Gender Discrimination Pt 2

Running head: ARGUMENTATVE ESSAY 1

Gender Discrimination

Reginald Whimbush

Dr. Louis Schiano

PHI 445 Personal & Organizational Ethics

5/30/2017

Gender Discrimination

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ARGUMENTATVE ESSAY 2

Gender inequality is a complex phenomenon present in organizational practices,

processes, and structures. The workplace sometimes becomes an inhospitable place for women

because of a number of gender inequalities present. As much as the law forbids discrimination in

all aspects of employment including promotions, fringe benefits, job assignments, pay, hiring and

layoff, the human resources practices that affect hiring, pay, training, and promotion present

some significant harmful gender inequalities mostly for women. There is a gender wage gap in

some organizations, dearth of women in leadership, and longer time required for women to get

career advancement. The disadvantages of status, opportunities at work, lower pay, and

stigmatization affect women’s well-being, job satisfaction, and their performance (Hing &

Stamarski, 2015). The controversy on gender discrimination in the workplace is who is to be

held responsible for such irresponsible actions. Some argue that an employer should be

accountable for gender discrimination in the workplace while others feel that an employer should

not face charges of gender discrimination in the workplace. There are laws that prohibit

discrimination based on sex such as the Title VII of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and the

Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA).

In this paper, I support the view that companies should be held liable for gender

discrimination in the workplace. Unfair recruitment and selection process, sexual harassment

directed to an employee by workers of the opposite sex, and organizational practices that

encourage unfair treatment of employees based on their gender among other unfair practices

based on gender are illegal and morally wrong. Through the duty ethics, in particular, the

deontological ethics, companies should be able to identify choices that are morally required,

permitted or forbidden and communicate them to their employees. Deontology is a form of moral

theory that guides and assesses our choices of the actions and practices we ought to perform in

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1

2

1. training, and promotion

present

some significant harmful

gender inequalities mostly

for women.

awkward [Louis Schiano]

2. I support the view that

companies should be held

liable for gender

discrimination in the

workplace.

This thesis works. [Louis

Schiano]

ARGUMENTATVE ESSAY 3

contrast to virtue theories that guide and assess the kind of person we are or should be

(Deontological Ethics, 2016).This implies that organizations should have rules that guide and

assess organizational processes and practices and communicate them their management team and

employees to avoid gender discrimination. This would put the moral and legal duty on the

organization in case of gender discrimination within the workplace.

I support my thesis for two main reasons; organizations formulate policies that govern

their actions, practices, and structure and employer liability. First, gender inequality can be seen

in an organization’s structure, processes, and practices. Inherently biased policies against a group

of persons based on their gender despite their abilities, skills, knowledge, and performance leads

to gender discrimination. Gender discrimination against women is present in HR policies that

determine employee selection, promotions, and performance evaluations (Hing & Stamarski,

2015). Gender discrimination against women in performance evaluations that determine

organizational rewards, punishment, and opportunities results from poor organizational

decisions. An organization that dictates and constrains employee promotion opportunities may

hinder women from advancing. From deontological ethics, a company should identify choices

that are forbidden or permitted within its organization (Deontological Ethics, 2016). If its

policies constrain employee promotion opportunities based on gender then it is encouraging

gender discrimination which is illegal. Therefore, the organization should be held accountable

for its poor decisions that contribute to gender discrimination.

Secondly, employer liability is a general rule that considers supervisory employees

actions as employer actions. If a supervisor engages in discrimination that leads to a tangible

employment action, then the organization can be held liable for these actions. When a supervisor

engages in actions that cause a significant change in an employee’s (of the opposite sex)

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ARGUMENTATVE ESSAY 4

employment status such as demotion or quitting a job, his employer should be held liable. In fact,

if the victim reported several instances of gender discrimination at the workplace to his employer

who unreasonably failed to take corrective measures making her quit the job, the employer

should be accountable of such discrimination as he was aware of it. Additionally, an employer

can be liable for gender discrimination in the workplace by a co-worker, employee, or third party

if he was aware of the unlawful conduct but failed to stop it (Quinn, 2010). From deontological

ethics, an organization sets rules and regulations that govern employee behavior by stating what

is permitted or forbidden by the organization. If its policies are not strict thus do not prohibit

unlawful conduct, it should be held accountable for its employees behaviors.

Application of deontological ethics will make organizations more responsible by holding

them accountable for the choices they make that affect workplace practices and processes unlike

utilitarianism. Utilitarianism considers an action as morally right if it produces the most good. It

seemingly demands or permits unfair actions in order to maximize this good (The History of

Utilitarianism, 2014). This implies that an organization can engage in acts such as gender

discrimination as long as this produces greater benefits to the entire organization. Unlike the

utilitarian approach that does not give definite responsibility to people or organization, the

application of deontological ethics enhances responsibility in organizations by holding them

accountable for the choices they make. It judges the morality of choices an organization makes

by criteria and forbids some choices irrespective of the moral good of their consequences

(Deontological Ethics, 2016). It guides an organization to engage in practices and processes that

are objectively right to abide by the law and perform actions that can be considered morally

right. For these reasons, I find deontological ethics much better compared to utilitarianism in the

workplace.

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ARGUMENTATVE ESSAY 5

References

Deontological Ethics. (2016, October 17). Retrieved from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

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ARGUMENTATVE ESSAY 6

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-deontological/

Hing, L. S., & Stamarski, C. S. (2015). Gender inequalities in the workplace: the effects of

organizational structures, processes, practices, and decision makers’ sexism. Frontiers in

Psychology, Vol.6, pp:1400 doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01400.

Quinn, E. (2010, June 15). Preventing Discrimination and Harassment In The Workplace.

Retrieved from Associate of Corporate Counsel:

http://www.acc.com/legalresources/quickcounsel/pdahitw.cfm

The History of Utilitarianism. (2014, September 22). Retrieved from Stanford Encyclopedia of

Philosophy: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/utilitarianism-history/

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