Who are the women in everyone’s life? What is their role – is it doing the dishes, caring for their babies or cooking? Most of us will remember their mother in this light, and she is our first association with female characters. In contrast, men tend to be interested in their careers to provide financial support for their families. Without men’s support, women will be famished and poor. These images are all created because of the fear of women’s power in business life. These are just social norms which show men as a hero in our life. That is why gender discrimination is becoming the current issue in business life. Although such ideas are gaining strength, some opponents say that existing inequalities between women and men in business life are not present. However, there is acute gender discrimination, which bases on insufficient women’s power in working life.

Those who disagree with this proposal would say that there is equality between genders, and companies are careful about the ratio of women-men workers. However, this idea is flawed because there is no balance between genders in business life. Employees want to keep going on their works without any problems. As Palan (2013), who is a journalist in ABC, notes, there is a significantly high rate of male workers who called ideal workers, as they do not tend to be bound by relationships as much. Therefore, male workers can work nonstop without any question. Because of this, females seem to be problematic workers. The source of this idea is having family and caring about it. Therefore, Harte (as cited in Palan, 2013) says ‘’research found 38 percent believe men are better employees than women, while just 19 percent of employers prefer female workers’’(para.1). It is proof of sex discrimination.

Moreover, some people claim that there are studies that show us the existence of many strategies to abolish these situations. They may be right to some extent, as most companies accept curriculum vitae (cv) without information about age, gender or motherhood. However, cv is the first step for applying for a job. Maybe the human relations department would not see this information but how does that matter? The important point is the interview, which is a very appropriate time for discrimination. A woman can shine with three foreign languages, have a master’s degree and business experience. However, if the company has an image of a man working for a position, the most important feature of an applicant may prove to be their gender. In fact, in this case, women’s power will be destroyed, and inequality will exist.

Some may argue that equality is dominating the business life. However, this idea cannot go further than being an immature claim. Firstly, some people emphasize that the thought of genetic differences giving men more power is a factor of gender segmentation. This idea comes from hunter and gatherer societies. At these times, females were interested in gathering some food and caring for their babies because their physical features did not allow them to be as resilient as men.

On the other hand, men were hunting some animals to feed their families. They could go far away and live in hard conditions. Who puts these rules? Today, some research shows that females could have hunted and gathered together with males thanks to their capability of using their hands and intelligence. Moreover, primitive desires make women more powerful. Thanks to women’s hormonal cycle, they can feel more confident, energetic and powerful. These desires make them invincible. That is how they rise from the ashes. For instance, one of the editors, mainly interested in cultural trends and social sciences, of Time Magazine, Luscombe (2014), claims that women should have a failure to gain success perpetually. Time’s Surveys show that fear and unwillingness encourage women to accomplish more. If men could be women, they would likely accept such a failure because their primitive desires are different and not working in the same way.

Secondly, different working opportunities have huge impact on gender discrimination in business life. The classification of jobs according to gender is appearing very high. Some people say that women are not successful in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and they should work in educational areas or jobs which require them to be office workers. The film Hidden Figures is a strong and realistic example of women’s power in STEM areas, which is emphasized by Shermoen (2017). There were three main characters, Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Moane, who had great knowledge of STEM areas. Although they worked with lots of male workers and their racist and discriminatory threats, these three superwomen were very successful in Nasa by finding correct calculations for launching a man into space before the Russians can. Therefore, many people called them exemplary as heroic characters in US history. Another example of modern sex discrimination is the so-called gender wage gap. Most women state that although women have the same position as a man colleague, men earn more. As if there is a reason and bosses take revenge on women workers by assigning different payments. This inequality makes women less confident and unwilling to work well. However, here something is forgotten; women are more collectivistic than men. That is, they have more social interactions with colleagues and customers. That attitude provides permanent and loyal relationships, which create efficiency among workers. Also, this efficiency means happy workers, more creative ideas, satisfied customers and more profit for the company. Therefore, employees should realize and take advantage of that cycle by providing equalities in business life instead of creating wage gaps between genders.

 All in all, inequality between women and men frequently appears in business life, which creates hard conditions for showing women powerful. There are many reasons for it, but basically, society should break its norms, and the government should support women in business life by creating some laws. İgnoring women and their careers cannot gain us anything. Women deserve equality. It is time to come together and make up for the inequalities in the working life. Only then, we can improve, and we can grow. That must be our only aim.

Nil ARSLAN