She qualified as a Chartered Accountant a couple of months ago, but couldn’t find a job. Her confidence was badly dented and disappointment began to reflect in her behaviour.
“Hey, what happened? You are not fine?”, I asked.
“Job hunting is distressing, Hardik.”
“Why? A lot of jobs are listed on job portals and on LinkedIn as well. You’ll find a suitable job hassle-free”, I tried to motivate her.
“It isn’t as simple as it looks. Most companies prefer male candidates”, she replied in a depressing tone.
It was a bit shocking for me since I never imagined gender biases in the recruiting process.
I thought o my self, can there be a job position explicitly mentioning the eligibility criteria as “MALES ONLY”? I couldn’t believe it could happen, at least not for positions related to Fresher Chartered Accountants.
I was curious to find out the reality so I searched “Jobs for Fresher CAs in Jaipur” on a leading job portal. 30 jobs appeared out of which 15 invited resumes only from male candidates while 6 others wrote ‘males preferred’. I also glanced through a few Linkedin posts and these are some of the posts I found:
“Looking for a Fresher Chartered Accountant for Jaipur location having articleship expertise in Direct Taxes and Goods & Services Tax, MALE CANDIDATES ARE PREFERRED”.
“XXX bank is hiring MBA professionals for an Analyst position, ONLY MALE CANDIDATES SHOULD APPLY FOR THE POSITION”,
“ABC Limited is looking to expand its marketing and sales team in Rajasthan, applications from Male Graduates are invited for the post”.
Isn’t It Shocking?
I was reading an article the other day, where a woman mentioned how her boss replied “I sympathise with you, but you shouldn’t be working in a male dominating industry” when she complained against sexual harassment.
We often discuss sexual harassment at workplaces, however, ignore the most crucial factor which leads to it – Preference for male candidates.
According to a recent Randstad Workmonitor Survey, 55% of respondents agreed that males are preferred over females for positions for which both the genders are equally qualified. Globally, the ratio is even higher as more than 70% of respondents agreed with the gender biases.
The irony? Even female recruiters prefer male candidates because of certain stereotypes like “Think Manager – Think Male”, “Males are born leaders” and “Males can accomplish any assignment”.
Often, people assume that women employees can’t work overtime and their commitment after marriage is uncertain. Hence, organisations are fearful about investing time and resources in nurturing female employees. Inviting applications only from males is unfair because hard work isn’t a synonym to the male gender. Ideally, the recruiters should invite job applications from both the genders and then decide their compatibility based on skills, attitude and dedication.
In my experience, most senior-level positions in multinational companies are occupied by males. There are hardly any women at the key managerial positions, mostly because they are considered incompetent in leading the large scale organisations which demand “leadership”, “patience” and “full dedication”.
Where does it all start? – Gender preferences while recruiting for entry-level positions. Until all the positions in all the departments will not be freely open for female workers, the gender ratio at workplaces will favour the males.
So, to combat sexual harassment at the workplaces and make offices secure for women to work and climb the career leader, we’ll have to avoid gender biases and accept that women are as competent and dedication towards their goals and the organisation as their male counterparts. If Indra Nooyi can lead PepsiCo, any woman can easily lead any organisation.
What are your thoughts? How can gender biases be eliminated from the workplaces?
This article was originally published on Opined.