the exploration of the extent to which the UK discrimination legislation prevents gender discrimination”
Findings and results for the UK discrimination legislation
In order to illustrate the viability of this study in relation to the research questions and the literature review provided, there emanates the need to conduct an empirical research that will enable collection of real time results. The aim for the research and consequently the findings will be to enable the formation of objective conclusions regarding the UK discrimination legislation structure as stipulated in the constitution and other bills. It is important therefore to note that the government of the United Kingdom has been vital in the institution of legislations against various types of discrimination among them being gender stereotypes, gender discrimination, disabled women and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGB&T) discriminations. The rationale for these findings therefore is driven by the need to elucidate the attitude and views of the people in a bid to understand the dynamics underplaying the modern UK’s workplaces (Paul, 2012).
In a research spanning the months of October and January, 2013 and involving 1200 questionnaires, questions were strategically selected to address the various issues of discrimination facing the people of UK. The questions were varied in terms of base sizes as well as their confidence intervals. The research data collected was organized and analyzed using the weighted data approaches which enabled the making of result findings. The results highlighted in this paper were significantly tested at a 95% level of statistical significance where statistical significance represents an analysis that ascertains whether the differences in the finding occurred by mere guesswork, chance or luck. This further implies that with a 95% margin, there is a limited chance of 0.05 chance of inaccuracy in the findings presented in this paper. Likewise the data collection tables exhibited unweights base numbers excluding non-respondents among the anticipated 1200 respondents. As a result the data findings and inferences are properly subjected to sampling variability which ascertains the credibility of the results collected (Disability Rights Commission 2007; Department for Work and Pensions 2009).
The scope of this paper is focused on addressing the questions of prejudice among the people of UK and how the prejudice affects the attainment of the discrimination legislations, secondly they address discrimination and work place flexibility and third the findings address social economic factors and their influence on the discrimination legislations. The research had to measure the attitude of the people because it is a key factor in determining predispositions and feelings harbored by the people themselves towards discrimination in the UK. It is clear that people have either a positive or negative attitude towards discrimination. It plays a role in achieving equality since it instigates behavior among groups of people as well as individuals. Attitude is further linked to knowledge which will help bring out the wider picture of how people in the UK view discrimination and their understanding of the various discrimination legislations (Dowling & Valenzuela, 2010). Looking back at historical factors associated with women discrimination at the places of work and in the society at large, there were factors that affected women’s pay determination therefore the findings made are further aimed at initiating hypothesis for future workplaces reforms. By so doing, evidence will be drawn is support of transformational attitudes focused on increasing the flexibility of women in the workplace which has in the past been both a social and structural issue.
From the data collected, it was evident that at least 50% of the 1001 of the respondents supported the fact that women have played a big role in inducing change in workplaces all over the world. Apart from few regions where women are still marginalized and discriminated on the basis of gender discrimination, women disability and gender stereotypes, the UK perspective on gender equity is about to enter its last phase. Kathleen Christensen a renowned American advocate for discrimination legislations supports the need for revolutionary changes in the Euro-American workplace flexibility and pay policies so as to facilitate the attainment of the last phase towards the implementation of the discrimination legislations. According to this research analysis, it was also identified that though modern day workplaces have evolved to empower women, there are few instances relating to women flexibility and pay discrepancies in the United Kingdom (Osawa, 2010). This attitude is supported by few xenophobic employees who still hold high stereotypic ideas regarding the place of the woman in the workplace.
As much as 20% of the respondents dissociated the bad attitude towards discrimination on historical factors that undermined social and structural changes, 80% of the respondents supported that there are several historical; social and structural factors that have influenced the flexibility of women at the workplaces in UK (Haimson & Sapelli, 2012). The first factor is occupational segregation which has been described as the process of natural selection that defines gender roles. For instance most technical and manual jobs have been historically associated with males while child care and housekeeping have been termed as feminine roles. Osawa, (2010) specifies that according to labor unions, women dominated occupations are less physically demanding thus they pay less. The fight against female chauvinism has helped in standardizing pay discrepancies in the UK job markets which is expected to stabilize further in the near future. This is because women discrimination at workplaces is rapidly decreasing courtesy of the legislations and the subsequent amendments. Since historical times and more so the industrial age where men dominated the work sectors, gender stereotypes have reduced ushering in a new era of better pay not only for men but also for the women.
At least 43% of the respondents agreed that the other factor affecting workplace flexibility is work related biases that have been known to favor men. Specifically these relates to attitude based issues where women with disabilities have been completely locked out of employment because of their inefficiency and immobility. Women have been affected by gender disabilities, stereotyping and discriminations concerning work descriptions and career demands. The findings further indicated that the UK workplaces attitudes were in the past based on traditionally classifications which placed job descriptions into two discriminative categories based on the level of gender and racial bias. The first group was the high status groups which consisted of men and whites while the other group is low status consisting of racial minorities and women. The two factions were also evaluated differently in terms of personal competencies and individual capabilities. This implies that before the judicial reforms and the enactment of the discrimination legislations, the UK women in the racial minorities were the most affected by occupational immobility while white men were the most favored. Such biases were further cited among customers as the research also touched on the key aspect of analysis secondary data on customer satisfaction indices. The customer satisfaction scores presented by Osawa, (2010) show that male employees were likely to receive a higher score in comparison to their female counterparts even when they performed the same task equally well.
Before the discrimination legislations and most recently the disabilities amendments as well as the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGB&T) discriminations acts that followed, historical recruitment practices by many UK companies were known to favor men. Incidences of gender discrimination ruled traditional workplaces which led to the high percentages of 66. Whereas 75% of the respondents showed optimism that modern workplaces have put in measures to curb such biases and that the governments fight against gender stereotypes, gender discrimination, disabled women and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGB&T) discriminations will eliminate the poor 23% poor attitude exhibited by the respondents (Abrams & Houston, 2006). Labor laws bills and discrimination legislations supports the imminent support for better workplaces, remunerations and equality in UK workplaces. It was believed that customer biases in favor of male employees was the determinant factor towards the poor attitude among respondents since employers were afraid of losing customers to rivals who had more male employees. From the illustrations, it is determined that biases in favor of men is a both a social and structural factor that has affected the attainment of gender stereotypes, gender discrimination, disabled women and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGB&T) discriminations at places of work and more so in UK (Schein, 2011).
Traditional roles associated with femininity dictated that women were supposed to take care of their families. On the other hand, men were believed to be bread winners for the family and issues of financial security were depended on them. Even though the roles have significantly changed in modern societies, there has been a greater pressure on women to become economically independent (Schein, 2011). From the traditional point of view, it was natural for men to be occupationally mobile and flexible in order to harness more income. On the issue of workplace flexibility, men are the most favored because they are engaged in technically demanding careers such as medicine and engineering which are both physically and time demanding. The issue of women flexibility sets in with the realization that one day, they will have to settle down and manage their families in addition to work. They have to tend to sick children and at times take maternity leaves which significantly reduce their efficiency and work hours. John, (2010) reiterates that these natural biological roles possess challenges towards the full attainment of the intended outcome from the UK discrimination legislation.
With the issues of workplace flexibility among women, there emerges other social and structural factors that determine women’s pay at places of work. The most prevalent factors have been hours worked maternity leaves, gender stereotypes, and danger wage premiums (Pink, 2009). To begin with the social and structural factor relating to hours worked, the most affected job groups in the UK are the casual employees who are often paid on work hour basis. Men have the tendency of working for longer hours because they are not disadvantages by family responsibilities. On the other hand, women have house work which is also demanding since duties regarding child rearing and house chores are unequally shared among male and female partners. In line with the factor stated above, there is the issue of maternity and parental leaves which have been described as economic risks to organizations. This is because organizations are made to incur costs resulting from indefinite absenteeism among women when taking breaks to nurse babies. This puts a strain on the available workforce making it relatively tricky to accord full equitability in terms of salaries and job opportunities to women as compared to men. The third factor that has been associated with discrimination of pay at the workplace with regard to danger wage premiums. It is observable that men are more willing to take up physically risky and dangerous jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, (2009) attributed risks to differences in wage premiums since cognitive and management jobs earned equal wages for both gender groups. Most differences in wage determination accrue from compensations associated with risk premiums.
Pay gaps have further been attributed to gender stereotypes which are caused by occupational discrimination or sexism. It is because of gender biases that women are forced into making educational and career choice that limit them to low paying jobs. From the collected data, it was evident that cultural beliefs have been identified to value men on the premise that men are better in doing mathematics, mechanics, medicine and engineering. This stereotyping on gender status is partially true but it should not be a determining factor when men are paid more than women for handling the same tasks. The need for workplace flexibility and standardization of payments for both genders has led to heated discussions on the future of workplace flexibility (Pink, 2009). With such discussion, the UK government has sponsored the implementation of policies aimed at promoting gender equity at places of work.
From the findings the government of UK needs to address the issue of discrimination against people with mental impairments. By so doing the scope of the discrimination legislation will move beyond covering for the rights such as gender stereotypes, gender discrimination, disabled women and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGB&T) discriminations. It is also prudent to note that the UK government has not been keen on initiating public education to help change the attitudes if the people towards discriminatory practices. This process which involves sensitization aimed at de-stigmatizing those with disabilities, sensory impairments and learning or mental disabilities or health conditions
Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.
[order_calculator]