Diversity efforts were driven in the 80’s, and early '90’s primarily by the need to begin to adapt to the realities of a shrinking talent pool, and revised legislation ‘outlawing’ discriminatory HR practices based on color and gender. For instance, ‘Equal Employment Opportunity’ practices and subsequent ‘Valuing Diversity’ efforts focused on a subset of the population, requiring employers to increase the presence of under-represented groups in their workforce.
Is it fair that men make more money than women do, even though they both have the same qualifications? Is it fair that women are less likely than men to get promoted are? Is it fair that women start at lower positions in the work place than men do? Discrimination in the work place is hindering gender relations in today’s modern society. Women are getting fed up with always being treated unfairly by the employers. They feel that employers should base their decision on who can do the better job, not who is the male and who is the female.
Hiring, promotion, and salaries are the three main factors that separate the men from the women in the work place. In hiring, men are much more likely to get a job than women are. Although in the last 10 to 15 years, women have gradually closed the gaps. In 1974, 14 to 25% of women earned bachelor degrees in computer and mathematical science. While in 1989, the women that earned the same degrees were 33 to 37% of the graduates. Now, because the percentage of bachelor degrees has increased during that period, you would think that the hiring increase would be the same.
Well, the hiring of women has only increased about 5%. So, are employers really looking for who gets hired with what degree or is it irrelevant? I feel that.....
