Tran-Pham-Phuong-Uyen HRM final-report PDF

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SCHOOL OF 2020-2021

ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET STUDENT DETAILS Student name: Trần Phạm Phương Uyên UNIT AND TUTORIAL DETAILS Unit name: Human Resource Management Tutorial group: Lecturer or Tutor name:

Student ID number:

Unit number: Tutorial day and time:

21010003

HRM-T221WSB-1 Friday 12 p.m - 3:15 p.m

Lê Thị Thanh Xuân

ASSIGNMENT DETAILS Discuss sex/gender discrimination in jobs that are dominated by men and how to Title: manage it? Length Due Date submitted: 22/08/2021 : 5670 date: 22/08/2021 Home campus (where you are enrolled): Vietnam DECLARATION √ √

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I hold a copy of this assignment if the original is lost or damaged. I hereby certify that no part of this assignment or product has been copied from any other student’s work or from any other source except where due acknowledgement is made in the assignment. I hereby certify that no part of this assignment or product has been submitted by me in another (previous or current) assessment, except where appropriately referenced, and with prior permission from the Lecturer / Tutor / Unit Coordinator for this unit.

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No part of the assignment/product has been written/produced for me by any other person except where collaboration has been authorised by the Lecturer / Tutor /Unit Coordinator concerned.

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I am aware that this work will be reproduced and submitted to plagiarism detection software programs for the purpose of detecting possible plagiarism (which may retain a copy on its database for future plagiarism checking).

Student’s signature:

Uyen

Note: An examiner or lecturer / tutor has the right to not mark this assignment if the above

declaration has not been signed.

TABLE OF CONTENT Introduction…………………………………………………………………………02 Literature……………………………………………………………………………02  Key theories with facts……………………………………………………..02  Some common male-dominated jobs and reasons why gender discrimination exists. ……………………………………………………………………………….04 How does the function in the selected topic is conducted in universities and firms? ……………………………………………………………………………………05  The current situation in local and foreign companies/universities……....05  Suggestion to prevent and manage the gender discrimination…………..08 Evaluation……………………………………………………………………………09 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………09

Appendices……………………………………………………………………10 References…………………………………………………………………….19 Introduction This report’s goal is to discuss the reason and processes that give rise to gender discrimination in male-dominated jobs, hindering women's career advancement. How descriptive and prescriptive gender stereotypes will also be investigated through several processes which foster inequality in women's selection, advancement, and evaluation. The report analyzes how descriptive gender stereotypes, which define what men and women are like, the motive for gender discrimination and contribution to the belief that women are illequipped to thrive in typically masculine occupations. Moreover, it elucidates how prescriptive gender stereotypes, which prescribe what men and women should be like, persuade gender-discriminatory behavior by instilling disapproval and social punishments for women who behave in stereotype-inconsistent ways—whether explicitly or simply by succeeding in roles perceived to be male-typed. Firstly, some key theories such as different examples and Vietnamese regulations about gender discrimination as well as the reasons why gender discrimination exists. After that, the report will not only clarify how popular gender discrimination is in Vietnamese male-dominated majors and jobs but also discusses how people in general and local firms, universities in specific perceive and manage it. Finally, there will be some personal suggestions and evaluations on gender discrimination. Literature Key theories with facts Gender equality is one of the basic rights and obligations of Vietnamese citizens as specified in legal documents and in international conventions that Vietnam has signed. Clause 3 of Article 5 of the Law on Gender Equality states that "gender equality means that men and women have equal positions, roles, and are given equal opportunities and conditions to promote their capacity for the development of the community, the family, and equally, enjoy

the fruits of that development". Vietnam is one of the early countries that give gender equality work certain priorities. Specifically, in the first Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the 1946 Constitution, in Article 9 directly mentioned the equal rights of men and women: "Women are equal to men in all aspects". And President Ho Chi Minh in his will, also pondered the role and position of women: "The Party and Government need to have practical plans to foster, promote and help women to become more and more successful in charge of all jobs including leadership…”. However, despite the advances achieved in gender equality in the workplace over the years, most studies on the issue suggest that businesses still have a long way to go. Basically, gender discrimination is a type of discrimination in which someone is treated unfairly or differently because of their sex/gender. While a considerable proportion of males report gender discrimination in the workplace, it is still overwhelmingly an issue that women encounter. Let's take a look at some of the most prevalent forms of gender discrimination that women encounter in the workplace today in order to understand what both employees and employers can do to prevent it. First of all, is pregnancy discrimination. An employer cannot refuse to hire a woman because of her pregnancy-related condition if she is capable of performing the essential tasks of her employment. Neither company refuses to recruit her because of prejudices held by coworkers, clients, or consumers against pregnant workers. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) also prohibits pregnancy discrimination in any other part of employment, such as compensation, job assignments, promotions, layoffs, training, fringe benefits, termination, and any other term or condition of employment (EEOC, 2021). However, unfortunately in Vietnamese male-dominated jobs, according to International Labor Organization, up to 43% of employers want to find out about a candidate's marital status and 30% ask for information about plans to have children. A Vietnamese survey of mid-level HR candidates found that only 8% of men were asked about their plans for children in their most recent job interview, compared with 31% of female candidates. Similarly, 18% of female candidates received questions about family responsibilities, while this proportion of male candidates was only 13% (ILO, 2015). These findings suggest that Vietnamese employers are reluctant to hire women who plan to have children in the near future, fearing that their births could affect the company's costs and effectiveness. Additionally, the notion that women, not men, are primarily responsible for housework, childcare, and other dependents is an important factor in hiring decisions (ILO, 2015). Besides pregnancy discrimination, there is also have sexual harassment. Sexual harassment refers to unwanted sexually directed behaviors that subject the worker to adverse working conditions or create hostile work. It can happen between a manager and a subordinate, between coworkers, and when non-employees do business with employees. (Human Resource Management, 2010, page 83). Women are significantly more likely than males to be victims of sexual harassment at work in male-dominated industries. Only 16.5% of sexual harassment allegations submitted with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2017 were filed by men (EEOC, 2017). The fact that women reported more than 80% of sexual harassment occurrences is a serious concern and one of the reasons why working in male-dominated fields may be more difficult for women (EEOC, 2017). Finally, the pay gap between men and women is also considered discrimination. Employers are required to pay equivalent salary rates for equivalent employment regardless of gender. Despite having the same qualifications and job positions as

men, the income of Vietnamese female workers is always lower than that of their male colleagues. On average, women's earnings are 10.7% lower than men's, but this disparity widens to higher-skilled groups. In 2016, the income of untrained female workers was only 8.1% lower than that of men with the same qualification, but this difference was up to 19.7% in the group of university graduates or higher (Nhan Dan newspaper, 2018). For example, according to Thanh Nien’s newspapers, in 2019-2021, the average salary female Vietnamese football players receive is only around 1-3 million VND while the males’ salary is about 40120 million VND. It can be clearly seen there is an enormous pay gap between males and females although the women sometimes perform better and win more cups than the men. Pay gaps between men and women in the same jobs may be tolerated due of: 1. Seniority inequalities 2. Performance gaps 3. Inequalities in production quality and/or quantity 4. Non-sex factors such as competence, effort, and working conditions (Human Resource Management, 2010, page 83). Some common male-dominated jobs and reasons why gender discrimination exists. Women have made amazing strides in the labor force, fighting for equal pay, and rising to the top of their professions. However, certain professional pathways require more advancement than others. According to research, here are some occupations where women are still underrepresented. First of all is STEM-related professions and courses (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). In Vietnam, Information Technology is dominated by men, with women accounting for around 30% of the workforce (ictnews, 2020). According to HR reports of 11 major companies and corporations in the world such as Intel, Samsung, Microsoft... nearly 5-10% of women take a leadership role and only around 3% of them think they pursued this job in the first place (ictnews, 2020). Besides Technology, there are still very few females participating in engineering majors. For instance, at Dong Nai High-Tech College, the percentage of females in all majors accounts for about 40%. Particularly, 2 majors, Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering have only 2/2,000 females enrolled (Dong Nai newspaper, 2021). Apart from STEM fields, electrical is also a concern for women when women make up just 20% of this field. According to one of my interviewees, Phu Thinh from Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology confirms that only 6/96 students in his electrical class are females. Now three explanations for the existence and persistence of gender discrimination will be explored. Firstly, according to experts, there are still gender stereotypes in the professional field. For a long time, society has had barriers from traditional concepts; underestimation of women's ability from qualifications to knowledge and capacity, the function of motherhood and child care is still the main responsibility of women (Dan Tri newspaper, 2019). According to Ms. Nhung, a consultant on gender and education of the UNESCO office in Vietnam, it is the prejudice that is deeply rooted in the thought that has caused many women to encounter barriers in their personal development: being a woman at this age should get married, if not, it seems that something is wrong. Often, when she's a woman, but she's too smart, too strong, dares to speak out in front of the crowd, or dares to refute her boss's

opinion and take part in male-dominated jobs, there seems to be something wrong with her. “Thoughts that males should perform these jobs and females should do those jobs have often emerged from prejudice rather than the scientific basis of medicine - biology. Many women are advised to study less, do not hold higher positions than husband, do not study more than husband or do not exceed husband, otherwise, it will be difficult to have a happy family”, Prof. Hoa shared. Secondly, women may be drawn and encouraged to “family-friendly” jobs (for example, those in the service industry) rather than those in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Ms. Phan Thi Huong Thao (lecturer of Foreign Language Tourism major, Master of Business Administration in Tourism - Chengdu University) confided “Most of the parents hold a belief for their daughter to learn a gentle, feminine profession to be suitable for taking care of the family later”. Finally, actually, it is also related a bit to the difference in gender. According to a small survey by Hanoi National University of Education, the thinking about the numbers of men and women seems to be similar. However, women's thinking about spatial geometry is inferior to men's so men will have more advantages in STEM majors (Dan Tri newspaper, 2019). Moreover, Phu Thinh, a student of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology shares that the STEM jobs demand more strength and logical thinking while women tend to be more creative thinking, especially Science can be risky for women’s health. In short, there are still many difficulties women need to overcome to be more confident and successful in male-dominated jobs

How does the function in the selected topic is conducted in universities and firms? The current situation in local and foreign companies/universities According to my survey, nearly 97% of people grasp the concept of gender discrimination, but around 69% of them still witnessed or experienced gender discrimination. It means that despite being well-known and popular, gender discrimination in male-dominated jobs still happens in both explicit and implicit ways at school as well as in a working environment. First of all, it is considerable to mention how the jobs advertising and recruitment process for females happen in universities and firms. While gender should not be mentioned in job advertisements because it is a direct form of discrimination based on gender. However, unfortunately, the data shows that this is a common practice in Vietnam. By including gender in jobs advertisements or job descriptions, the qualifications and competence requirements for vacancies will be somewhat affected by gender-based biases which may be driving the talented away from the firms. Through the process of reviewing job advertisements on VietnamWorks, JobStreet, CareerBuilder, and CareerLink from mid-November 2014 to midJanuary 2015, it can be clearly seen that one-fifth of the ads posted mentioning gender requirements. Among the job ads that have gender factors, 70% require men while only 30% expect female candidates to apply. Also in those job ads, companies which have technical nature, are more intensive and demanding high performance or jobs that require more travel, usually only hire men, like Architects (100% posted recruitment with mention of gender only require men), Drivers (100%), Engineers (99%), and Information Technology (97%) (ILO, 2015). Meanwhile, women are often required for support and office works such as Reception

(95%), Secretaries and Assistants (95%), Accounting, Human Resources, and Administration (70%) (ILO, 2015). Besides these male-dominated jobs, it can be witnessed some gender discrimination cases in Law. For instance, Ngoc Tram, one of my interviewees share that in her previous university, University of Washington, when recruiting teaching assistants, her professor only choose boys as he assumes girls are lazy, have beauty or lifestyle concerns and often hang out while boys if they are asked to do the tasks, they will be available and work immediately as they usually stay at home. As a result, she and the girls were shocked and disappointed at that time but no one was dared to report that professor as they were scared of irritating him. From there, we can clearly see that sex discrimination does not only occur in Vietnam but also in developed countries such as the United States. Gender discrimination also occurs on career ladders within the same occupation (known as vertical gender discrimination). This is clearly shown through job advertisements for management positions, up to 83% of the job postings for management positions that have a gender factor only require male candidates. Specifically, all positions director is just for men. There is also a difference demonstrated in other management positions, including “head of the department” and “supervisory” with 78% and 87% of the posted positions accepting only male candidates. Although there is increasingly clear evidence that a positive association between women's participation and performance, Vietnam has a long way to go to achieve true gender equality in the workplace, especially for senior management positions. This bias is clearly linked concerned with gender stereotypes. But what is worse is gender discrimination happens not only in companies but also in universities, the environment for the younger generations and those shameful acts are made by adults. As reported by Phu Thinh, in his electrical class, if there is any chance to exercise on the blackboard, women will usually be called because the teacher assumes that women do not understand the lesson as well as men. Or if there is a project, the men usually do all the tasks and ask the women to only write the report. Consequently, women don’t have much chance to prove their skills. Three years ago, Japan had an incident that astounded the world, raising an alarming issue about gender discrimination. In mid-August, 2018, Tokyo Medical University, one of the most prestigious Japanese universities, admitted that they intentionally corrected entrance exams scores over the past 10 years to eliminate the female candidates. To be more specific, in the 2018 exam, there were 1,596 male and 1,018 female candidates taking the entrance exam to Tokyo Medical University. The percentage of girls who passed the school after the first test was 14.5% (148) compared with 18.9% or 303 boys. In the final round, only 30 female students were selected to study (2.9%) compared to 141 male students (8.8%) (Tuoi Tre newspaper, 2018). Months after Tokyo Medical University was exposed to rig exam scores in favor of male candidates. Both Juntendo University and Kitasato University in Tokyo announced that they have set a lower pass level for males than for women in order to ensure an adequate number of male students for the medical profession since medical is a serious maledominated job in Japan (The Guardian, 2018). Statistics from recent Juntendo entrance tests demonstrate the barriers that female candidates face. Over the last two years, this medical school has rejected 165 applicants, including 121 women, despite having successfully passed at least the first section of the two-part entrance exam (The Guardian, 2018). Men had a 1.67 times greater chance of passing than women. Along with Japan, Chinese firms and corporations also commit gender discrimination towards females in male-dominated jobs. In

a 99-page report analyzing more than 36,000 job advertisements between 2013 and 2018 on recruitment websites, companies and social media in China, the human rights supervisor found an alarming proportion of traditional perception and prejudices against women (Tuoi Tre newspaper, 2018). It is very common that many private and state-owned companies in China have posted "men-only" job ads or ads that require women to "shave their hair" or have an "attractive appearance". In the job ads collected and analyzed, Alibaba, the giant company in the e-commerce industry was accused of attracting female workers with prejudice by using the phrases: "Ali beauties" or "goddess" " to describe women who work for the company on social media (Tuoi Tre newspaper, 2018). Moreover, Tencent, Baidu and Huawei are also accused of advertising the beauty and appearance of female workers as if they were beautiful objects to decorate the company and not value their professionalism or skill (Tuoi Tre newspaper, 2018). And unfortunately, all of these companies are mostly related to STEM, male-dominated jobs. Ba...