Articles often describe the employment process in a very general manner. They present general guidelines on what to include in a motivation letter, or the appropriate attire of job interviews. Nevertheless, the employment process can be experienced differently by certain groups of people. It can often be trying for female and male applicants in different ways, and there may be challenges that are faced by one, and not necessarily by the other. The obstacles which female job applicants may become faced with throughout their careers can also vary greatly across different countries. For this article, however, the differences between male and female employment is focused on Europe.
A report published by the European Commission of the European Union in 2014 looked into the different ways in which men and women across Europe get hired throughout their careers. It is entitled Gender equality in the workforce: Reconciling work, private and family life in Europe. Two observations which it made is that women often transition much slower to their first jobs, and that their careers are more often interrupted by childcare or domestic tasks. Those appear to be, according to this report, two factors that differentiate the employment process for women from that of men.
Assumptions and Gender Roles
Across all the Member States of the EU, women and men do not have equal rates of entry into their chosen fields. Even though they might have very similar qualifications. The research carried out for the EU report also suggested reasons as to why this might occur.
This trend is most prominent in classically male fields, or fields which male employees already dominate. Women, the report determined, “appear to be penalised in the labour market for choosing male-typical studies”. Even when education levels are generally equal, gender seems to play an important role in determining how fast a graduate can enter his or her chosen field. Such determinations imply that female applicants may face certain assumptions during the employment process, which could limit their chances of being hired. Companies may hold on to views on which tasks should be carried out by men, and which by women.
Assumptions and Domestic Responsibilities
In another section, the aforementioned paper discusses the different effects which having children and family life can have on the employment processes for male and female applicants. It determined that men with children are more likely to be hired than men without. The opposite is true for women.
Starting a family, having children, reduces the amount of hours women work, increases their likelihood of unemployment, and generally worsens gender inequalities in the workplace. The report also mentioned France as being one country where women seem to be limited in their careers to a lesser extent, and it attributes this to France providing them with more readily available childcare. Overall, though, it seems that throughout Europe childcare is a responsibility that gets attributed to women more so than men.
These are two of the assumptions that may deter a female applicant’s chances of getting hired. Companies and organizations may make hiring decisions based more on whether a woman would fit into a male-dominated field or office. They may also let concerns over how a woman’s family life will effect her work performance outweigh her professional accomplishments. For male applicants, such concerns appear to be less relevant when being hired. They may require policy action to be resolved. HR departments can, however, also keep them in mind, and see if they can undertake steps to alleviate these gender inequalities in the workplace.
Barbara Haenen