Gender inequality in the workplace: One of America's many workplace challenges

Abstract

What does the number 60,743 mean to you? Most people wouldn't be able to place this number off the top of their head. According to the author of The Face of Discrimination, by Vincent J. Roscigno, that is the number of cases of sex and racial discrimination cases of employment. (15). These are just the cases that have been filed; there is no telling how many cases have not been claimed or filed, claims that have been dismissed, or the countless stories of people who did not realize that they were victimized or were too scared to speak up and share their story. It's starting to think that despite the fact that employers are not allowed to discriminate based on race, gender, or other facts about a person they can't change, it happens on an almost daily basis.

As Americans, most of us pride ourselves as being able to do whatever we want within the rules of the law. We pride ourselves on being able to go to college and get a degree and find that job that will make our life better than it was before. For those of us who don't want to go to college or a vocational trade school, we work on getting our high school diploma and establishing ourselves within the community to land our local ideal job. We would like to believe that women and men are equal competitors in the workforce; that race doesn't matter when applying for a job. The problem is that these things do matter, and that these are factors out of one's control.