Gender Discrimination in the Labor MarketIntroduction The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was established by Title VII of the of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to protect individuals from discrimination; it was the first federal law designed to protect most US employees from employment discrimination based upon that employee 's (or applicant 's) race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. However, despite the enactment of this law, women today still face employment discrimination on a significant level. Women still lack full access to traditionally male occupations and are often steered into lower-paying and less desirable jobs. On average, women are …show more content…
It can stem from “unwelcome[d] sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of sexual nature” (EEOC: 2014). It can also occur through offensive remarks towards an individual’s sexual nature, for instance harassing about the person’s sexual nature in general (EEOC: 2014). Though sexual harassment can happen to any individual of any sex, it primarily is seen in society as an issue that mostly affects women. Women not only experience sexual harassment the most, but it is within the workplace that they truly are exposed to it in an unprofessional manner.Though there has been an increase in the exposure on the topic, and warning of the issues that may arise from it, the business world still does not take seriously enough the problems of sexual harassment. “Moreover, recent news reports indicate that sexual harassment has reached the highest levels of management. Although businesses know it exists, they appear unsure of what to do about it. As a result, the specter of employer liability for sexual harassment continues to loom over the …show more content…
It is important to note that the best approach is to consider all options and to take all steps of prevention in order to maintain a safe and fair work environment.Anti-harassment policies need to have a number of characteristics in order to be successful and widely known throughout the office. To begin, they need to be clearly addressed in the employee handbook (Barreiro: 2014). This includes, but is not limited to, defining sexual harassment in the workplace, stating that there is a no-tolerance policy, define the punishment for such acts, and state the investigative process that each complaint will go through (Barreiro: 2014).In order to be effective, training programs should occur on an annual basis, and should involve all employees, from new-hires to executives (Barreiro: 2014). These training programs should be both informative and educational by reminding all employees of what sexual harassment in the workplace encompasses and how to act if you have either been a victim of or witnessed such an act (University of Minnesota: 2014). The training programs also need to remind everyone of the strict rules that are in place.Finally, supervision is a huge part of preventing and eradicating sexual harassment in the workplace. Without enforcers or supervisors, many of the other measures taken by a company to combat sexual harassment may be ineffective, and complaints of sexual harassment may fall on