Page 180 - Discrimination at Work The Psychological and Organizational Bases

7

Gender Discrimination

in Organizations

Jeanette N. Cleveland
Theresa K. Vescio
Pennsylvania State University

Janet L. Barnes-Farrell
University of Connecticut

Women and men are treated differently in the workplace. Sometimes,
women are treated less favorably than men. Other times women are treated
more favorably than men. Although male and female employees may come
to the workplace with some preexisting gender differences that provide
reasonable explanations for the differential treatment they receive, often
differences in the treatment of men and women are linked to the inaccurate
perception of differences (Cleveland, Stockdale, & Murphy, 2000). For this
reason, it is important to document the kinds of gender discrimination that
occur in the workplace and the kinds of psychological processes that con­
tribute to gender discrimination at work. However, it is also our contention
that a narrow focus on documenting gender bias and gender discrimina­
tion process strictly within the temporal, physical, and social confines of the
workplace masks some important differences in the way men and women
experience work. It leaves us wanting with respect to explanations and so­
lutions for well-documented differences between men and women on im­
portant work outcomes, such as compensation. Understanding variations
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