Running head: RESEARCH PROPOSAL 1

Gender Discrimination in the Workplace

Name

Institution
RESEARCH PROPOSAL 2

Gender Discrimination in the Workplace

Introduction

The topic for the research proposal regarding a social issue is gender discrimination in the

workplace. It entails imposing particular individuals among the workmates on inequality based

on their gender. Basically women are more prone to gender inequality than men since they are

treated less than men (Harvard University, 2017). Gender discrimination in the workplace has

led to treatment of a particular gender group as being less important or less productive. The

discriminated group, particularly women, is given less opportunities regarding benefits and terms

of employment such as promotion, appointments, and wage gap (Harvard University, 2017). In

essence, gender discrimination in the workplace is essential in the sociological study of diversity

since diversity emphasizes on equality regarding gender among people.

Data Collection

The data will be collected through a descriptive research methodology, where various

aspects regarding gender in the workplace will be considered. A sample of ten professionals,

including five men and women, will be selected from various educational and corporate

institutions and interviewed regarding their workplace. In the educational institution, the

participants will be selected based on their professional organization membership, and from both

the academic and administrative departments. In the corporate sector the participants will be

selected randomly from various sectors of the organizations. Therefore, a sample size of ten

individuals, with five women and five men, will be interviewed on various attributes regarding

their workplace.

The tool that will be used for the collection of data is the questionnaire. The

questionnaires will be open-ended with thirteen questions to be answered by the participants. The
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questions will be designed to measure various aspects of gender equality in the workplace. Such

aspects will include discrimination on incentives granted, general discrimination in the

workplace, employee performance and the impact of the discrimination level on the productivity

of the organization. Additional statistics regarding demographic variables of the participants will

also be collected. The variables include personal and educational background of participants, and

current personal life and professional level. The statistics of the male and female participants will

be analyzed differently and then compared to obtain the gender disparity in the workplace.

Questionnaires are appropriate in this study since the participants will provide an in-depth data

that cannot be obtained through the other methods. Besides, the perception of the participants

regarding gender disparity will also be obtained through such an approach.

Resources

Parcheta, Kaifi and Khanfar (2013) conducted a study on the compensation of women in

the workplace. They also researched on the ration of male to female employees at various levels

of organizations. The study showed that women earn less per dollar compared to their male

counterparts in the same level of employment. They also realized there was equal distribution of

male and female workers in the mid and low level positions in management. However, the top

level management positions are dominated by male employees over the female ones. the study

will assist in identifying the cause of the wage gap in workplaces.

Ahmad & Naseer (2015) also researched on the difference in the level of women

discrimination in the workplace between the two effects namely; the glass ceiling and the sticky

floor effects. Their results established that the sticky floor effect had a higher impact on women

in Sweden than the glass ceiling effect. They also established that women with younger children

at the workplace are prone to severe gender penalty. In addition, their research also showed that
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older and young female workers are impacted more by the gender penalty than the middle aged

ones. The research provides further insight on gender discrimination at the workplace is related

to age.

In addition, Uzma (2004) conducted a study where the results indicated that the gender

identity is established through parents, environment, and society. They discovered that the

attitude of the parents on their children leads to creation of the gender identity. The parents

regard their daughters as vulnerable, timid, and weak who need to be protected by men. Such

perception in the society has led to discrimination of women regarding gender. The study assists

in identifying the source of the gender discrimination that is experienced at the workplace.

Theories

There are various sociological theories that are attributed to gender inequality. The three

sociological theories that will be used in the analysis of the collected data include the structural

functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionist perspectives. The structural functionalist

perspective is linked to the pre-industrial era where division of labor was based on gender. The

responsibility of men was on material needs while women cared and nursed for children

(Mooney, Knox, & Schacht, 2007). Such a theory will be applicable in examining the root cause

of gender discrimination at the workplace since it is related to the belief system. The conflict

perspective is based on two belief systems that encourage gender inequality. It asserts that

women are significantly valuable in the homesteads and inferior outside the homes. The theory

will provide further insight on how the ancient belief system shapes gender inequality that exists

in the current workplaces. The third theory symbolic interactionist perspective explains gender

inequality through socialization process (Mooney, Knox, & Schacht, 2007). Men are accorded

the instrumental roles while women are accorded the expressive roles. The perspective will
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explain why men are given more task-oriented roles while women are given the emotionally

supportive and nurturing roles.

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References

Ahmad, M., & Naseer, H. (2015). Gender bias at workplace: Through sticky floor and glass

ceiling: A comparative study of private and public organizations of

Islamabad. International Journal of Management and Business Research, 5(3), 249-260.

Conference on Social Sciences: Endangered and Engendered, Fatima Jinnah Women

Harvard University. (2017, April 13). Gender Inequality and Women in the Workplace.

Retrieved July 22, 2018, from https://www.summer.harvard.edu/inside-summer/gender-

inequality-women-workplace

Mooney, L., Knox, D. & Schacht, C. (2007). The Three Main Sociological Perspectives.

Retrieved from

https://laulima.hawaii.edu/access/content/user/kfrench/sociology/the%20three%20main%

20sociological%20perspectives.pdf

Parcheta, N., Kaifi, B. A., & Khanfar, N. M. (2013). Gender inequality in the workforce: A

human resource management quandary. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 4(3), 240.

University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, 84-96

Uzma Shoukat. (2004). Literacy and women’s identity, Proceedings of the International