Gender Roles In The Workplace

It is not often you run into a group of people with discriminatory practices. We are all given roles in our lives that we don’t think twice about. However, we will experience times where the roles would become problematic in accordance to the rules of society. These roles can be shown in the form of jobs, daily activities and even what is taught. When we are given specific roles based on our gender then it can be classified as “discrimination” (Brym and Lie 2012: 140). In my workplace, there is a subculture which is “a set of distinctive values, norms, and practices within a larger culture” (Brym and Lie 2012: 47), held by all the managers who are all men. The managers only hire girls as cashiers and to clean whereas they hire boys …show more content…
The managers in my workplace have a different belief such that they believe women are more capable of handling money and money whereas men are more capable of heavy lifting, gaining knowledge and helping customers. They carry out this belief by applying it to their hiring process. During the interview I was asked if I was good at counting money and if I was okay with cleaning the shelves and dusting the floors. However, this was not asked to the male workers. They were asked how much they are able to lift, how fast they can gain knowledge and how well their socializing skills are. They implement their belief before you get the job by determining the practices that is suitable for each gender. Our culture expects everyone to be accepting and not generalize. However, my workplace is discriminatory as they have set forth certain roles for each gender based on their own opinions and thoughts. In a different culture such as third world countries, it may be seen as normal for there to be roles for specific genders as in some countries, the women are still known to stay home and take care of the house whereas the men in the family earn the income. But, as my managers decide to place specific roles on each gender, they have strayed away from the accepted practices of society and discriminated each group of …show more content…
Gender roles explains how there are certain roles that are deemed more acceptable for males and females which may show why my managers view the heavy duty roles suitable for male than females while gender inequality and gendered division of labour set to reveal why my experience can be determined as discrimination towards each gender as my managers have set separated the role and assigned them to each gender. In analyzing my personal experiences, sociological imagination has allowed me to see how my experience is a result of the structures and beliefs between groups of people and society but also how people’s belief can determine how people set notions in their minds about what is right and