By Casey King
Most people are well aware of the statistics that show that women are making less than men in the same job. However, there are many other ways those women are being put at a disadvantage in the workplace. According to HarvardIndependent.com women are treated differently the second their job interview starts, “…because both the interviewer and the interviewee have been brought up in a society that expects women to be demure, not aggressive, women are not expected to ask for a higher starting pay (or more of anything ingeneral).”
According to the recent article on Harvard Independent, the main reason women are discriminated against in the workplace is because of pregnancy. Employers don’t want to hire women who may have to leave due to pregnancy or to raise their children. The chance of a promotion or raise is sometimes jeopardized for women who are returning from maternity leave. Some employers may see raising children as a distraction, with the idea that women will have less time for their job with their new responsibilities. Men don’t seem to have the same issues with employers when they decided to raise children. Men can return to the workplace and continue their career, since raising children is often considered women’s work.
Other issues can be stacked against women who include a Women Studies major or minor on their resumes. I have been told by one of my professors, who was reviewing my résumé, that I should take off my Women Studies minor because it would make me seem like the bad stereotype of an angry man-hating feminist. I felt so ashamed that I even thought about taking something that I’m so proud of off my résumé.
Employers have the same idea and stereotypes of women that a lot of society still has. In order to start solving the discrimination of women in the workplace we must try to remove these ideas of women, mothers, and feminists, as well as having more women in higher-ranking positions. Starting a family or being a feminist should not put a woman at a disadvantage, when it doesn’t seem to matter for men in the workplace.