Alexis Cofield
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGMENT
WHY CAN’T WOMEN CATCH A
BREAK AT WORK?
Why Can’t Women Catch a Break at Work? 1
Abstract
This paper is on the unjust and unfair treatment of women in the workplace. As a woman it
is hard to advance in the workplace and as a woman of color it is even harder. The main areas of
inequality that will be addressed are the gender wage gap, views on maternity leave, sexual
harassment, work/life imbalance, gender bias and the lack of role models. These areas were
chosen because in my research they the most reoccurring problems women face. By the time I
reach my conclusion I will have proven how unfair the workplace is towards women even
though equality measures are being put into place.
Introduction
“The structural organization of work has proved more inflexible than women’s ovaries.”–
Rene Almeling. At first glance this quote may seem inappropriate and you may not get it the first
time, but really look at it. It means that the workplace tries hard to make room for women but
they do not give them room to succeed. Historically when you think about women and their
rights we did not have any for a long time and for black women it took even longer. As a society,
we have come a long way, but it is not far enough. Less than 70 years ago women were still seen
as objects. The only difference now is that they can work. Even though women have been proven
to dominate whatever field they enter, they still do not get the credit we deserve. Between the
gender wage gap, sexual harassment, maternity leave, work imbalance, gender bias and the lack
Why Can’t Women Catch a Break at Work? 2
of role models it seems the system has been set up for failure, even when they put their best foot
forward. Truth be told it seems like they cannot catch a break.
Wage Gap
Gender wage gap is the average difference between a man and a women’s annual or monthly
pay for the same job. How is it not illegal you may ask? Simple even if a woman does the same
job, an employer can say he pays a man more for the exact same job based on a certification. Its
technically acceptable but completely unjust. Did you know that in 2015 the gender wage gap
was 20% (Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2017)? That may not seem like much but when
you are a single mother or the economy is in a recession every cent counts. Women earn less
than men in almost every single occupation. According to the Institute for Women’s Research
Policy if our society continues at the current rate when dealing with the gender wage gap women
will not receive equal pay until the year 2059. If you think that sounds bad it is even worse for
women of color stating that it could be until the year 2233 until they receive equal pay.
In April 2017, Anna Brown and Eileen Patten wrote an article discussing gender wage gap.
They stated that it would take women 44 extra days of work to achieve the same pay stub as a
man (Brown and Patten 2017). That may not sound like much but most companies do not offer
that much extra work time and even if they did there could be many factors that could restrict a
woman from working those extra shifts such as being a single mother or being pregnant. I asked
myself if it was as common as I made it out to be and found that roughly four-in-ten mothers said
that at some point in their work life they had taken a significant amount of time off (39%) or
Why Can’t Women Catch a Break at Work? 3
reduced their work hours (42%) to care for a child or other family member. Roughly a quarter
(27%) said they had quit work altogether to take care of these familial responsibilities (Brown
and Eileen 2017).These statistics tells us that society stills sees women as the primary caretakers
and encourages women to stay in that role. Even though it is a new era and men are stepping up
to be more active in their children’s life it seems that society would rather keep them at a desk
and leave women in the house. A perfect example of this is in the story from a woman named
Meghan. Meghan is a British woman with two kids who believed she could have it all. As an
accountant at a big accounting firm in London, she managed junior employees. When her
daughter was born she faced a choice between her career and being the mother she desired to be.
