Ethical Issues: Tackling The Gender Wage Gap

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For a successful completion of the Managing Diversity course, students were assigned to write a paper about a diversity issue or ethical dilemma where one feels strongly about. The following paper will scrutinize the chosen issue in light of criteria and standards acquired during the courses of Managing Diversity, Quest and Critical Thinking in Research. Further criteria will be drawn upon literature relevant to the topic.
Introduction
This paper explores the different aspects of the gender wage gap, while addressing different views regarding this issue. During the third Working with Diversity class, the concept of gender relations was addressed, raising the question whether the roles of men and women worldwide differ. (Darmon, 2014) This …show more content…

Next to this, it is seen as a way to prevent allegations of gender pay inequity and to avoid costly discrimination complaints, which is something that has occurred more often in the past few years, as women are starting to recognize the importance of being treated equally. (Weissmann, 2012) Also, women will feel more appreciated and respected if their wage would be similar to those of men, which increases their own productivity and willingness to achieve organisational goals. However, a study done by the World Values Survey (2014) has showed that if gender gap inequality keeps existing, women will become less effective employees seen that their perception of this discrimination will make them demotivated to work. (Fishmann, 2008) So this does not only have an effect on the emotional state of women, but also on organisations’ …show more content…

Warren Farrel argues that women are more qualified for jobs that pay less, as he believes that women are more intuitive whilst men are more rational, making men more suitable candidates for higher positions and thus, a higher wage. (Farrel, 2012) However, this theory is disputed by facts, seen that it is proven that companies with the highest proportion of women in their top management outperform those with the least, by 53 percent return on equity (Darmon, 2014), 42 percent return on sales and 66 percent return on investment capital. (Catalyst, 2014) The aforementioned numbers clearly show that women are not less suitable candidates for higher positions, and that they should therefore not be disadvantaged when it comes to