Gender Equality in the Workplace

One of the last topics covered in our MBA-CSR class was the gender equality in the workplace.  Gender equality, according to our slides, means “that the different behavior, aspirations, and needs of women and men are considered, valued and favored equally.”  In my current employer, I believe that if not nearly equal, we have more female than men employees.  This has significantly evolved from decades ago.  Since we are a manufacturing company, the manpower before used to be dominated by men.  One of the main reasons was that there were less automated machines in the past, and that the strength of men is needed to operate or lift the parts of some machines.  Aside from the gender preference, our company also used to require a certain height limit.  Yes, this is a form of discrimination.  But the justification of our managers was, they needed taller employees to reach certain parts of the machines. 

As years passed, the physical structures of our machines, as well as their functionalities have also evolved.  Alongside with this machine evolution, is the change in the gender and height preference of the company.  To reduce issues on discrimination, there were some modifications in the facility layout.  The height of some of our machines did not really change over the years.  But the modification made was to place some platforms, so that height requirement will no longer be an issue. Although lifting of some machine parts would really require male employees, more female employees are now hired for almost all other functions.  The strengths and weaknesses of both genders are acknowledged by the company, and that’s where the strategy on where to place them comes into place.  Male employees are usually assigned to processes which may require lifting of certain heavy tools and machine parts.  Females on the other hand, are usually assigned to visual inspections, since women in general have softer hands and have more attention to details.    In terms of management, we have about 100 managers, and I would say that women population for managers is almost the same as men.  However, the top management is still dominated by men. 

Another discrimination issue that we have also eliminated was the requirement on the educational attainment.  Several years ago, the company's minimum educational requirement for our operators is at least 2 years in college or vocational course.  When our HR was evaluating the turnover rates, they have realized that turnover rates were a lot lower before, when the minimum educational requirement was 'at least high school graduate.'  The management reflected that those who did not step in college have a higher loyalty than than those who had at least finished their 2nd year in college.  Because of this, the management decided to revert to its requirement a decade ago, which is to reduce the educational requirement for applicants.

Companies, like what my employer did, should continue to find ways and assess the value of equal opportunity in the workplace.  In setting requirements as to gender, educational background, height, religion, race, etc., companies should carefully evaluate why they really need such limitations.  Existing hiring policies should also be periodically reviewed, and management should evaluate what are the possible workarounds in meeting certain requirements, while eliminating discrimination.