Women are Among the Most Marginalized in the Workforce

One of the fundamental characteristics of an ideal working environment is diversity and inclusion. This means that every employee feels completely involved, safe, and respected irrespective of age, gender, or race. The two principles can benefit any organization since ideas and perspectives come from different dimensions (Hogarty, 1). Equally, an organization gets a better understanding of customers and enhanced decision-making. However, this is not always the case since glaring inequalities take center stage in some organizations. Women are among the most marginalized in the workforce, and the imbalance has had drastic implications.
Summary
In the article, 5 Years of Leaning In, Suddath and fellow authors explore the glaring gender imbalances in the workforce (2). The authors assert that women continue playing second fiddle in the professional world despite their rate of obtaining degrees being higher than that of men (Suddath, 2). In addition, women get relatively lower salaries compared to their male counterparts. The authors also explore the concerted efforts by some women to push for balance and equality in workplaces. According to the authors, these efforts have not been in vain. This is evident in the sense that more and more companies have considered it a priority to hire and retain women. In actual fact, the numbers have risen dramatically.
Furthermore, the authors outline the factors contributing to this phenomenon. They contend that women are to blame to a considerable extent due to their attitude. This is because they feel inferior and less qualified, which makes them less aggressive. According to the authors, the other factor is that most women are saddled with house chores and child care. As such, they cannot compete at the same level as men. In addition, some women live in perpetual fear of being sacked for spending more time caring for their children (Suddath, 2). In essence, the fear supersedes the need to prosper professionally.
Finally, the authors feel that despite efforts to create gender balance, more needs to be done. This is because women employees are still disadvantaged. For instance, they have to contend with numerous obstacles such as arbitration. In addition, they are discriminated against when it comes to salaries and promotions. Over and above, the authors lend strength to the feeling that women should speak more and have more faith in themselves to change the situation.
Imbalances and their Impacts on Individuals Involved
One of the imbalances highlighted by the authors is the area of promotion. The authors contend that despite their impressive qualifications, women still lag behind when it comes to promotion. To strengthen their contention, they highlight the plight of Katie King, a 32-year-old attorney (Suddath, 2). Katie went out of her way to enhance the welfare of women in the company she worked for. In addition, she continued answering emails during her maternity leave. However, all her efforts were overlooked, and she was blatantly denied promotion. According to the authors, one of the contributing factors to the problem is the attitude of people in charge of promotion; most of them tend to have a low opinion about women. The inequality is a hard-hitting one since women employees ...