CHALLENGES OF GENDER DISCRIMINATION AND PAY INEQUALITY ENCOUNTERED BY WOMEN IN SOUTH AFRICAN WORKPLACES
Main Article Content
Phoke Alpha Rakgwata
Tumelo Sekgobela
Women experience various challenges that leads to gender inequality. The patriarchal system in various countries subject women to slavery and undue pressure. Globally, women continue to be subject of inequality and are not treated the same way that other genders would. Religion, culture, norms and customs are some of the elements that contribute to the challenges faced by women throughout the world. The patriarchal system believes in subjecting women to have less rights as compared to the male gender. The purpose of this paper was to address the challenges faced by women in their workplaces on daily basis. It further sought to challenge the perception about women incompetence in performance of their duties. Gender equality will achieve its intended purpose when there is diversity and equal treatment of all genders. The study adopted the qualitative research approach to gain better understanding of the phenomenon within the natural setting. The ecological theory was used as a theoretical framework to understand the gender discrimination, inequality and pay gap. The theory was applied to bring foundation and confirm the findings of the study. The study found that South African workplace is vulnerable for gender discrimination, inequality and pay gap. Transformation of the workplace should be prioritized to be inclusive of all genders. It further highlighted the importance of the implementations of the existing policies.
Adelekan, A., & Bussin, M. (2014). The impact of workplace bullying on mental health: A review. South African Journal of Human Resource Management, 12(1), 1-12.
Auspurg, K., Hinz, T., & Sauer, C. (2017). Why should women get less? Evidence on the gender pay gap from multifactorial survey experiments. American Sociological Review, 82(1), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122416683245
Babic, A., & Hansez, I. (2021). The glass ceiling for women managers: Antecedents and consequences for work-family interface and well-being at work. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 618250. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.618250
Blau, F. D., & Kahn, L. M. (2020). The gender pay gap: Have women gone as far as they can? In Inequality in the United States (pp. 105-126). Routledge.
Brown, R. L., & Moloney, M. E. (2019). Intersectionality, work, and well-being: The effects of gender and disability. Gender & Society, 33(1), 94-122. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243218816559
Buchanan, S., Ruebottom, T., & Riaz, S. (2018). Categorizing competence: Consumer debt and the reproduction of gender-based status differences. Organization Studies, 39(9), 1179-1202. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840618777997
Burt, R. S. (1998). The gender of social capital. Rationality and Society, 10(1), 5-46. https://doi.org/10.1177/104346398010001001
Busetto, L., Wick, W., & Gumbinger, C. (2020). How to use and assess qualitative research methods. Neurological Research and Practice, 2(14), 120-131. https://doi.org/10.1186/s42466-020-00067-7
Bussin, M., & Niebaber, A. (2014). Workplace bullying and employee outcomes. Journal of Human Resource Management, 12(2), 101-116.
Campos-Serna, J., Ronda-Pérez, E., Artazcoz, L., Moen, B. E., & Benavides, F. G. (2013). Gender inequalities in occupational health related to the unequal distribution of working and employment conditions: A systematic review. International Journal for Equity in Health, 12(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-9276-12-12
Carlsen, L. (2020). Gender inequality and development. Sustainability Science, 15(3), 759-780. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-020-00841-3
Chaudhary, R., & Verick, S. (2014). Female labor force participation in India and beyond. ILO Asia-Pacific Working Paper Series, ILO, New Delhi.
Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Doldor, E., Sealy, R., & Vinnicombe, S. (2016). Accidental activists: Headhunters as marginal diversity actors in institutional change towards more women on boards. Human Resource Management Journal, 26, 285–303. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12083
Einarsen, S., Lieberman, J., & Williams, J. (2011). The role of workplace bullying in mental health. International Journal of Work Organisation and Emotion, 4(3), 255-267. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJWOE.2011.042531
Etikan, I., Musa, S. A., & Alkassim, R. S. (2016). Comparison of convenience sampling and purposive sampling. American Journal of Theoretical and Applied Statistics, 5(1), 1-4. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajtas.20160501.11
Grant Thornton. (2012). Women in senior management: Still not enough. International Business Report.
Haile, S., Emmanuel, T., & Dzathor, A. (2016). Barriers and challenges confronting women for leadership and management positions: Review and analysis. International Journal of Business & Public Administration, 13(1).
Han, X., Mortimer, J., & VanHeuvelen, T. (2023). Perceived discrimination in the workplace and mental health from early adulthood to midlife. Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, 14(1), 22-47. https://doi.org/10.14301/llcs.v14i1.730
Harnois, C. E., & Bastos, J. L. (2018). Discrimination, harassment, and gendered health inequalities: Do perceptions of workplace mistreatment contribute to the gender gap in self-reported health? Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 59(2), 283-299. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022146518769914
Hersch, J. (2015). Sexual harassment in the workplace. IZA World of Labor. https://doi.org/10.15185/izawol.180
Hora, E. A. (2014). Factors that affect women’s participation in leadership and decision-making positions. Asian Journal of Humanity, Art and Literature, 1(2), 97-118.
Kahu, E. R., & Motsoena, T. (2014). Student engagement: A review of the literature. South African Journal of Higher Education, 28(3), 1037-1056.
Kellers, S. (2020). What does mental health have to do with well-being? Bioethics, 34(3), 228-234. https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.12765
Kim, J., Henly, J. R., Golden, L. M., & Lambert, S. J. (2020). Workplace flexibility and worker well-being by gender. Journal of Marriage and Family, 82(3), 892-910. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12637
Kleven, H., Landais, C., & Søgaard, J. E. (2019). Children and gender inequality: Evidence from Denmark. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 11(4), 181-209. https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20170375
LaMontagne, A. D., Martin, A., Page, K. M., Reavley, N. J., Noblet, A. J., Milner, A. J., Keegel, T., & Smith, P. M. (2014). Workplace mental health: Developing an integrated intervention approach. BMC Psychiatry, 14(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-014-0239-1
Maidaniuc-Chirilă, T. (2019). Gender differences in workplace bullying exposure. Journal of Psychological & Educational Research, 27(1), 1-12.
Mandel, H., & Semyonov, M. (2014). Gender pay gap and employment sector: Sources of earnings disparities in the United States, 1970–2010. Demography, 51(5), 1599-1618. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-014-0322-7
Marvasti, A. B. (2014). Qualitative research in sociology. SAGE.
McMahon, M. C., & McMahon, B. T. (2016). The National EEOC ADA research project: History, available data, and basic findings. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 44(3), 333-342. https://doi.org/10.3233/JVR-160835
Meara, K., Pastore, F., & Webster, A. (2020). The gender pay gap in the USA: A matching study. Journal of Population Economics, 33, 271-305. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-020-00801-7
Miller, K., & Vagins, D. J. (2018). The simple truth about the gender pay gap. American Association of University Women.
Mogapaesi, T. (2019). Sexual harassment in the workplace and women’s access to justice: Lessons for Botswana from a South African perspective. Commonwealth Law Bulletin, 45(3), 431-453. https://doi.org/10.1080/03050718.2019.1589427
Moodley, T. (2018). Progression of South African women in the workplace: A study of the right to development and relevant legal framework that underpins the eradication of gender disparity in the workplace (Doctoral dissertation).
Mouton, N., Louw, G. P., & Strydom, G. L. (2013). Present-day dilemmas and challenges of the South African tertiary system. International Business & Economics Research Journal, 12(3), 285-300.
Musetsho, M., Isac, N., & Dobrin, C. (2021). Gender inequalities in the workplace: Case study of South Africa. Management and Economics Review, 6(1), 70-81. https://doi.org/10.2478/mer-2021-0007
Nani, G. V. (2011). Challenges faced by Zimbabwean urban women entrepreneurs (PhD thesis). University of Free State, Bloemfontein.
Nielsen, M. B., & Einarsen, S. (2012a). Outcomes of workplace bullying: A meta-analytic review. Work & Stress, 26(4), 309–332. https://doi.org/10.1080/02678373.2012.734709
Olsen, W., Gash, V., Sook, K., & Zhang, M. (2018). The gender pay gap in the UK: Evidence from the UKHLS. IZA Discussion Papers, No. 11669.
Palinkas, L. A., Horwitz, S. M., Green, C. A., Wisdom, J. P., Duan, N., & Hoagwood, K. (2015). Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed method implementation research. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 42(5), 533-544. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-013-0528-y
Patel, M. D., & Dutta, S. (2017). Problems and challenges faced by professional working women in food processing companies in Gujarat. International Journal for Innovative Research in Multidisciplinary Field, 3(2), 2010-2015.
Pawar, M. (2014). Understanding workplace bullying: A literature review. International Journal of Business and Management, 9(6), 57-65. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijbm.v9n6p57
Qian, Y., & Fan, W. (2019). Men and women at work: Occupational gender composition and affective well-being in the United States. Journal of Happiness Studies, 20(7), 2077-2099. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-018-9991-x
Rahman, S. (2016). The advantages and disadvantages of using qualitative and quantitative approaches and methods in language "testing and assessment" research: A literature review. Journal of Education and Learning, 6(1), 102-112. https://doi.org/10.5539/jel.v6n1p102
Robin, J. E., & Padavic, I. (2020). What’s really holding women back? Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2020/06/whats-really-holding-women-back
Safa, M., & Akter, S. (2015). Challenges of female journalists in Bangladesh. Humanities and Social Sciences, 3(5), 207-214.
Sakha, S., & Shah, N. (2019). Exploring the impact of workplace bullying on employee performance. International Journal of Human Resource Studies, 9(3), 210-226. https://doi.org/10.5296/ijhrs.v9i3.14773
Salin, D. (2021). Workplace bullying and gender: An overview of empirical findings. In Dignity and inclusion at work (pp. 331-361).
Schaufeli, W. B., & Salanova, M. A. R. I. S. A. (2013). In the workplace: An introduction to contemporary work psychology.
Schaufeli, W. B., Salanova, M., & Marisa, P. (2013). Burnout and engagement in university students: A multi-national study. Educational Psychology, 33(3), 329-350. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2013.767871
Schmader, T., & Sedikides, C. (2017). Situated authenticity as fit to environment (SAFE): The implications of social identity for fit, authenticity, and self-segregation. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 22, 228-259. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868317713305
Shaka, T., & Shah, N. A. (2019). Challenges faced by women in journalism: An analytical case study of the situation in Pakistan. Pakistan Journal of Women’s Studies: Alam-e-Niswan, 26(2), 149-172.
Shastri, A. (2014). Gender inequality and women discrimination. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 19(11), 27-30. https://doi.org/10.9790/0837-191112730
Shikha, C., & Yuvika. (2014). Gender discrimination & leadership: An analysis. Envision-Apeejay’s Commerce & Management Journal, 112-117.
Stemarks, A., & Son Hin, L. (2015). A qualitative study on the effects of bullying in the workplace. International Journal of Workplace Health Management, 8(4), 304-318. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJWHM-04-2015-0031
Steyn, R., & Jackson, L. T. B. (2015). The influence of workplace bullying on employee well-being. Journal of Industrial Psychology, 41(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.4102/jip.v41i1.1221
Tiwari, M., & Mathur. (2018). Gender-based discrimination faced by females at the workplace: A perceptual study of working females. Journal of Entrepreneurship Education.
Velez, B. L., Cox Jr, R., Polihronakis, C. J., & Moradi, B. (2018). Discrimination, work outcomes, and mental health among women of color: The protective role of womanist attitudes. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 65(2), 178-190. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000257
Verma, M., Srivastva, P., Sharma, P., Mishra, P., Gupta, P., Anisha, M., & Dwivedi, P. (2022). Challenges and issues of working women in the 21st century. ECS Transactions, 107(1), 10333.
Von Holdt, K. (2013). South Africa: The transition to violent democracy. Review of African Political Economy, 40(138), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/03056244.2013.789913
Wijedasa, N. (2015). Women journalists fighting the good fight. In W. Cowley, D. Page, & K. Pinto-Jayawardena (Eds.), Embattled Media: Democracy, Governance, and Reform in Sri Lanka (pp. 1-16). Sage Publications.
Zastrow, C. (2013). Introduction to social work and social welfare: Empowering people (5th ed.). Brooks/Cole.
Zheng, C., Nauman, S., & Jahangir, N. U. (2024). Workplace bullying and job outcomes: Intersectional effects of gender and culture. International Journal of Manpower. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJM-11-2022-0563
