Next Time You Go Looking for a Job and are Turned Away, You May Have to Ask if it Was Because You Weren't the Right Fit, or if You Weren't The Right Gender. by Keelagh Breslin

“Sweetie,” “Kiddo.” These are just some of the many terms that people like Sarah Miller have to deal with on a daily basis. In an interview Sara gave for the book Erasing Institutional Bias: How to Create Systemic Change For Organizational Inclusion, she talked about how her boss treated her like a child, and “patted her on the head” whenever she contributed to the conversation. She says that this is different from how her male colleagues were treated, with respect and that they were supposed to be there. Gender Bias in the workplace is a major problem that is rarely talked about, instead, people talk about more “important” issues, like global warming, or the next election. The first step to fixing this problem is to bring it into the light, show how “important” it is, because if everyone ignores it, it won't just go away.

With all the different movements popping up over social media, you would think that one would be about gender bias. The only thing that comes close is the me too movement, which is not entirely the same thing. Although they go hand in hand, gender bias is less talked about, because it is seen as less important. But this is not the case, according to a study done in 2015, a woman makes 78 cents to a man's dollar. (Higgins) This may seem like a small comparison, but when put in context in an average month’s salary, it is a pretty big gap. Say the average man makes 1,000 dollars a month, then the average women would make 780 dollars a month.

As well as the actual wage gap, there is also an occupational gap. Extensive surveys showed that certain professions, such as minors, construction workers, and engineers, were predominantly male, whereas professions such as manicurist, nurse, and secretary, were predominantly female. (Busch) It is also known that these predominantly female fields usually make less than other professions. Sometimes it is because that the fields are easier, or not as important as the other, such as manicurists and engineers. But that is normal, just like how a McDonald's worker wouldn't be paid as much as a surgeon. But there are others, such as being a nurse, that are more difficult and take years of school to qualify. The fact that these fields are given less, both money and respect, shows how gender stereotyping can affect wage and profession.

On the other hand, some people believe that the reason women do not hold higher positions, is due to the fact that we are “deficient”. Heilman writes that some believe women do not have the same skill set as men, which makes us less qualified to do the work that men do. They say that this is also the reason that women and men have different jobs, and why “female jobs'' are generally paid less, due to the fact that the work “Isn't as difficult” or “easier.” But not all women want stereotypically female jobs, they want something like an engineer or construction worker. This is just another thing that shows how women are thought of as “less” or “incapable.”

In an interview, Caroline Breslin talks about a time where she was turned away from a job because they “were only looking for men.” (Breslin) She talks about how when she tried to get a job as a bartender in a restaurant, they turned her away, solely based on her gender. The stereotype that only men could be bartenders showed how biased people could be, that someone couldn't do a job because they were a woman and not a man.

If we want to fix this problem, then we have to start with the stereotypes. If we do not change people's view on women themselves, then their view on their occupation or their wage will not change. If people talked about this topic more, then it might bring attention to the stereotypes that people are subconsciously enforcing.

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