SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET

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Student name: LE TRAN GIA BAO Student ID number: B1011714026

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Unit name: Academic English Unit number: FOU106

Tutorial group: Tutorial day and time:
Lecturer or Tutor name: Alan Joseph Hanrtnett

ASSIGNMENT DETAILS

Title: Gender diversity and gender equality are very important for enterprises development.
Length: 2070 Due date: 10.12.2018 Date submitted: 9.12.2018
Home campus (where you are enrolled): 79 Nguyen Dinh Chieu

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ARO 00380 08/15
WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE 1

Women in the workplace

Le Tran Gia Bao
Academic English
December 10, 2018
Alan Joseph Hanrtnett
WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE 2

Women in the workplace

Introduction

The world today is an equal world in many areas including gender. Pande and Ford

(2011) stated that: “Advancing gender equality and female representation in corporate

governance has increasingly become the focus of societal and political debates in various

countries”. It seems that gender diversity and gender equality are something that is being

considered by so many countries now, especially companies. This report strongly agree with

the statement gender diversity and gender equality are very important for enterprise

development. There are three main reasons why the development of the organization will be

easier with gender equality and gender diversity. Firstly, when the company has gender

equality, it will increase productivity and efficiency which will lead to company success in

the business. Secondly, gender diversity will make the company enhance more point of view

from their employees. Thirdly, by eliminate gender discrimination it will be easier for

businesses to recruit employees also the talent pool will be increase. Everything should be

considered in both aspects including gender diversity and gender equality so in this paper the

author will mention one counter argument in this topic and it is the pregnancy of women

which may will cause shortage of employees in the enterprise.

Body

Increase productivity and efficiency

The first reasons why this article support for gender diversity and gender equality are

very important for any organization in the world because it can increase productivity and

efficiency. Effectiveness is significant in decision making process, the effectiveness play a

critical role in business. Also, productivity is obvious and necessary for the success of the
WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE 3

company. The Global Gender Gap Report published by the World Economic Forum states

that gender equality is linked to the economic performance of a country, not just the basic

human right “People and their talents are among the core drivers of sustainable, long-term

economic growth. If half of these talents are underdeveloped or underutilized, growth and

sustainability will be compromised. Moreover, there is a compelling and fundamental values

case for empowering women: women represent one half of the global population—they

deserve equal access to health, education, earning power and political representation.”

(Michel Landel, 2015). Gender equality is a factor to increase the productivity and efficiency

because in a working environment which have gender equality every employee will have the

same opportunities to have the promotion so that the talented or hardworking employee will

go further and develop their career. This indirectly helps the staff to work harder and more

actively this lead the company increase productivity and efficiency. According to Michel

Landel, The chief executive of global-services company Sodexo - a French food services and

facilities management company. He explains its determination to encourage diversity and

promote gender equality. He states that gender equality is the most important benefit of every

employee who represents Sodexo, a place that 420,000 workers must approach similar

opportunities to build up for their career. By taking advantage of the maximum capacity of

men and women, Sodexo is more grounded, more creative, and better serve for more than 70

million buyers around the world. To sum up, gender diversity and gender equality are two

things mandatory for every organization to developing more in the future. By applying

gender equality in the workplace, the employees will get more productivity and efficiency

which are keys factor lead enterprises to the successful in the business.
WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE 4

Point of view from both men and women

Secondly, a great benefit of gender equality and gender diversity that this article

mention here is that gender diversity is an essential factor which help the enterprise gain

specific point of view from both men and women in the workplace. It is a fact that the way

of thinking of men and women is completely different it has been proved by Gregory L. Jantz

Ph.D. The man who establish The Centre A Place of HOPE in Edmonds, Washington. Is the

place to be voted one of the top establishments in the United States to treat depression. The

man who pioneered Body Care in 1980 was Dr. Jantz is an expert on depression, addiction to

technology, anxiety and abuse. The author claimed that “Male brains utilize nearly seven

times more gray matter for activity while female brains utilize nearly ten times more white

matter”. (Gregory, 2014). The author also explained clearly about White matter and Gray

matter. Gray matter are data and activity preparing focus in explicit splotches in an explicit

area of the brain. This can mean a sort of exclusive focus when gray matter is accomplishing

objects. Once men are participating intensely in an assignment or task, they may not show

much affectability to other individuals or their surroundings. Moreover, White matter is

thought to be the brainstorming system administrator and other processing centres combined.

This significant brain-processing difference is presumably one reason that women has the

ability to switch between tasks faster than men. In summary, the gray-white matter difference

may explain why in workplace women are great versatile people, while men better in

decidedly assignment projects. Based on the above scientific studies, gender diversity is a

critical standard for every enterprise by collecting all different views or opinions from

women and men which may help the company to release unique and excellent strategies to

exceed the competitor on the business market - a place only for enterprise with innovation

and development will survive. According to Shook (2018), Accenture’s Chief Leadership and

Human Resources Officer. After surveying more than 22,000 women and men worldwide,
WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE 5

she stated the main ideas of the research in a report named “When She Rises, We All Rise”

(Accenture, 2018). “It is not that women rise when cultures are strong, but rather all people

rise, this is why it is important to look at equality holistically.” (Shook, 2018). Another

interesting is women are four times more likely to ascend to senior administration positions in

societies of equality, men are two times more probable. More essential is the way that both

genders get the advantage. In brief, having both male and female employees will help the

company achieve the diversity of both sexes, with each gender having its own unique

interests by leveraging the strengths from perception both men and women. The enterprise

will be unstoppable development by applying gender diversity into the working environment.

Maternity leave

On the other hand, everything has two sides including gender diversity and gender

equality for businesses. The writer also provides a significant counter argument in this report,

it is the pregnancy of women may cause many disadvantages for organization that they are

working for. It is a fact that woman's pregnancy is a human instinct and it cannot be avoided

when women marriage. When pregnant women work, their productivity will begin to decline,

their performance when they work will not be as good as before, this will make the quality of

the company will fall and this is not good for the company so some companies do not want to

hire too many women as their employees due to this problem. When women get pregnant,

they can take maternity leave a total of 6 months before and after birth and also, they will

receive statutory maternity pay from their organization that they are working for. As stated in

Citizens Advice is a website with active name of the National Association of Citizens

Bureaux. They provide consultation to people on the issues they face and enhances policies

and practices that influence the lives of all people. Women who are pregnant be able to get

maternity pay if they are having a baby and working in an enterprise “Statutory maternity
WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE 6

pay: the standard type of maternity pay - if you're entitled to this it's the legal minimum your

employer can pay you” (Citizens Advice, n.d.). According to this website “Statutory

maternity pay is the type of maternity pay that most women get the employer has to pay if

you work for your employer in the 15th week before your baby is due and have worked for

them for at least 26 weeks before that, your average pay is worked out over 8 weeks,

finishing roughly 15 weeks before your due date”. This can be considered a right for women

when they are pregnant but on the other hand it is a disadvantage for the company when they

have lost a number of employees due to maternity leave this will make a project may be slow

down and the managers take time to find another person that suitable for missing position.

Especially, the enterprise will be lost amount of money for the statutory maternity pay up to 5

or 6 months despite that employee is not contribute anything to the company while the

maternity leave. For example, Microsoft’s staff can have 12 weeks of fully-paid leave. Birth

mothers earn an extra two months of completely paid leave, pregnant women have a right to a

short-term disability for 14 days before the due date. At the end, maternity leave is a right for

employees, but it is a difficult issue for companies to suffer from shortages of staff and huge

maternity pay so that is the disadvantages of gender equality at workplace.

Easy to recruit

It cannot be denied that maternity leave is a huge problem that organization has to

face with, giving birth is the natural law of women and it unavoidable. It may be a

disadvantage of gender equality and gender diversity but there is a benefit by eliminate

gender discrimination will help many enterprises gain the utilities in the recruitment process.

Pursuant to International Labour Organization (ILO) in Viet Nam and Navigos Search

directed a review of more than 10,000 job advertisements in Vietnam through the four

greatest job portals (CareerBuilder, Career Link, Vietnamworks, JobStreet) between late
WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE 7

2014 and early 2015 there is a gender requirement. In recruitment ads in Vietnam, 70%

require men, while only 30% want female candidates to apply. Men are often targeted for

more specialized jobs and require higher skills or more moving jobs, such as engineers,

information technology or senior management positions. In contrast, assistive and office jobs

such as reception, secretary and accounting usually are given to women. Based on the reports,

jobs that are often assigned to women are less likely to be promoted. The gender gaps are

unfair to women, many companies always want to hire men as their employees. By eliminate

gender discrimination enterprises easily in the recruitment process because the in a modern

world nowadays women are equal like man, women can do everything that man can do so

that by instead choosing gender in the recruitment process the recruiter should focus on the

skills or knowledge of the applicants so that the company will get the most effective

employees. For example, when mentioning Vinamilk everyone will think of Mai Kieu Lien.

She is CEO of Vinamilk throughout the company's modernization process she is holding the

highest position in the company. Also, she is the first Vietnamese women administrator in

Forbes "Asia's 50 Power Businesswomen" list and was portrayed by the magazine as an

important factor in changing the Vinamilk brand, not only has it become one of Vietnam's

highest beneficial brands, but also a name crosswise over Asia. Mai Kieu Lien is an example

of women that working in a high position that every think that should be a man, the gender

are characteristics related to the difference between masculine and feminine, it will not affect

a person's talent or skill so that gender equality is essential. Advancing gender equality and

diversity in businesses and occupations is important for women, for organization and for the

nation.
WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE 8

Conclusion

In conclusion, this paper has given numerous benefits that gender equality and gender

diversity are necessary for every enterprise which can help the employees increase their

ability and productivity in the workplace that is a magnificent factor that every company

wants. By applying gender diversity in the workplace. Organization will earn various

perception from both men and women which help enterprise have diverse point of view so

that easily to create more strategies in business. Although maternity leave is an inevitable

problem can affect staff shortages also a huge company's money. But with gender diversity

and gender equality, employee recruitment will be easier to hire staff and expand the talent

pool because enterprise will not have to consider gender anymore, instead of that they care

about the skills and experience of the applicant. Therefore, the company will be able to

choose excellent employees. Gender diversity and gender equality are significant for

enterprise development in the twenty first century.

WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE 9

References

Pande, R., Ford, D. (2011). Gender quotas and female leadership: A review World

Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development. Retrieved from

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4473005/#idm140184868000656title

Landel, M., Devillard, S., Dickson, T., Kossoff, C. (2015). Gender balance and the link to

performance. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-

insights/leadership/gender-balance-and-the-link-to-performance

Guzel, M. (2017). Sodexo: "Focusing on Gender Equality is not a moral obligation but a

clear business imperative". Retrieved from

https://www.empowerwomen.org/en/community/stories/2017/11/sodexo-focusing-

on-gender-equality-is-not-a-moral-obligation-but-a-clear-business-imperative

Gregory L. Jantz Ph.D. (n.d.). Retrieved December 01, 2018, from

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/experts/gregory-l-jantz-phd

Jantz, G. (2014). Brain Differences Between Genders. Retrieved from

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hope-relationships/201402/brain-

differences-between-genders

Clarendon, D. (2018). When Companies Invest in Gender Equality, Everyone Benefits.

Retrieved from https://life.saywerk.com/posts/when-companies-invest-in-gender-

equality-everyone-benefits

Maternity pay - what you're entitled to. (n.d.). Retrieved December 02, 2018, from

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/rights-at-work/parental-rights/maternity-pay-

what-youre-entitled-to/
WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE 10

Gillett, R. (2016). 19 companies that offer some of the best parental leave policies in

America. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/the-best-parental-leave-

policies-in-america-2016-5

Country Brief Summary: Gender equality in recruitment and promotion practices in Viet

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FORBES ASIA'S 50 WOMEN IN THE MIX (n.d.). Retrieved December 03, 2018, from

https://www.forbes.com/pictures/fdgk45ehfi/mai-kieu-lien/#44cf267d600c