Page 419 - Discrimination at Work The Psychological and Organizational Bases

CHAP AND NGUYEN
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first-time applicants (Bournois, 1993). In contrast, Germany's Civil Code
specifically requires employment advertisements to be gender-neutral
(Sparrow & Hiltrop, 1994).
Even if women are successfully hired, their job security may not be pro­
tected well. In China, Korea, and Japan, managers would hire young, single
women on short-term contracts and then discharge them or refuse to re­
hire them if they get married or pregnant, regardless of education or skills
(Kerr et al., 1996; "Korean Women," 1999; Strober & Chan, 1999). Women
in Eastern European countries face similar fates of being expendable work­
ers (Mertus, 1998). In order not to get fired in the name of efficiency, some
women have taken drastic measures such as having themselves sterilized
to comply with their employers' order or subjecting themselves to sexual
harassment in exchange for job security.
The "brick wall" metaphor can also be used to refer to the phenomenon
of occupational segregation or the disparity between male and female rep­
resentation in clusters of occupations. A cross-national study conducted
with occupational data on 41 countries in several world regions (e.g.,
Asia/Pacific, North America, North Africa, Middle East, and Scandinavia)
revealed the troubling fact that occupational segregation is prevalent in
all countries studied (Anker, 1998). For example, the number of male-
dominated occupations was seven times higher than female-dominated
ones, and "female" occupations (e.g., clerk, teacher, agricultural laborers)
were socially perceived as less valuable. Thus, female workers received
lower pay, lower status, and fewer advancement opportunities. Further­
more, some cross-cultural and historical studies show occupations that are
dominated by women tend to have lower salaries and status than that of
their male counterparts. For example, women doctors dominate the gen­
eral medical profession in Russia, but they do not experience the same
relative salaries and prestige enjoyed by predominately male doctors in
the United States (Goldberg & Kishkovsky, 2000). In addition, historical
trends found that as the percentage of women in an occupation increases,
the wage levels of these occupations decrease (Reid, 1998).
The unavailability of employment opportunities results in the low
participation rate of women in many economies. For instance, women
in Bangladesh occupy only 23% of professional and technical positions
(Zafarullah, 2000). Zimbabwean female workers on tobacco plantations
are generally found in the lowest wage groups (contract laborers), re­
ceiving no fringe benefits and being considered dispensable (Broback &
Save-Soderbergh, 1996). In Greece, Belgium, and Portugal, 60% of the un­
employed were female in the early 1990s (Sparrow & Hiltrop, 1994). Glob­
ally, the lowest female participation rates are observed in the Middle East
and North Africa because of cultural and religious restrictions (e.g., 27.8%