Women in Long Island whose workplaces are male-dominated might be more likely to experience gender discrimination or sexual harassment than women in workplaces with an equal ratio of men and women or workplaces that are female-dominated. A 2017 study by Pew Research found that this was the case throughout the country.
Nearly half of women in the survey reported working at jobs that had more female than male employees. Around one-third said their workplaces were mostly evenly split in gender, and 18 percent said there were more men in their workplaces. Around half of the women in the male-majority workplaces said sexual harassment was a problem while only one-third of the women in the female-majority workplaces found this to be the case.
About two-thirds of women say their gender has not affected their professional success. However, almost three times as many women as men, 19 percent compared to 7 percent, report that gender has been a factor and has interfered with their job success. Women are more likely than men to report a number of specific behaviors related to gender discrimination including being treated as though they were less competent, earning less and getting less support from leaders in the company. Overall, more women tend to work in caregiving professions while more men tend to work in engineering, computing and traditional blue-collar jobs.
People who believe they are facing gender discrimination at work might want to talk to an attorney. Examples of potential gender discrimination might include a person receiving less pay for doing the same job with a similar amount of experience, denial of promotion or a pattern of inappropriate comments in the workplace about a person’s gender. An attorney’s advice about documenting the situation may be valuable even if a person initially plans to try to address the situation through workplace channels.
