Gender Inequality at Work: How Does It Happen and What Are the Consequences for Women, Families, and the Economy?

In America, women make up 56% of workers in the 20 lowest-paid jobs, and just 29% of those in the 20 highest-paid jobs.

Women are more likely to graduate college, but still earn less than men.

Let's examine why in a female worker dominated world, where women are more educated than men, work harder than men, live longer than men, and practically out perform men in almost every way -  but yet still can't climb the corporate ranks to assume power and authority that men still horde.

Despite over half the American workforce being women, women have really experienced zero progressive changes in American society, and are in fact stepping backwards when a notoriously perverted sexist "runs" our country and reproductive rights are getting whittled away, whether it's another an abortion clinic closing at an unprecedented rate, someone debating if birth control should be illegal instead of free and accessible, or if Planned Parenthood is evil or useful.   

The glass ceiling needn't be so thick or invisible.  For in essence the patriarchy, boils down to propaganda under the guise of entertainment and advertising.  It's truly an illusion of power.      

When it comes to work privileges the male experience, as it is in other life areas, is extremely different to the female experience.  Men at work are often unaware that they're excluding women, are often confused as to how their behavior effects women, and in general, most men think that there isn't a problem with gender discrimination because they personally haven't experienced sexism or have "seen it" happen.  Men are also ill-equipped to recognize sexism or how to disable toxic masculinity.   

Without exploring their own biases men are typically seen as being more competent automatically, simply because of their inherent maleness.  This patterned systematic exclusion prevents women from achieving their full potential and workplace discrimination has been proven to lead to health problems in women.  In the 2016 World Economic Forum Report, the U.S. ranked 28th out of 145 countries for gender pay equity. 

Popular opinion pieces often argue that women don’t climb up the corporate ladder because they don’t ask for promotions or because they’re not “aggressive” enough at work.  But empirical evidence completely dispels this myth. Here’s a summary of a case study of how Google continues to ignore organizational gender issues by focusing on individual personalities rather than on organizational solutions. 

Scientific evidence shows that highly qualified women with higher education degrees will ask for promotions and they are routinely overlooked in favor of male applicants. This occurs even when women have the same experience, training, and they are working the same hours with the same responsibilities as men. The real issue is that workplaces are structured around men’s needs, rewarding men’s efforts and ignoring women’s professional contributions even when they have the same or better qualifications as men.  These same workplaces are not structured around women's needs and rarely acknowledges that women even have needs, let alone different needs than men.  

Check out this great interactive to see how powerful American women are typically described.  In America.  By other Americans.  

Typical leadership adjectives used to describe males:

ASSERTIVE 
AGGRESSIVE
INDEPENDENT
DYNAMIC
CONFIDENT
COMPETITIVE
EXPERIENCED 
STRONG
EMPHATIC

INSISTENT

Typical leadership adjectives used to describe females:

BOSSY
PUSHY
STAND-OFFish
UNREASONABLE
STUBBORN
UNCOOPERATIVE 
CAPABLE
TOUGH
LOUD

NAGGY

Adjectives for what anyone would want in a good leader, despite gender:

COMPASSIONATE 
ORGANIZED
HONEST
INNOVATIVE
INTELLIGENT
AMBITIOUS 
DECISIVE
EQUITABLE
EMPHATIC 

BRAVE

Where does the notion of men being in charge of men come from?

When will the current situation change?

Gender misconceptions happen so easily in the American workplace, no matter how racially diverse, because of how the female is portrayed in media.  How women are portrayed in the media distorts the true actual reality. It creates a male bias preconception of the female.  It creates a female bias preconception of the self and an unquestioning acceptance of the treatment of the male.  Both of these preconceptions are complete misconceptions. 

When it comes to any type of news print, radio, or TV - 46% of stories reinforce gender stereotypes whereas only 6% of stories highlight gender equality issues. 

It's not difficult to see how such a thing as the illusion of male rule can perpetuate when you see info-graphics/statics like this, knowing that 73% of media management jobs are held by men, compared to the remaining paltry 27% being held by women.

Continuing to deceive ourselves that we live in a patriarchy isn't doing our species or any other species of anything, anywhere on this planet, any favors.  

There is no glass ceiling.

What dismays me is that so many American women adopt masculine personas to achieve what they perceive as equality, but true freedom is getting to be whatever person you want to be, in however you channel and express your unique divine animation to share with the world at large, and may that forever be demonstrated by your individual random acts of kindness to others, no matter their gender.

Let's hope in the years ahead that future corporations will be run with more compassion and humanity.  More than just a nickel of sick days, on-site company provided day care, extended paid maternal and paternal leave, period days for chicks (they do it somewhere in Africa), let us praise the grand mothers of our truly great nation.  

Also since we navigate our world with money, when more women have more spending power the attitude of advertising will follow that flow of money.  

It is up to women to empower other women.  Become more righteous.  Arm yourselves with intelligence.  Never think you need a man for anything.  You can want a man.  You can love a man.

But sister, you ain't never ever gonna need a man.   

So you don't need to attract his sexual designs.  He is a gnat.  His libido is commonplace.

Get your daughters involved in STEM, get them away from pink plastic and notions of being a princess now, before you have an unruly tween; get your sons away from this toxic masculinity as it's poison for both sexes.  The materialism, the self-seeking, self-pleasure seeking...it's all horribly toxic for everyone.  America is like Donkey Island from the film Pinocchio or like that bit from The Wall where all the kids are being ground to bits by the teacher.

This is an extremely bleak reality!!!

We could be traveling the stars, terra-forming other planets into Earth 2.0, or finding new Goldilocks planets.   

We could be a society of artisans, savoring and celebrating life.

Not suffering, slaving away.

I hope for the future of the whole human race.  We cannot give up.  We cannot be blindsided by the things that ultimately don't really matter at all. We are all connected and I tussle and toss on the waves with you.