What is gender discrimination?
Gender discrimination is a phenomenon that involves unequal, unfavourable treatment of a woman or a man in a specific situation (e.g. professional), solely because of their gender. Discrimination can take various forms – indirect or direct. In the first case, the discrimination is camouflaged, while in the second it is overt.
Examples of direct discrimination:
- Job advertisements formulated in such a way that one of the sexes is excluded from the outset;
- Lower pay for women compared to men in the same position;
- Dismissal, refusal to hire or refusal to extend a contract due to pregnancy;
- Downplaying competences or depreciating professional achievements on the basis of gender.
The phenomenon of indirect discrimination is often difficult to notice. Usually, these are seemingly neutral norms that in practice adversely affect a specific group. An example here would be a lower hourly rate for part-time employees, when the majority of them are women. All forms of harassment, including sexual harassment, or unfavourable treatment of people who objected to such behaviour, are more extreme manifestations of discrimination in the workplace.
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