Gender and Sexual Orientation in the Workplace

Abstract

An overview of several of the issues generated by gender and sexual orientation challenges in the workplace touching on occupational segregation, the wage gap, the glass ceiling, and sexual prejudice all within the context of corporate culture. Both women and those within the LGBTQ community face substantial challenges in the workplace, some stemming from homophobia, transphobia, and heterosexism, others from sexual harassment and the pressures of either adopting the traits of hegemonic masculinity or buckling beneath them. Of course, men are not immune to these sociological challenges, whether it is sexual harassment as a heterosexual man or occupying a traditionally female position. The article also touches on the special issues transgender people may face and the common tactics employers adopt to help a transgender individual adapt to the workplace after gender affirming surgery. The second part of the paper briefly explores modern attempts to challenge the traditional masculine way of business. Ultimately the issues generated by gender and sexual orientation in the workplace reach far beyond the office walls.

Overview

Gender and sexual orientation in the workplace are increasingly important topics, especially as government policies change and cultural acceptances shift. It is a multidimensional topic that covers early childhood cultural pressures as well as day to day interactions in the office, as the workplace offers a microcosmic snapshot of the cultural atmosphere. Women, in particular, have long suffered such injustices as wage gaps, sexual harassment, and glass ceilings, while members of the LGBTQ community have only recently been given a voice with which to address the prejudices and disparities experienced within the corporate culture of businesses.

Many sociologists feel that these problems of gender and sexual orientation in the workplace have strong and firmly placed roots in the cultural norms to which we are introduced as children. As adults, we bemoan the sexual inequality that we experience every day in the workplace, but we still reinforce and encourage gender traits traditionally exhibited by each sex in our children. Wage gaps and discrimination along with occupational sexism and segregation are still prominent in the workplaces of the twenty-first century. Women regularly bump their heads on glass ceilings because of a perceived lack of masculine traits that are more suited to management positions, yet parents, society, and educational institutions still encourage traditionally gender-assigned traits to growing boys and girls. Girls are expected to be kind, caring, nurturing and passive while boys are expected to be aggressive, ruthless, ambitious, and pragmatic. These traits are then attached to later success or failure as adults in the business world since stereotypically male traits are generally seen as a pathway to success, while stereotypically female traits are seen as necessary for supporting roles in business. Lipsey, et al. refer to this situation as a "culture trap" since children are nurtured into these socially acceptable roles as children, causing them to adopt certain attitudes and beliefs that may later create professional difficulties.

Interestingly, there have been situations where the concept of hegemonic masculinity has been turned on its head. Corporations that primarily target women as workers and consumers have found tremendous success by favoring feminine traits above masculine ones. Putting family first may seem like a risk in the traditionally masculine world, but these corporations have found that gentle compassion has actually made for a strong inner community as well as well-rounded and enthusiastic workers.

Regardless of the success of these corporations, White, heterosexual, cisgender men still appear to have the upper hand in business. Though the tides appear to be turning in favor of those traditionally marginalized populations like women and individuals who identify as LGBTQ, the business world still has a long way to go before it reaches an atmosphere of true equality.

Women in the Workplace. Though women have been a part of the workforce for well over a century, their presence in the workplace has had many ramifications, and generated many challenges for both men and women in the professional environment. Gender bias has been repeatedly demonstrated through many studies conducted in multiple work environments over the last several decades.

Occupational Sexism. Occupational sexism is essentially any kind of discrimination based on a worker's gender. Most often, the term is applied to situations where women are being oppressed by their male co-workers or supervisors, but certain situations allow for men to be discriminated against as well.

One particularly scrutinized issue is wage discrimination. Though many had hoped that the days of women earning less money than their male counterparts were long gone, an income disparity still exists. Wage discrimination is still a major issue with women making an average of 81.6 cents for every dollar earned by White men in the same position in 2018; furthermore, the pay gap increases for women who are Hispanics/Latinas, African Americans, Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders, and American Indians/Alaska Natives (AAUW). Wage discrimination is demonstrated in a wide spectrum of occupations. This trend continued into the 2020s. The Pew Research Center noted in 2023 that the wage gap women experienced in the United States remained unchanged over the past two decades. On average, in 2022, women earned only 82 percent of what men earned.

Though wage discrimination is still a viable concern, research has indicated that the glass ceiling for women workers finally appears to be cracking since there are significantly more women in managerial positions. This increase in the higher positions in the workplace also filters down to benefit the women in non-managerial positions as well. When more women are found in high status positions, the wages of the female employees are effectively raised throughout the managerial hierarchy of a company. However, the absence of females in high-status positions in particular companies or industries leaves the wage gap firmly in place. Additionally, the early twenty-first century saw the rise of the glass cliff phenomenon for women who achieved high positions. This refers to the tendency of companies to appoint a female executive to a company or branch of a company which is headed toward an inevitable decline. Regardless of the competence or efforts of the woman, the company's failure allows the company to receive credit for appointing a female, while reserving the right to replace her quickly with a man.

Sexual Harassment. Sexual harassment has become a highly sensitive area for many corporations because of various lawsuits and protective policies that have developed. In the scope of sociology, sexual harassment becomes an especially charged topic when it takes the rather nontraditional form of women sexually harassing men. Though there has been plenty of documentation to indicate that both dynamics of harassment do occur in the workplace, men are far more likely to be the target of disciplinary action because of the application of sexual stereotypes. Men are less likely to report sexual harassment by a female coworker or boss because of the personal and professional ramifications of their perceived masculinity. The hegemonic male is aggressive and sexually robust, and so any man who reports being sexually harassed by a woman is effectively shunned by his peers because he is seen as weak and submissive. Some studies have even indicated that the psychological effects of sexual harassment on men are more severe than those experienced by women who have been sexually harassed.

LGBTQ People in the Workplace. Just as women have struggled in the workplace, the LGBTQ community has also met with considerable challenges. The decision to come out to family members and friends is often a troublesome issue for many in the LGBTQ community, but the decision to come out at work may be laced with serious ramifications that affect the individual's day to day life.

Homophobia, Heterosexism & Sexual Prejudice. A large percentage of the gay population has stated that they have experienced harassment and discrimination in the workplace. Gay workers are often denied promotions, pressured to quit, or are held at a lower pay rate than their coworkers. It is also important to point out that this kind of sexual prejudice, or heterosexism, is still a legitimate concern. A federal appeals court ruled in 2017 that the 1964 Civil Rights Act protection against sex discrimination in the workplace extends to protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation, but the act did not explicitly prohibit it. In 2020 the US Supreme Court ruled that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act does protect gay, lesbian, and transgender employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. At the time of the ruling, about half of all states in the US did not offer legal protection to LGBTQ employees.

Another interesting phenomenon occurs within the LGBTQ community itself. Many younger LGBTQ workers, who were raised in a culture far more accepting of being gay, are more vocal and tend to fight more aggressively to obtain equality in the workplace. Those workers who are older and were raised with a cultural stigma surrounding being gay are more likely to stay in the closet, or at least be more subtle about their sexual identity. This is true not only among coworkers, but also among customers and business contacts as well.

Transgender Employees in the Workplace. Transgender individuals have an even more complex sociological situation in the workplace since they may have already clearly established themselves as one gender among their coworkers before making the transition. As the transition becomes more complete, the interoffice relationships that a transgender individual has honed as a member of one gender will inevitably change as they transition to a different one.

Many cisgender heterosexual people may find it difficult to understand the significant difference between being gay and being transgender. This level of misunderstanding can lead to extreme situations of alienation, harassment, and prejudice. Some transgender employees find it easier to orchestrate a resignation prior to receiving gender affirming care through upper management, and then a rehiring once the gender affirming care is complete.

Occupational Segregation. Another important dimension of gender and sexual orientation in the workplace is gender stereotyping of professional roles, which is referred to as occupational segregation. While some jobs are considered traditionally female (server, nurse, teacher, secretary, etc.), others are considered traditionally male (doctor, lawyer, pilots, mechanics, architects, etc.). Though there has been significant movement to close the wage gap, there has been little movement towards removing the occupational stereotypes that beget occupational segregation.

Men & Women in Cross-Gender Occupations. Despite great advancements, occupational segregation persists. For women, obtaining positions that are traditionally male is difficult, and they often find many corporate hurdles that their male counterparts do not experience. In the United States, this is primarily due to the masculine management style that has been socially accepted as equating to success. Kanter states that women's lack of authoritarian attitudes, lack of aggression, and readiness to accept responsibility are key factors in women being unable to overcome professional hurdles as easily as their male counterparts. All of these factors are polar opposite to the masculine traits considered necessary for success. Lipsey et al. feel that the sex-role socialization discussed earlier is the primary reason women are underrepresented in male-dominated occupations, whereas Gilligan sees it as a more Freudian problem, based in the psychological pressures of women to continue the dependent roles of their mothers while men must make a forceful and clean break from the nurturing to become strong, independent men.

On the other hand, men wishing to find work in traditionally female occupations often experience ridicule and harassment both professionally and personally. Often this harassment and ridicule are attacks on their masculinity, and they are sometimes shamed even within their closest circles of relationships regardless of their dedication and skill in the occupation. A typical example of this would be the male nurse. Nursing is a traditionally female occupation, and men who choose to go into this field are looked down upon as if they were not successful enough to become doctors, and thus were forced into "settling" for a position as a nurse. This prejudice is so ingrained in society that it has become part of pop culture as a subplot in the 2000 film Meet the Parents starring Ben Stiller.

Both men and women are often passed over for promotion when they occupy cross-gender occupational roles because of a perceived issue of abandonment. Women are considered at high-risk for leaving traditionally male positions of extreme responsibility in order to pursue a family, while men are considered at high-risk to leave traditionally female positions to pursue a more fitting position. For example, a male nurse may be passed over for promotion because it may be assumed that they will be pursuing an education to become a doctor, and that the nursing position is simply a stepping stone to bigger and better things.

Occupational Segregation as Explanation for Wage Gap. Many theories have been developed as to why the wage gap exists. Erosa, Fuster, and Restuccia have proposed a strong argument that the wage gap continues to exist because of the perceived value of female workers based on their fertility. In other words, corporations may be less willing to invest in female workers because it is a gamble whether a woman of child-bearing age will continue their work once they have children and if they do continue whether that work will be of the same quality or quantity. In this respect, wages are a function of fertility and age. Still others feel that the wage gap is due to educational disparities like men choosing business or other practical classes as minors and electives while women choose liberal or fine art courses that have no perceived practical application.

But many feel that occupational segregation may be the culprit. Traditionally female jobs are also some of the lowest paying jobs, so studies that consider income across occupations will not be accounting for the fact that most women in the workforce are simply occupying positions that earn less money than the majority of those that are occupied by men . While some are relatively satisfied with this explanation, it begs the question of why women have continued to occupy these low-paying positions. One popular explanation to answer this question is that women are often found to exhibit a lower sense of self-confidence when it comes to male-dominated occupations than towards those occupations that are traditionally considered female.

Gender Conditioning & Reinforcement. Gender traits and what is considered "traditional" are ingrained in our culture and reinforced throughout childhood. In some cases—whether now or in past decades, but not in all families or cultures—girls are encouraged to develop nurturing and household skills by playing with dolls and pretend cookware; little boys, on the other hand, may be encouraged to be assertive and powerful through rough-and-tumble games, or by playing with toys like cars and construction machinery. Children are often asked what they would like to be when they grow up, and girls who want to be plumbers and boys who want to be ballerinas may, in some cases, be chided or strongly encouraged to reconsider their decisions. Two prominent twentieth-century theorists on this aspect of gender socialization are Albert Bandura and Lawrence Kohlberg.

Bandura stressed that the process of gender socialization is achieved through a process called modeling, where children imitate the actions of adults and other children around them. Boys often learn masculine behaviors from their fathers and other male role models who exhibit these traits. Girls can learn to be girls by mimicking the feminine behaviors of their mothers and other female role models. Though parents do not necessarily reinforce these gender roles, children tend to learn that behavior exhibiting same-sex traits often reaps rewards, opposite-gender behavior may incur punishment.

Kohlberg, on the other hand, felt that these gender roles developed out of a three-step cognitive process that every child must work through from about the age of two to the age of six. The first step is for the child to recognize their gender. At this point they understand that there is a fundamental biological and social difference between a male and a female. Second, a child understands that this gender will not change. If they are female, then she is a girl who will eventually grow up to be a woman. Finally, a child understands that no matter which gender traits they choose to exhibit their gender will remain constant and unchanged.

These experiences—whether socially, psychologically, or biologically driven—reinforce what a culture believes to be "normal" for each gender, and since they are carried into adulthood, they are often the foundation of our occupational choices. With this in mind, sociologists begin their search for the underlying factors of workplace issues, like wage discrimination, occupational discrimination, glass ceiling effect, and hegemonic masculinity, far before we begin to make any serious career choices. These cultural pressures of gender stereotypes not only shape our career choices, but they also shape our chances of success as well.

Applications

Masculine Management Style. Typically, leaders within a corporation are expected to take on the role of the hegemonic male to achieve real success. These male traits-like being independent, objective, and competitive-are associated with success to the point that even female managers are expected to either have or learn to assume them. One particularly strong example of a successful, masculine management style can be seen in President Donald J. Trump. The official biography found on his website refers to him as the "archetypal businessman," and reads like a checklist of the most stereotypical male traits ascribed to success in business (Trump, 2008).

Trump had his beginnings working under his father in a small real estate office in Brooklyn, New York, and though his career has been rocky, he has managed to pull his business holdings out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy and into an empire valued at more than $3 billion at the end of 2007 (Forbes, 2007). Many, including Trump himself, have declared most of this success resulted from his aggressive business nature. In fact, in 2006 BusinessWeek magazine named Trump as the world's most competitive businessperson.

In his 2007 book, Trump outlines the top ten lessons in success, and not surprisingly, each of these lessons embodies a particularly masculine trait. The first lesson is simple—to be successful you must be a workaholic. He insists that an 80-hour work week is the key to reaching business goals, which leaves little time for family. Other hegemonic male attributes that are included in his top ten traits of success are persistence, aggression, and a keen ability to negotiate. He also suggests that any successful businessperson wishing to marry should only marry someone who understands they will be taking a back seat to business, and who is willing to sign a prenuptial agreement.

Competition seems to fuel Trump's aggressive management style. So much so that he created the well-known television show The Apprentice, in which he watched young business hopefuls compete for a position in his expanding company. Weakness is not tolerated, and results are rewarded regardless of any morals, principles, or emotional investments that may have been compromised. Though not necessarily well liked and despite several business failures and bankruptcies, Trump is considered by many to be an extremely successful businessman. His embodiment of the hegemonic male leaves few to question how he has been able to amass such wealth and celebrity since it is precisely these traits that have been expected from successful men and women in the business world.

Feminine Management Style. The pressures of corporate culture have seen women attempt to adopt the traits of hegemonic masculinity, often at the expense of their perceived status as a woman. While many of these assertive women have achieved quite a bit of success, they are seen as successful despite their gender, not because of it. With this in mind, some companies who cater specifically to women as their primary market have begun to rebel against the idea that a successful woman must abandon all her feminine traits. Mary Kay Cosmetics is an excellent example of this movement.

Founded by Mary Kay Ash, the company rose from a one-woman enterprise of less than $200,000 a year to about $3.6 billion in 2018. What is most unique about Ash's company is that she made a conscious drive to elevate the feminine traits generally viewed as weaknesses in the dog-eat-dog world of business into the cornerstones of a successful corporate culture. The Mary Kay motto states that family is more important than business, and that the Golden Rule of treating others as you wish to be treated plays a major role in the decision-making process.

Compassion, understanding, caring, and nurturing are all prominent elements of the Mary Kay empire, but the element of recognition is an interesting addition on top of all these traditionally feminine traits. The women (and few men) who are a part of this corporate culture have enjoyed a wide variety of accolades specifically designed to reward the top performers. Competitiveness is surprisingly not one of the most lucrative traits to possess in this company since cooperation is highly prized and recognized over competition.

What this corporate culture demonstrates is that the hegemonic masculinity that we associate with success is not, in fact, a necessity to achieve that success. Though culture may influence women to display traits that many consider to be detrimental in the business world, companies like Mary Kay Cosmetics clearly show that these traits can be just as successful (perhaps even more successful in some cases) as those that embrace traditionally male attitudes.

Conclusion

Issues of gender and sexual orientation in the workplace are not simply confined to the office. The challenges and multidimensional experiences that occur within the walls of the work building are rooted in our experiences that occur before we even enter the working world. Regardless of whether the development of gender roles and stereotypes is truly based in biology or traits nurtured in us through our dominant culture, evidence tends to point to the fact that there are strengths and weaknesses in both the hegemonic masculinity and the exaggerated femininity that develop within the corporate culture.

Though business has seen a dramatic shift over the last few decades to re-incorporate those populations that are traditionally marginalized in corporate cultures, the road to equality is a long one.

With the 2020 Supreme Court ruling that the Civil Rights Act protects LGBTQ employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender, members of the LGBTQ community have won a significant legal victory. Of course, such discrimination will likely never be completely resolved as long as the dominant culture continues to condition children to exhibit traditional gender traits from such early ages. Regardless of the willingness of the population and the growing acceptance of women and LGBTQ people in powerful roles, the shift in gender dynamics in the culture will most certainly not happen overnight. The continued sociological study of the topic of gender and sexual orientation in the workplace will be important in developing corporate techniques and political policies that will help usher in an era of equality that many workers are seeking.

Terms & Concepts

Corporate Culture: The attitudes, values, and principles that govern the decisions and overall atmosphere of a business or organization.

Gender Identity Disorder: A psychiatric condition where an individual who has been born or assigned one gender but identifies themselves as being another gender. It is a strong disparity between one's body and one's mind.

Glass Ceiling: Occupational barriers that prevent women who are fully qualified and capable from advancing into another position within a company.

LGBTQ: The common acronym to represent the whole of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community.

Hegemonic Masculinity: The respected traits that the dominant American culture defines as masculine. The hegemonic male is assertive, strong, aggressive, a leader, and heterosexual.

Heterosexism: An ideological system that oppresses any behavior, relationship, community, or identity that is considered non-heterosexual.

Homophobia: A term falling out of favor, but originally used to describe a person’s discomfort with being near or having any dealings with a gay person. This term may also apply to the gay person's feelings of self-loathing that are generated by a largely heterosexual culture.

Occupational Segregation: The phenomenon where men and women appear to favor different occupations.

Occupational Sexism: Discrimination in the workplace, which is based solely on an individual's gender.

Sexual Harassment: Verbal or physical behavior that is of an explicitly sexual nature towards someone who neither invites nor welcomes the behavior from the perpetrator.

Sexual Prejudice: Negative attitudes and assumptions towards an individual or group that is based solely on preconceived notions of their gender or sexual orientation.

Transgender: An individual whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth

Wage Discrimination: A situation where an individual of one sex is paid more or less than an individual of the opposite sex.

Wage Gap: The difference between the average yearly wages of a man and the average yearly wages of a woman.

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