Report

Business Ethics
Tooba Iqbal I.D: 10478

Question Answered: Discuss the problem of gender discrimination in contemporary form of business.

Introduction
1960s. A woman with a perfect torso, blonde hair and faultless apparel swirls around her picture perfect household, sharing her secret to flawless cleanliness. 2000s. A girl depressed and insecure about her complexion is ignored by her love interest, only to be noticed after she applies the fairness cream and walks in slow motion. The times have changed, the perspectives evolved and yet the eternal discrimination of females and their limited roles in the society stays intrinsically same. The only difference is it has been repackaged, plastic coated and intelligently pushed as acceptable now, and sold under the banner of women empowerment. Feminists have been criticised very often as cynics denying the importance that women have been given in the society and acting as negative forces driving females away from their roles working for embedding delusional ideas of discrimination and liberation. Even though feminist movements have been extreme in their actions and modes of expression, it is undeniable that whatever they are protesting against is concrete truth. All waves of feminism have played a critical role in pushing females to the realization of how their growth as social beings is well beyond the roles that has been defined by the society and specifically the dominating sex of males by them. What began as a movement to push them out of their household and stand up for their rights, grew on to become the motivation behind females striving for higher education, working alongside males at all levels and actualising to conduct their roles in society but being in line with feminism.

The Impact
And indeed scenarios have improved and females do enjoy a better standing. Today, over 50% of the business college graduates are women, over 46% of the workforce is women, and over 37% of the business managerial positions are held by women. Women have been catching up with men in their earnings as well; in 2004 women earned 80% of their male counterparts salary as compared to 63% in 1963 (U.S. Dept of Labor, 2005). We see females emerging as CEOs of global organizations, a larger proportion of females attaining masters degree, and evident female leadership in global business with females running marketing, public relation divisions that were initially male dominated businesses. What is more there are antidiscrimination law and increased workplace protection that secures positions of female staff in organization and generate greater pressure for equal opportunities. On a larger scale, media has played a role in voicing female opinions that has created greater emphasis on improving the current conditions for them in the society. It has also become the medium for portrayal of women in todays world both in terms of business and the society in general. The question is accurate it has been in this projection and is it actually in line with the feminist principles.

At a glance it seems that females are doing better in terms of businesses. However a closer picture shows that this is not true. Only 8% of the executive titles are held by women (Heffernan, 2004). Most of the managerial positions held by women are at the bottom layer of the management pyramid (HBR, 2005). So even though you see female resource being hired, their roles in the organizations have been conveniently limited to however it suits that profit generation best. This means the placement of females in secretarial jobs or as receptionists, or placing them wherever they can function as effective contact points to attract consumers. Putting a soft spoken, pleasant sounding female in direct marketing or complain call centres is done so more because it helps in building the business rather than the competency of females in these positions. So even though females have managed to make it into the big bad business world of males, their survival and existence has been defined as how the dominating sex wants it to be. Furthermore, there is evident inequality in the wages of male employees and females, the latter always to be a lower pay scale.

Advertising: Business and Societal Insight

It is ironic how in the name of women liberation, females are being further captivated in limitations and male-devised restrictions, living in the constant delusion that we are progressing. And this is not limited to the jobs that females are given. As mentioned earlier mass media and in particular the field of advertising has become the cultivating ground for this modern form of discrimination. What is worse you see females being an integral part of this cycle, feeding make-pretend liberation to the female population of the world. Gone are the days when advertisements displayed plastic housewives flaunting their perfect home manager skills and displaying the only form of role that was acceptable for women at that time. No todays women are smarter, intelligent and competing in with men in the business arena. Smart enough to be animal crazy after a mens deodorant. Rated at the most successful brand identity, Axe deodorant ads represent just what roles today females are defined by men to do. Their liberation is the pursuance of their sexuality and having no inhibition in flaunting it. The confident woman of today is not running on high self esteem because of their skills and knowledge, but manipulating their counterparts via their seductiveness. And hence brands like Axe get the highest sales even when they sell on controversial lines of being so effective that they make even angels fall. Modern Day Beauty Myth And it is not only the ads for male products that are painting a questionable image of the female sex. The gender in this modern age of advancement is being fed a contemporary form of the beauty myth were fair complexion gets you jobs, accomplishments, success in whatever you are aiming to become, even gets you marriage prospects. The impact of this aspect of the new age beauty myth is more evident in our side of the world which has darker complexion in its

genes. Somehow that has become a disgrace and you see young Pakistani and Indian girls to be in a rat race to improve their complexion. The western societies further extend this myth by projecting skinny girls to be the optimum choice and better preferred. The eating disorders prevalent in one of every five college girls in the US denotes the impact of this excessive projection and how it s harming female growth in society. Such advertisements have inflicted deceiving ideals in the minds of young girls. We see girls idolizing unrealistic media icons that have been created to push the beauty myth and therefore more girls anywhere aim to become Paris Hiltons rather than Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo. Ltd. This beauty myths modern form is not only viewable from a critical eye, but has become a naked truth. With the advancement of technology the perfection that once was only imaginable is now achievable and therefore females are being manipulated to become what is not even natural. The Evolution Ad that was part of Doves Campaign for real beauty was shared by millions in a short span of time, embedded in many blogs that were feminist centric. This viral phenomenon was fuelled with the realization of how unrealistic the models we see on our screens are, how the imagery sold to us is false and how females are given a false idol to look up to. The ad featured an everyday day girl and how she is transformed with make-up, photoshopped to become an unnatural beauty. The step-by-step transformation served as an eye opener as to what is real and how technology has helped shape female discrimination in an attractive package. Advertising is a billion dollar industry. On average we see about 2000 ads per day and the ideas that they imprint in the minds of today accompanied by effective visual depiction leave a far more engraved lesson than any other academic institution. And it is sad how todays core constituent of the business world is the generator of creating such a sham for the female population globally. Mass media seems to be in a collective effort to shape an image for the women of today that is an illusion. Either its the pushing of this false perfection or this chimera image of woman who is managing everything, is career oriented and has a family in perfect balance. Woman and the business world seems to be a decade favourite topic for movie makers and it actually reflects what the male opinion leaders perceive about the woman in business today. True you see so many movies today where there are female spies, business tycoons and smart lawyers and females overthrowing male dominancy, but this has actually further made female sexuality at commodity. Almost every such girl power movie would show girls eventually using their attractiveness to accomplish whatever they want. Trying to show female sexuality as a means of achieving goals has further constrained the role of females in the business environment where confident women as perceived to be bold in all the wrong sense, to have achieved whatever they have on the basis of their manipulative sexuality and using their gender characteristics to progress, that is indirectly insulting females to not have any other capabilities, except well, being females.

You see smart, capable females termed as Ugly Betty; you see no progress from the 1960s where women are still Desperate Housewives. Analysing what is actually being done to the female imagery puts forward a very ugly picture which is sadly the reality. A series by the name of Modern Family which went on air in 2011, has two female lead characters one, a mother of three who is a housewife and coping with home management while the other is foreign immigrant single mom, very attractive and who has wooed a man twice her age but super rich to marry her.. Talk about modern indeed, where females are still in their stagnant portfolios assigned to them by the society.

The Real Picture

In March 2011, it was 100 years since the first International Womens Day was celebrated, a century since women decided to do something to about getting a share of their power. They have had their share of success in taking on men on their turf, and succeeding, whether it was commanding a space shuttle or climbing Mt. Everest. Today you can see a sprinkling of women, at least a token presence, in all spheres; corporate board rooms, Parliaments, court rooms, manufacturing plants, why even in front line defence. Women box, wrestle, do weights, climb mountains, swim, row; making it obvious that there is nothing that they cant do. However these definitions and standards that have been set for equality are questionable themselves. Even if we directly analyse the core business activities of today and the standing of women, it is obvious that there are mountains of gender inequities that have to be excavated. The inequalities make an interesting mix. As mentioned earlier there are obviously issues involving the kind of jobs that female employees are offered, the salary differences and the image a business women has to carry. There is continuous confusion in a womens working image and her business image both by the women herself and those around her. People hiring for upper management level positions are always in doubt that appointing females in such positions would result in productivity compromises, due to required allowances such as marriages, maternity leaves etc and therefore tend to avoid doing so. While on the other hand women under pressure always decide to evade their careers to take the mommy-track which is not at all wrong due to freedom of choice. However it is almost impossible for a women to get back to her career if she wants to, blocking any chance of having a profession once she decides to change paths. Females are under constant pressure of making the right choices and then ensuring that they carry out their decisions bearing full responsibility. And Pakistani society is worst in this sense. If a girl decides to pursue higher education, then she must leave everything to get married at the right age. If she is mastering a profession she must practice it otherwise shes just wasting the seat by getting married. If she is doing well in her career then she must maintain a sober societal image. It is a similar case abroad as well, with worse scenarios in terms of sexual harassment and adverse incidents. A

high percentage of female employee turnovers are contributed due to the reason that females feel that they arent given challenging jobs or better projects at work. It has become common practice for organizations to contradict their propagated beliefs from their actual implemented policies. If all women knew that Reebok, who promotes the empowerment of women in their advertising campaigns, has promoted less that 17% of women to their executives positions, women would look differently at their advertisements (Ferree, Lorber Hess, 1999). The factories and offices of yesterday thrived on bussing people to a central space, and then leveraging them to work the capital-intensive infrastructure to the hilt. The factory had the machines, the office had the super computer and the call centre had the telephone system. This type of organisation required and demanded a regimented workforce that would turn up at a fixed hour and work a fixed 10-12 hours. This was perfectly fine with men as they were expected by the society to get out of the house and use their time to earn a living, unfettered by the need for taking care of home or children. When women started moving into the workforce in big numbers, the rules remained the same. Yes, over a period of time, they won a few concessions such as a childcare facility at the work place, maternity leave, etc., but the overall organization structure did not change much. It was designed by men for men, and any woman who wanted to play in that field had to become a super woman somebody who would run as hard as the men, and still turn up for childrens PTA meetings. Its no wonder that even in the western world where feminist movements are over 160 years old, women are still struggling to reach the top. And even where they have reached the top, there is more discussion around their hairstyle than their professional achievements. This constantly bubbling pot of dilemmas and pressures force either forces women out of the business world or strive in a constant struggle. And its not that women have been incompetent in making through these hurdles, but it is out right unfair that organizations remain structured as per tradition, still only suitable for males. Women working have this perpetual responsibility to prove themselves, at the costs of missing out their family life and compromising other important factors in their life. Women should not be conflicted about having it all. Rather, women have to lobby for a new phase of equality where the societal infrastructure is put into place, where companies social responsibility is redefined to cater to balance life for employees, where the government legislation requires corporations to develop friendly practices to working mothers and parents, and where the entertainment industry is restricted from the further degradation of women.

The Conclusion
The new meaning of equality doesnt stop at providing equal rights legislation, but it goes further. It requires a societal visionary plan to support this productive culture with appropriate schools and daycares to support working couples; it requires corporations to not only support equal rights policies, but also to monitor their effectiveness; it requires corporations to interview women leaving their posts and document the reasons for womens attrition; it also requires corporations to become socially responsible and to provide a work environment that supports work and family balance arrangements. As for the businesswoman, let her not forget that achieving equality comes with a lot of responsibility. Equality means that she cant pack up her bags and go home every time she faces an obstacle with her management. It also means that she cant give up on her career just because she found a husband. It is important that this modern form of discrimination is identified and corrected. Even though it said that feminism has succeeded it is not so in reality. Women must realise their value as individuals beyond their gender characteristics and develop their career path accordingly. It is equally important that women stop trying to be men and endeavour sustaining their femininity with respect. Todays world is so wonderfully different. The importance of physical space is disappearing as organizations become more virtual and distributed. Virtual travel, like video conferencing, is becoming more convenient, far cheaper and perhaps more secure and reliable than physical travel. Moving information to where you are has become cheaper and instantaneous. The iPad and the iPhone are becoming our offices. Amazon and iTunes are our new marketplaces. Google, Facebook and Twitter are the new communication media Women must leverage the fundamental transformation of the work place thats happening in front of us. Today, information highways bring data at high speed to where you are and knowledge is power. It is essential that we redraw the corporate world to suit women as they are and create mixed work spaces. Women can take offices to where they want to be - in the kitchen or with the kids doing homework. They must build skills and talent that would get employers to work with them at their terms. Todays women have options that allow them to pursue a career and be financially independent, without having to compromise. That is the freedom that the knowledge world has given us at present. Capital has become secondary to ideas and innovation. The corporate organisation as we know is at an inflection point. And this is the opportunity for women to push an agenda of creating a work environment that allows them to live and work the way they like and not force them to choose. That is answer new-age discrimination with new age feminism.