress level, anxiety, and feelings of depression.

What are the measures that an organization can adopt to encourage gender diversity in leadership?

An organization may promote gender diversity through:

  • Provision of equal gender pay to all the genders.
  • Encouraging the third gender to participate in the organization.
  • Flexible work policy.
  • Safe and sound workplace.
  • Respectable behavior to all.

How does media contribute to gender stereotypes and inequality?

Media influences our life every day. The impact that occurs due to media, especially social media, is really profound. We see on social media how it is only women who suffer, but there are thousands of men also being discriminated against. The reality is extremely different from how things are shown in media.

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