Custom essays on Gender discrimination in the labor market

Until the middle of the 20th century, employers were practically unlimited when establishing requirements for the employees. But legislation on minimum age for employment, as well as the prohibition to include women and adolescents to a heavy, dangerous and unhealthy work, were only limitation of the employer.
Nowadays discrimination in the labor market is officially prohibited, and this discrimination can be on various grounds: race, color, ethnic, national or social origin, religion or political beliefs, marital status, age, disability. Each country has its own more or less full set of reasons,for the prohibition of discrimination in employment.
Millions of people worldwide are without work, and are forced to be engaged in certain types of professional activity or receive lower wages just because of their gender, creed or color of their skin, regardless of their abilities or the requirements in the workplace. The worst forms of discrimination faced certain categories of people: women, ethnic or racial minorities and migrants. Also, the most common types of discrimination, on which employers are prosecuted, are discrimination based on nationality, race and gender, marriage, political opinion, religion and membership of a trade union and age discrimination.
Women all over the world continue to be in lower positions then men in the labor rights and in the global labor market remain at a disadvantage position with men. Measures to address this imbalance must be addressed by all countries in the development of socio-economic development – this is the main conclusion of the report of the International Labour Organization

The concept of discrimination in the labor market

Discrimination in the labor market is a widespread phenomenon. It can be defined as unequal opportunities or unequal treatment to workers with equal productivity, by employers, society and state.
Both individual workers and their specific groups can suffer from the discrimination in employment. Though differences in treatment and compensation can not be considered as discriminatory if they are based on the difference in labor productivity. This is due to the level of qualifications and skills: the higher they are, the higher the labor efficiency and labor achievements of workers can be.

There are several types of discrimination in the labor market: Discrimination in employment; Discrimination in payment; Discrimination in access to certain professions or positions (occupational segregation); Discrimination in promotions, or career; Discrimination in education or training.
The main causes of discrimination in the labor market are associated with the use of monopoly power, personal prejudices (employers, colleagues or consumers) and the statistical bias (where employers in the imperfections of information transfer in some individuals some of the characteristics of the group).
Socio-economic impact of discrimination in the labor market shows that, as a rule, they are evaluated by foreign and domestic experts negatively, as discrimination prevents the optimal allocation of resources and income, reducing the effectiveness of the national economy and individual organizations (firms, corporations).
Discrimination – is a rather complex phenomenon, which combines unequal opportunities in the labor market. The existence of circumstances, as formal evidence of discrimination, does not always mean that it actually exists. In particular, occupational segregation, including gender, is not always the result of discrimination. There are professions and activities that are harmful for women, or may be dangerous for the health of future children. There are professions that men or women just like less. Often the choice of profession is defined not only personal or family preferences, and national traditions and customs, prohibiting men or women to be engaged in any profession.
Labor legislation is strictly enough to refer to any variants of discrimination: “Everyone has equal opportunity to exercise their labor rights. No one may be constrained by labor rights and freedoms or to receive any benefits, regardless of gender, race, color, ethnicity, language, origin, material, social and employment status, age, residence, religion, political belief, membership or non-public associations, as well as from other circumstances not related to the qualifications of the employee.” (Equal Employment Opportunity)
In America, such kinds of discrimination are prohibited: based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, pregnancy, trade union membership, expunging criminal records, age ( discrimination against older workers), disability (there is a discrimination against the disabled, and persons suffering from various diseases, including AIDS, and serious illnesses, for example, deaf, deaf-mutes, dwarfs). Discrimination in employment in connection with the sexual orientation of the employee or the employee is prohibited by law in several states, such as Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Hawaii.