Gender Equality in Workplace

Gender inequality is an important issue advanced by feminist groups and individuals, especially in the world that seeks streamline business management. Although the general perception and status of women may have changed significantly, more studies have proven the availability of continued disparities in various countries in the world. Very insignificant research has attempted to discuss gender disparity by comparing Thailand and the United Kingdom.

The objective of this quantitative secondary study was to analyze the existence of parity between women and men in Thailand and the UK. Secondary data was collected from published information, and it led to the analysis of the data which later answered some of the research questions.

The results showed men had succeeded in getting a higher education than women that subsequently later sought to answer the research question. The persons who have access to use the published journals ensured that they did enough scrutiny and ensured that they only provide the data after demonstrating that they will not use it for any other purpose other than the reasons stipulated in the research.

It is recommended that women to should explore the power and gender in all societal level. Women who remain in the house to execute family responsibilities will scarcely participate in the workforce and create meaningful change. When there is no voluntary commitment to reverse the inhibiting cultural situations, reduction of gender inequality not in Thailand and the UK is not likely.

Acknowledgements

This dissertation would not have attained success without receiving support and continuous encouragement of various individuals. Most significantly, I need to dedicate this dissertation to my family members who include my siblings and parents. Marvelous gratitude goes out all my good and classmates whose bond and friendship became like family to me since they always supported me and believed in my ability to achieve the highest levels possible of academic achievement. Enormous gratitude also goes lecturers and research supervisors who provided me guidance and for introducing me to research methods that have profoundly assisted me in preparing this dissertation.

Finally, I’m grateful to this institution (name) for granting me this precious opportunity to proceed with this research and write my dissertation. I would also like to thank all the institutions that provided support by authorizing the use of their published and documented secondary data for this research. With every contact and friend, I made, I reassessed my personal comprehension of a purposeful and rigorous study.

Thank you.

Table of Contents

Abstract 2

Acknowledgements. 3

1.0 Gender Equality in Workplace. 8

1.1 Introduction structure outline. 8

1.11 Brief Introduction. 8

1.12 Literature review.. 9

1.13 Methodology. 9

1.2 Introduction. 9

1.3 Background. 11

1.4 Objectives. 14

1.41 Overall objective. 14

1.42 Specific Objectives. 14

1.5 Significance of the Study. 15

1.6 Scope of the study. 16

1.7 Research Questions. 16

1.71 Main research questions. 16

1.72 Specific research questions. 17

1.8 Research Aims. 17

1.9 Justification of the study. 17

1.21 Problem Statement 18

1.22Feasibility of the study. 19

1.23 Research Limitations. 20

2.0 Literature Review.. 20

2.1 Introduction. 20

2.2 Britain’s gender differences in employment 22

2.3 Why gender pay disparities exist in the U.K. 23

2.4 Treatment of the employees in the UK workplace. 24

2.5 Gender pay gap in the UK.. 25

2.6 Workplace equality legal framework. 26

2.7 Advantages of workplace diversity. 27

2.71 Reduces costs of turnover. 28

2.72 Enhances business performance. 28

2.73 Gain a Great Reputation. 29

2.8 Disadvantages of workplace gender diversity. 29

2.81 Increased Competition. 30

2.9 Probable reasons why women earn less. 30

2.10 Human Resource Management (HRM) Implications. 31

2.11 The Role of HR managers in managing diversity. 33

2.12 Thailand’s Women labor force. 34

2.13 Segregation of people based on gender in Thailand’s employment sector. 34

2.14 Government policies on gender inequality. 35

2.15 Thai Women in Politics. 35

2.16 Thai Women in the Workplace. 36

2.17 Thai Women in Management 38

2.18 Literature Gap in the progress of Thai Women and the United Kingdom.. 40

2.19 Summary. 42

3.0 Methodology. 43

3.1 Research philosophy. 43

3.2 Research Design. 45

3.21 Outline of the research design process. 45

3.22 Organising and collecting data. 45

3.23 Data analysis and presentation of findings. 45

3.3 Reliability and Validity. 46

3.4 Data collection. 48

3.5 Ethical considerations. 49

4.0 Data Analysis. 50

4.1 Workforce gender inequality in Thailand. 50

4.2 The composition of the workforce according to gender. 50

4.3 Average wage of female to male in each sector. 52

4.4 The percentage of people in the informal employment by sex and age from 2009 to 2017. 54

4.5 The Level of education attainment 56

4.6 The United Kingdom.. 61

5.0 Summary Findings, Recommendations and Conclusions. 62

5.1 Summary Findings. 62

5.2 Recommendations. 64

5.3 Conclusion. 65

6.0 References. 66

List of Tables

Table 4. 1 Workforce composition based on sex: 2009 - 2017. 47

Table 4. 2 Average wage female to male in each sector (Public/SOE/Private) and gender pay gap: 2001-2014. 49

Table 4. 3 Percentage of people in the informal sector. 50

Table 4. 4 The Level of education attainment in the province of Whole Kingdom for the year 2017. 52

Table 4. 5 The Level of education attainment for men and women 5 provinces in Thailand. 54

List of Figures

Figure 4. 1 Workforce composition based on sex: 2009-2017. 48

Figure 4. 2 The Gender Pay Gap for the three sectors of employment in Thailand. 50

Figure 4. 3 The percentage of male and females in the informal sector in various regions of Thailand 52

Figure 4. 4 The Level of education attainment in the province of Whole Kingdom for the year 2017. 54

Figure 4. 5 Average education qualifications by regions in 2017. 56

Figure 4. 6 Gender Gap Wage. 57

1.0 Gender Equality in Workplace

1.1 Introduction structure outline

1.11 Brief Introduction

There have been significant changes in the employment sector in the UK, but until now the gender revolution in the workplace is not complete. Between 1971 to 2008, the employment gender gap and the economic inactivity reduced because of the divergent trends that men and women have experienced in the economic inactivity and employment rates (Perrons, 2009). The economic inactivity and the employment rate of women have declined whereas, for the better part, there has been a reverse in male trends. In the late 1990s the rate at which change occurred slowed since male employment experienced an upsurge from 1993 to 2004 (Perrons, 2009). The equal pay legislation and the ensuing changes to the law such as mandatory equal pay for any work done were substantial in reducing the pay differentials. However, despite the progress made, and the amendments to the law, various challenges of gender inequality persist.

Many Thai women have ascended to the executive positions of various big and international companies in Thailand whereas a majority of them who have high educational qualifications are still struggling with getting employment opportunities even as junior employees (Hansatit, 2014). In Thailand, prejudice in the form of the different perspectives of what women can achieve and do is traditionally deep-rooted and also caused by the conventional thinking of both genders. The main problem is the conservative social attitudes that men have towards the rights of women. Thai government enacts specific national policies that must be implemented fully and assessed for effectiveness to reduce workplace gender discrimination and nurture equality between genders (Hansatit, 2014).

1.12 Literature review

The review of the literature will entail comparing different sources by critiquing the advantages and drawbacks of the various sources and authors. Furthermore, the literature review will examine the sources that were recently published to ensure that the records and statistics quoted reflect the current situation of gender inequality.

1.13 Methodology

The study will use quantitative research methods of secondary data collection to obtain the data needed for this research. Moreover, the quantitative research methods will also be used in the data analysis to answer the research questions and find the relationship between various variables found in the obtained. The data will be obtained from published sources and official statistics.

1.2 Introduction

Gender inequality has nearly penetrated every part of the world’s workforce. The evaluation of the aspect of the gender inequality and women’s economic status, women still earn less money compared to men in the formal labor sector. Furthermore, there is a reduced likelihood of women participating in the formal workforce, have higher chances of being poor and also do more work in the household sector (Jacobsen, 2011). Gender inequality also occurs in the political sphere because of the lower representation of women in electoral positions and even inadequate representation in the corporate and political appointments. Similarly, social-gender disparity has many dimensions, and only less do not favor men while majority are unfavorable to women. Both in the United Kingdom and Thailand, men, are likely to engage themselves in violence and face imprisonment whereas women have a higher possibility of becoming victims of sexual assault from their male colleagues (Jacobsen, 2011). Since educational credentials are critical in securing employment, in some republics, men have higher educational qualifications compared to women, and the statistics are quite different in other nations.

Although some individuals specifically cause many costs of gender inequality in the workplace, workforce inequality can also be critically assessed in society and even on the global level. When individuals of each gender are not offered equal chance to nurture and realize their potential, then that particular society forfeits the increased amount of output and finally the wellbeing that it would draw from the more productive output of a gender diverse and talented workforce. If societies fail to invest in educating and training both women and men equally, deliberately denies members of another gender an opportunity to grow, develop and participate in productive forms of work, then such a society does not utilize the full potential of their people (Coates, 2015).

Women have made significant gains over the last 50 years, breaking the gender barriers in all spheres of their life. Majority of the young women are opting for carriers that were traditionally dominated by the male gender such as the fields of engineering, technology, and trade. Nowadays, more women are contesting for political office, blasting into space, opening their own enterprises (Goffee and Scase, 2015). Besides, they no longer have to forego high powered carriers because of the societal expectation of women looking after their families and getting married at a tender age. Although women nowadays are aggressive just like men, only a few are recording success in rising to high positions in the corporate and political settings (Goffee and Scase, 2015).

1.3 Background

Despite the higher global gains, there is still gender inequality both in Britain and Thailand workforce. For the case of the U.K-despite the recommendations and publications of the Davies report, there have been numerous campaigns and high-profile speeches on gender equality (Medland, 2016). Similarly, Medland (2016) notes that the number of women in leadership declined in 2015 by 1%. The highest it recorded for the percentage of women occupying senior management positions in businesses and other workplaces was 36% less than men in 2015.

Medland (2016) further observes that businesses that have a workforce that respects gender diversity perform better than the enterprises that still maintain a homogenous workforce. Additionally, gender diversity among the staff members puts it in a position to adjust quickly to the fast-changing world business settings. In the context of rising complexity and uncertainty, companies must refrain from the group-think attitude and embrace various perspectives to develop and overcome the daily constraints (Medland, 2016).

Across Britain, Women account for 30.9% of the executive posts for 11 critical sectors as evaluated by the BBC. The sectors comprise of politics, business and policing (Holt, 2012). The Judiciary and the armed forces have very few women occupying the top positions. Women occupy 13.2 % of the senior positions in the judiciary and 1.3% in the armed forces of the U.K whereas secondary education has the highest proportion of women standing at 36.7% (Holt, 2012).

In the British parliament, men exceed women by almost four and only a third of the native councilors are women (Holt, 2012). Global statistics show that out of 22 only five women occupy the top quarters of power. Holt (2012) states that the report by the European Commission puts the number of women holding directorships in the U. K’s 100 largest-listed firms at 16%. Over the previous 10 years, only 7.2% of all the members of the board comprised of women. The statistics indicate that unless the government takes extraordinary measures to address the systemic reasons that contribute to women not rising to the top leadership positions, the U.K. will never succeed in reducing the big gender gap in the various private and public organizations.

The circumstances in Thailand business have tremendously changed and also create an impact in the top management of companies that necessitates them to revise their current strategies to maintain the smooth running of their businesses. Leadership is considered as among the most vital aspects of, and it is evident that more women are assuming leadership positions in greater than numbers than the previous situations (Pancharoen, Joungtrakul, and Sheehan, 2016). Nonetheless, many Thai women still encounter limited opportunities to serve as leaders, and the circumstances that facilitate or impede women to rise to management positions in the workforce are found in the following structures. The first is about the economic structures in that female employees are working in different types of industries and also contribute immensely to the economic development (Pancharoen, Joungtrakul, and Sheehan, 2016).

However, not many of them are in the leading positions of the corporate bodies. The second factor is the social-cultural structure that binds the Thai culture of women into two positions of becoming wives and mothers (Pancharoen, Joungtrakul, and Sheehan, 2016). Moreover, it is possible to overlook this aspect, because women often face some obstacles known as “glass ceiling” that impede them from ascending into leadership positions. Another element that affects the involvement of women in leadership positions is the political structure. Although Thai women may be considered as politically active, men still dominate the decision-making aspect that also affects the policies made concerning inclusivity of both genders in the recruitment and promotion of workers (Scott, 2014).

Romanow (2012) notes that women continue to contribute significantly to the Thai workforce. Although currently, the percentage of women in administrative roles is not quite substantial, women still often receive accolades as excellent organisational leaders. As more women are becoming more involved in the workplace, the economic growth is also starting to develop steadily (Romanow, 2012). Brussel (2012) mentions that studies around indicate that women only get the chance to come into influential work positions when an organisation is in turmoil. Women display a high degree of empathy and are also caring when they are in charge, and that helps in settling organisational crisis amicably. Thailand on average has more female working as experts in the various work premises more than other countries in Asia (Romanow, 2012). Additionally, Romanow (2012) observes that Thailand has a stronger economy in Asia because it supports women to succeed as corporate leaders.

However, the female leaders that have previously been interviewed in Thailand noted that they find it hard rise to the executive level of the corporate. Due to the Thai culture and traditions of only respecting male figures, young women leaders acknowledge that it has been hard for them to earn the respect of their male colleagues at work. Young women leaders have to work more and disguise themselves by dressing in a manner that makes look older to enable them to earn respect. Nonetheless, women also agree that nowadays, employers give equal opportunities to all during recruitment and many females are getting promotions more frequently than before (Roongrerngsuke & Liefooghe, 2012).

1.4 Objectives

1.41 Overall objective

The research seeks to evaluate the gender inequality that exists in the workforce for both Thailand and the United Kingdom. Comparison of the gender disparities that exists in the labor force will involve determining the proportion of both men and women who are in the formal and informal employment. Furthermore, the research will also analyse the wage disparities that exist between male and female employees in the employment sector of Thailand and Britain. Finally, the study will assess the educational inequality between male and female workers between Thailand and Britain and seek to find out the reasons that lead to all these disparities.

1.42 Specific Objectives

1. To determine the gender disparities that exist in employment and promotion between male and female employees in Thailand and the U.K.

2. To find out the level of gender inequalities in the formal workforce between Thailand and Britain.

3. To find out the wage disparities between male and female employees.

4. To determine the number of men and women who are in the informal sector and the factors that lead to such disparities both in Thailand and the U.K.

5. To evaluate the level of education inequalities between male and female employees for both Britain and Thailand.

6. To explore the gap in skills that exist in the workforce for both male and female employees of Thailand and Britain.

1.5 Significance of the Study

There are three main groups that will benefit from this research. The first group consists of employers in the current business environment as they may learn the level of inequality in the wages of men and women and the disparity that exists when recruiting and promoting staff. Once they read this report, the recommendations will oblige them to exercise fairness in the workplace and treat members of all genders equally. Moreover, the research also proposes affirmative action especially in some regions of Thailand where the level of gender inequality has created massive unemployment among women. Positive discrimination will assist the employers reduce the gender imbalance among the employees in the affected regions.

The second group or institution that will benefit from this study is the government. The data analysis will provide statistics of the current situation of the number of men and women that are in gainful employment for both Thailand and the United Kingdom. The government can use this statistic to develop policies that mandate all the employers to provide equal employment and promotion opportunities to both male and female employees without discrimination. Furthermore, the disparity in remuneration between male and female employees may prompt the government to develop a harmonized salary structure that must be used by all the employing agencies for both private and public organisations.

Human rights activists may also benefit from this research because they may rely on the statistic generated from data analysis to compel the government to enact good laws that safeguards the rights of both men and women when seeking employment and also for those that are already employed. Moreover, high gender inequality in the workforce will also provide the civil rights groups with valid reasons to raise awareness on the need for women to actively participate in seeking employment to empower themselves economically. The research will also explore why only less women are in the employment sector and propose ways in which the society can change such trends. Thus, the human rights groups can use these recommendations to educate the communities on how they can empower women acquire education and develop their skills to raise their competitiveness in the workplace.

1.6 Scope of the study

This research is restricted to the gender equality levels among the workforce of the United Kingdom and Thailand and find out which country has the highest gender disparity levels in the workforce. Such findings will be critical in formulating the reasons for the economic development of each country since gender diversity is crucial in sustaining the performance of various organisations. The study is also restricted to the participation of people in who are gainful employment both in the formal and informal sector to find out whether there is equal representation of both male and females and the whether they benefit equally.

1.7 Research Questions

The study seeks to answer the question, “What are the factors that contribute to gender inequality in the workforce and how can the absence of gender diversity contribute to poor organisational performance? For this research to answer this question well, the study will precisely answer the following main and specific research questions.

1.71 Main research questions

What are the factors needed to effectively manage gender equality in the workplace and to what extent can gender parity in the workforce lead to better performance in the organisation? The research raises the issue of gender diversity and seeks to address the balance that currently exists in the labor force through gender imbalance and also the representation of both genders in the senior management of the corporate bodies in Thailand and the United Kingdom. The research will further narrow down to the wage differences that exists for both male and female employees of both countries and provide recommendations on how to reduce the gap.

1.72 Specific research questions

1. What factors contribute to women earning less than male employees in the workforce for both Thailand and the United Kingdom?

2. What factors lead to gender disparity in the workforce of Thailand?

3. How does insufficient education and skills contribute to fewer women in the workplaces and in managerial roles compared to men?

1.8 Research Aims

The study aims to add to the insights on gender inequality in the workforce in the UK and Thailand and also investigate the impact it has on preventing women from acceding into the management of various organisations. Majority of the UK and Thai women have risen into the top executive positions in many leading multinational and local companies. However, there are also numerous women with the appropriate qualifications that are still working as junior employees under men. Thus, the research aims to investigate the magnitude of gender inequality in the labor force in the UK and Thailand and how the female workers manage to survive this situation.

1.9 Justification of the study

The absence of gender diversity in the workforce in many organisations is still not only prevalent in Thailand and the United Kingdom, but it’s a problem that persists in the entire world (Triana, Miller, and Trzebiatowski, 2013). Although the gravity of the problem varies in different countries, it’s evident that the lack of diversity has a significant effect on reducing the benefits that diversity brings to the management and performance of an organisation. The existing research by Hoogendoorn, Oosterbeek, and Van Praag (2013) and other institutions of higher learning all show that the percentage of women is insufficient in the workforce in Thailand and also some departments of the United Kingdom in the large and small size organisations.

Therefore, the findings of this study will bridge the existing gap in research and serve as a benchmark for human resources managers, policy developers, and scholars in the management of human personnel. Moreover, the findings of this study will enlighten both scholars and the senior executives of different companies in the U.K and Thailand to formulate the right policies, practices, and strategies that will assist in finding the gender balance in the workplace. Many nonprofit organisations and companies will benefit from the extensive literature review that this study will conduct and the recommendations it will propose on reducing workforce gender inequality.

1.21 Problem Statement

Although it’s true that women have made significant gains in the middle and lower ranks of management and the employment over the last three decades, their chances of rising to top positions have remained small (Connell, 2010). Women appear to be advancing quite fast and moving far but only to hit an invisible barrier that comes in the form of the glass ceiling. However, this research seeks to explore the reasons that prevent women from reaching top positions in the workforce and attaining gender parity. After identifying the barriers to gender parity, the study will propose solutions that various countries including Thailand and the United Kingdom can adopt to streamline gender-neutral policies that will reduce the gender disparity that exists in the workforce when hiring, promotion and remuneration. Furthermore, previous research has explored the existence and extent of diversity in the United Kingdom and Thailand. Thus, this research seeks to compare the published data that shows the magnitude of gender inequality between the countries, the reasons for these disparities and also propose ways in to reduce the gender imbalance in the workforce that may exists between these two countries.

1.22Feasibility of the study

The existing literature and published data on the statistics of the employees working in the various sectors will provide enough information for developing the literature review and data analysis with the objective of coming up with the conclusion that answers the research objectives and questions. Furthermore, the existing statistics of the gender wage disparities for both Thailand and the U.K will also provide insights on the kind of data analysis that will be carried out to draw correlation and conclusion in comparison of the gender balance in the workforce of both countries.

Adopting diversity into the policies of the company is entirely possible and achievable. Nonetheless, the human resource managers must develop programs that mandate an organisation to show commitment by coming up with structures that enable it to create a gender-balanced work environment. Many companies in the United Kingdom and some parts of Thailand are striving to attain a significant level of gender equality by recruiting more women in their workforce and also promoting women in the ranks of the management.

As Virick and Greer (2012) illustrate, various international organisations whose presence is in the U.K such as Mastercard, Coca-Cola, and Marriott Disney have worked over the years to develop gender policies that have enabled them to balance the gap between men and women in their workforce. Therefore, organisations can achieve gender diversity in the workforce by embracing effective and inclusive HR, strategies, policies, and practices that reduce workplace discrimination of one ender and demystify the deeply entrenched gender stereotypes.

1.23 Research Limitations

Since the research will use the positivists philosophy, the study will be inflexible because the proponents of positivism persist on the need of measuring and calculating everything. Further, the use of positivist theory often disregards the phenomena that have not been explained. Thus, such a method of seeking data displaces lateral thinking which encourages finding answers because it enhances creativity.

The data collection entails gathering secondary data from published sources and that the data is quantitative. Since positivism only encourages objectivity, it also discourages emotions and considering human behaviors. Thus, in this study, observing the behavior and emotions especially of the disadvantaged groups such as women is crucial in collecting useful data.

2.0 Literature Review

2.1 Introduction

Big and broadly publicized scandals in the corporate sector such as WorldCom and Enron, and also the failure of the big financial organizations as Lehman Brothers, have reduced the confidence in the established firms and also reignited the debate on the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the governance of the corporates mainly regarding the duties and composition of boards (Nanda, 2014). Some countries such as the U.K and Thailand have introduced new legislation concerning the corporate governance such as the Thailand Gender Equity Act and whereas others have concentrated on bringing equity in the representation of gender in the corporate boards. The achievement of this objective has necessitated many nations to enact legislation that will enhance gender parity among the individuals that constitute the board members. Consequently, the contribution of women on boards is gaining more attention (Boulouta, 2013).

Past research concerning women occupying positions in the corporate boards of management has emphasized on determining the number of women occupying managerial positions or analyse the factors that cause the absence of women on boards of management whereas very few researches explore the qualities and performance of directors who are females and the duties they fulfil on the corporate boards (Dobbin and Jung, 2010). Additionally, the study that explores the impact of gender neutrality on the corporate boards and how this impact of gender balance in the workforce has concentrated on improving the financial aspect rather than the social performance.

Therefore, there are more opportunities for further research that seek to find out how the boards that have women directors face the increasingly important factors such as the environmental issues and the CSR (McMahon, 2010). This study belongs to the research type that examines the contributions of women on the workplaces and boards and particularly their impact on the corporate social programs. Moreover, it answers the questions of whether the participation of women in the workforce and corporate boards and if their representation creates divergent perspectives in the boardroom debates and discussion. For that reason, the study draws significant literature on the feminist ethics and gender stereotype theories (Sanger and Hines, 2010).

Majority of the previous research that analyze how the gender diversity of an organisation influences the impact of CSR have applied resource-based and traditional agency theory (Bear, Rahman, and Post, 2010). Nonetheless, the use of conventional agency theory or even resource-reliant theory, the individuals’ gender does not count in the execution of gender tasks (Cumming, Leung and Rui, 2015). Thus, these perspectives do not account for either gender differences on the functions of the boards related to corporate social responsibility or the equity aspect of gender diversity that this study seeks to examine its details.

Thus, this research broadens the social participation theory to indicate that when women work in boards, and other different workplaces, they may impose compliance on matters relating to female gender role stereotype on the issues of CSR as that balances the tension that exists between gender role and managerial stereotypes. That undermines the performance evaluation of the contribution of women in the workplace compared to men. Furthermore, this is among the first studies to compare the extent of workforce gender diversity in Thailand and the U.K through the comparison of published data and verifiable statistics from the two countries. Therefore, the research provides knowledge on how th