Some ways in which organizations balance power in favour of men are described below:
- Encouraging workers to spend long days at the office, making it difficult for women who have family commitments.
- Scheduling meetings at inaccessible times, for example breakfast – this may be difficult for women with families.
- Discriminating against women in selection; this creates and enforces a male majority. According to Kottis (1993), those who run large organizations have a tendency to support and promote people who resemble themselves. Moreover, although men may not admit it, their views about women’s attributes, capabilities, roles and aspirations may be outdated.
- Talking about matters which the woman cannot easily share in, for example football. The male majority bias mentioned above favours this.
- Using derogatory language or jokes – again more pronounced with a male majority.
- Holding “informal” meetings or conversation in locations inaccessible to women, e.g. toilets, private clubs.
- Having inadequate or no child-care facilities.
- Having a poor policy on women returnees, e.g. by demoting them.
- Insistence on social participation, e.g. in maintaining networks through mixing socially, staying out late for a drink or playing sport.
- Maintaining the status quo through internal promotion; if the workforce is already male dominated, this bias is reinforced.
Do you face this problems at work? How did you deal with it?
