Some female employees in California may be among the 42 percent who reported facing gender discrimination on the job in a Pew Research Center survey. Conducted in the summer of 2017, the study identified a number of different types of gender discrimination and asked almost 5,000 people about their ideas on and experiences of gender discrimination.
The type of discrimination that was most often reported, with one-quarter of women saying they had experienced it, was being paid less than a man for doing the same job. Almost as frequent for women was being treated as though they were not competent. Women also reported being denied jobs, promotions and important assignments as a form of gender discrimination. The survey also found that while roughly the same percentage of men and women felt sexual harassment in the workplace was a problem, at just over one-third each, around 22 percent of women had experienced it while only 7 percent of men did.
The survey also looked at demographics. It found that the higher a woman’s level of education, the more likely she was to report experiencing gender discrimination at work. Black women reported more gender discrimination than white or Hispanic women. Nearly half of women who described themselves as Democrats or Democrat-leaning said they had experienced gender discrimination while only about a third of Republican or Republican-leaning women did.
People who feel they are experiencing workplace discrimination that is gender-based might want to talk to an attorney. There may be a policy in the workplace against this type of discrimination and a way to address it, but some workplaces do not do a good job of enforcing their policies or protecting people who report discrimination. It may be helpful for a person to understand employee rights before going to a supervisor or human resources department to report the discrimination.
