Karina Handaja

Professor Keith
March 7, 2021

Case Discussion Prep: Eliminating the Gender Pay Gap: Gap Inc.
Leads the Way

DISCUSSION:
1. 1. If my company lacked Gap’s core values, understanding recognizing the
contributing factors of gender pay inequality would allow me to design effective mitigation
efforts to strengthen my company’s success. I would begin by considering the value of
diversity for an organization’s prosperity. A diverse workforce are better equipped to manage
a gender-based clientele, which allows them to produce high-quality services that maximizes
organizational performance. Indeed, Gap has a diversity and inclusion council that supports
employee activities and provides opportunities for learning, mentoring, and networking. As
research continues to highlight the benefits of women in leadership positions for a business,
achieving equal pay necessitates more equal female representation at higher levels of the
company. Thus, incorporating diversity within my company’s hiring practices requires
further action to carefully manage and overcome prevailing workplace injustices. To
eradicate the systemic drivers of gender inequality is to also consider the provision equal
leadership opportunities for all deserving candidates, irrespective of their gender. Assigning
equitable opportunities may inspire a diverse organization that projects an optimistic image
of career advancement and mentorship. Providing more leadership roles for female workers
entails further motivation for women to succeed. While it has its advantages, sharing the
same roles and responsibilities could further instigate regressive notions of gender and
stereotypical assumptions that significantly contribute to gender pay inequality. To
compound matters further, women face the majority of workplace offenses and harassment,
including bullying and sexual violence. Removing such adversity inspires my next strategy
to advocate for the implementation of strict anti-harassment policies. Among all else,
occupational segregation is another driving force of gender pay inequality where various
factors have inhibited women from entering and impacting their ability to simply advance in
the workforce. Women struggle with their own tendency to concentrate on lower-paying,
 part-time, and/or flexible jobs. As organizations face limitations in their control over
occupational segregation, a more practical solution would depend on the establishment of
transparent pay structures. In this respect, larger organizations must adopt appropriate
legislation to employ such a solution. This initiative may function similarly to a diverse
workforce, but pay transparency can also serve as an incentive for employees to improve
their productivity. The qualifications for the attainment of higher pay should be based on the
most productive employees, rather than gender or potential threats of departure.
2. 2. Accessible pay data is a necessary precursor for overcoming pay inequalities
and broadening accountability for compensation practices in the workplace. Though it may
not be the solution the issue of gender pay inequality, it is difficult to prove that an injustice
has occurred without pay data. According to research findings in 2018, only 14% of the
largest public U.S. companies disclosed that they had conducted a gender pay equity
analysis, yet of those, only about half published their results. (Here's How Companies Are
Performing on Gender Pay Equity Today) A network of accountability that engages multiple
stakeholders from multiple sectors to hold each other mutually accountable will be required
to address gender inequalities and restrictive gender norms in developing an expansive and
ambitious framework of programs with interlinked goals. Such pay data can expose vital
inequalities that typically go unchecked while also serving as a helpful tool to help locate
particular areas that require additional enforcement scrutiny.

ESSAY:
As women struggle to succeed in the organizational hierarchy, persistent gender
inequalities perpetuate societal discrimination while simultaneously fostering gender-based
tensions within organizations. Fair compensation, non-discriminatory hiring practices, and
workplace equity are crucial for achieving gender pay equality. For starters, hiring discrimination
remains a recurring problem, where individuals employ varying standards to evaluate candidates
of different genders. In certain cases, organizational leadership has neglected and overlooked
such prejudicial conduct, leading to an unconscious contribution towards a prejudice-based
recruitment process.
 Utilization of the justification-suppression model renders it probable to visualize a more
profound elucidation of the development and maintenance of discrimination against women. (A
Model of Gender Prejudice, Power and Discrimination) According to the paradigm, more
qualified female applicants motivate the unlikelihood of prejudiced individuals to hire them for
top-level positions in the absence of gender equality standards. (A Model of Gender Prejudice,
Power and Discrimination) To counteract the affiliation between prejudice, situational
ambiguity, and gender biases in employment decisions, I would prioritize the implementation of
gender equality norms. The model offers further insight regarding the circumstances in which
our internalized cognitions or justifications can hinder prejudice and entail discrimination.
(Siegel, 2010) Accordingly, justifications do not contribute to or perpetuate prejudice; rather,
they reinforce the manifestation of prevailing prejudices. (Siegel, 2010) In other words, many
that harbor preexisting prejudices engage in discriminatory behaviors when allowed to do as
such. (Siegel, 2010) By applying the justification-suppression paradigm, I intend to engage in
constructing ideologies that serve to foster an organizational culture that liberates any suppressed
prejudices. Moreover, the justification-suppression paradigm may also help measure and
distinguish prejudicial intents from expression, supporting the characterization of a matrix of
variables that impacts both justification and suppression rather than those that amount to genuine
prejudice. Ultimately, this paradigm would not only aid in the identification of constraints that
restrain individuals from their ability to express their prejudices, but it would also allow the
formulation of the required mitigation measures for combating gender pay inequality across
organizations.

SOURCES:

“A Model of Gender Prejudice, Power and Discrimination.” A Model of Gender Prejudice,

Power and Discrimination: How ....
Https://Serval.unil.ch/Resource/Serval:BIB_82C11DA0D891.P001/REF,
serval.unil.ch/resource/serval:BIB_82C11DA0D891.P001/REF. 
A Model of Gender Prejudice, Power and Discrimination:
How ...serval.unil.ch/resource/serval:BIB_82C11DA0D891.P001/REF. 
Siegel, E. “Organizational Characteristics as a Justification of Employment
Discrimination.” Semantic Scholar, 1 Jan. 1970,
 www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Organizational-characteristics-as-a-justification-
Siegel/959a9c0589525ab7fc49a9658c8afa8db3716e73. 

(Here's How Companies Are Performing on Gender Pay Equity Today)