Gender Labour Discrimination in the Higher Education System: A Case of Georgia
Abstract
Introduction. Discrimination, especially gender discrimination, is one of the main challenges of the modern labour market. Even though different countries have appropriate policies as well as the desire and readiness of society, gender discrimination remains an unsolved problem in all spheres of activity. Although women's participation and educational opportunities have increased, and they are actively involved in academic activities, according to research, the level of discrimination in this field remains high. The management apparatus of organizations should take into account the fact that discrimination is not only a violation of the country's legislation but also has a negative impact on both the image of the organization and its final results.
Aim and tasks. This research aims to identify gender discrimination in the higher education system and provide solutions using Georgia.
Results. The study aims to outline gender discrimination issues in Georgia and its impact on people's personal lives and health. A total of 759 respondents employed at a higher educational institution were interviewed. Despite the fact that the government of Georgia has developed legislative reforms to eliminate discrimination, the results of the study revealed significant problems in the higher education system of Georgia in terms of gender discrimination. Part of them state that they were victims of discrimination most often at the workplace. The results revealed that gender discrimination affected people's health and personal lives.
Conclusions. Managers must consider many factors to achieve the intended results for an organisation. However, one of the most essential challenges for enhancing employee labour productivity is the creation of a place to work, where the issue of discrimination plays a significant role. Attention was also focused on the factors causing discrimination, to which managers should pay attention to take appropriate measures. The study analysed how men and women perceive the conflicts caused by discrimination in the labour market. Also, it revealed the perception and vision of the ways of solving these conflicts among women and men.
Keywords:
gender, discrimination, workplace, employees, management positions.References
Arjevanidze, N. (2012). Gender Equality – Review of Georgian and International Legislations. Gender Equality Program, CSS, 1-19.
Booysen, L. A., & Nkomo, S. M. (2010). Gender role stereotypes and requisite management characteristics: The case of South Africa. Gender in Management: An International Journal, 25(4), 285-300.
Channar, Z. A., Abbassi, Z., & Ujan, I. A. (2011). Gender discrimination in workforce and its impact on the employees. Pakistan Journal of Commerce and Social Sciences (PJCSS), 5(1), 177-191.
EIGE. (2023). Eradicating sexism to change the face of the EU. Retrieved from https://eige.europa.eu
Filandri, M., & Pasqua, S. (2021). Being good isn’t good enough’: gender discrimination in Italian academia. Studies in Higher Education, 46(8), 1533-1551.
Gberevbie, D. E., Osibanjo, A. O., Adeniji, A. A., & Oludayo, O. A. (2014). An empirical study of gender discrimination and employee performance among academic staff of government universities in Lagos State, Nigeria. International Journal of Social, Human Science and Engineering, 8(1), 101-108.
Geostat. (2022). Women and Men in Georgia, Statistical Publication. Retrieved from https://gender.geostat.ge/gender/index.php?lang=ka#publications
GYLA. (2014). Analysis of Georgian labor legislation - gender discrimination at the workplace and its legal consequences. https://rb.gy/8vpps
Hosang, G. M., & Bhui, K. (2018). Gender discrimination, victimisation and women's mental health. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 213(6), 682-684.
IDFI. (2020). Career in public sector and gender equality. https://idfi.ge
Iqbal, H., Afzal, S., & Inayat, M. (2012). Gender discrimination: implications for Pakistan security. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 1(4), 16-25.
Kharadze, N., Paichadze, N., & Paresashvili, N. (2019). General trends of business career management. European Journal of Economics and Business Studies, 5(1), 153-177.
Kharadze, N., Tikishvili, M., Giorgobiani, M., Katsitadze, N., Pirtskhalaishvili, D., & Dugladze, D. (2023). Study of married women's attitude towards retirement age. Asia Life Sciences, 1633-1644.
Kim, G., Kim, J., Lee, S.-K. S., & Yun, B.-Y. (2020). Multidimensional gender discrimination in workplace and depressive symptoms. PLoS ONE 15(7): e0234415, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0234415.
Kim, S., Won, E., Jeong, H. G., Lee, M. S., Ko, Y. H., Paik, J. W., & Han, K. M. (2022). Gender discrimination in workplace and depressive symptoms in female employees in South Korea. Journal of Affective Disorders, 306, 269-275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2022.03.050
Kira, I. A., Smith, I., Lewandowski, L., & Templin, T. (2010). The effects of gender discrimination on refugee torture survivors: A cross-cultural traumatology perspective. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, 16(5), 299-306. https://doi.org/10.1177/1078390310384401
Knights, D., & Richards, W. (2003). Sex discrimination in UK academia. Gender, Work & Organization, 10(2), 213-238.
Konrad, A. M., & Cannings, K. (1997). The effects of gender role congruence and statistical discrimination on managerial advancement. Human Relations, 50(10), 1305-1328.
Koval, V., Aleksieienko-Lemovska, L., & Mikhno, I. (2023). Sustainable business models in enhancing regional product competitiveness. Casopis za ekonomiju i trzisne komunikacije, 13(1), 210-223.
Mian, R., Rehman, M., & Rehman, C. (2016). Gender discrimination at work place: A case study on education sector of Pakistan. International Journal of Management Sciences and Business Research, 5(12), 104-113.
Nmecha, E. E., & Bowen, G. (2015). Management implication of stereotype or qualification towards female progression. International Journal of Management and Business Economics, 4(4), 50-58.
Paresashvili, N., Tikishvili, M., & Edzgveradze, T. (2021). Employees discrimination issues based on the statistical analysis using SPSS (Case of Georgia, Republic of). Access Journal - Access to Science, Business, Innovation in the Digital Economy, 2(2), 175–191. https://doi.org/10.46656/access.2021.2.2(5)
Parliament of Georgia. (2010). Law of Georgia on Gender Equality. https://matsne.gov.ge/en/document/view/91624?publication=9
Petit, P. (2007). The effects of age and family constraints on gender hiring discrimination: A field experiment in the French financial sector. Labour Economics, 14(3), 371-391.
Pew Research Center. (2017). Gender discrimination comes in many forms for today’s working women. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2017/12/14/gender-discrimination-comes-in-many-forms-for-todays-working-women/
Pirtskhalaishvili, D., Paresashvili, N., & Kulinich, T. (2021). The gender aspects of career development and leadership in organizations. Journal of Eastern European and Central Asian Research (JEECAR), 8(2), 255-266. https://doi.org/10.15549/jeecar.v8i2.654
Quinlivan, S. (2017). Disrupting the status quo? Discrimination in academic promotions. Irish Employment Law Journal, 14(3), 68-75.
UN Woman. (2020). Analysis of the gender pay gap and gender inequality in the labour market in georgia. https://georgia.unwomen.org
UNFPA. (2020). Men, Women, and Gender Relations in Georgia: Public Perceptions and Attitudes. https://georgia.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/unfpa-research-geo.pdf
Winchester, H. P., & Browning, L. (2015). Gender equality in academia: A critical reflection. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 37(3), 269-281. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080X.2015.1034427
If the article is accepted for publication in the journal «Economics. Ecology. Socium» the author must sign an agreementon transfer of copyright. The agreement is sent to the postal (original) or e-mail address (scanned copy) of the journal editions.
