Gender Inequality at Workplace in Australia

Question: Write a research proposal on "Gender inequality at workplace in Australia". Answer: Introduction: For an economy to grow successfully there is a need for the participation of both women and men equally in the entire field. The equality of the wages is a primary concern and this has been for a long time. The history of Australia has shown that there is in no way the wages of the men and women were equal rather there was always a gap. Women have always been undervalued which has led to increasing level of hardship and discrimination at the place of work. Male counterpart has always received higher levels of wages in the pace of work and that too in almost all the domains (Biddle Emmett, 2013). They also receive higher benefits, awards, superannuation and the greater chances for promotion. There have been significant steps taken so that the gap is reduced at the workplace and they are legislation, wage rates and awards. The implementation of this was not done in a thorough manner. There is a greater need for the strategies to be implemented so that the differences in the wage can b e overcome. The research paper will help in assessing the extent of gender inequality in the place of work in Australia, issues faced and ways to overcome. Rationale of Research: Gender inequality at the place of work is a growing concern in workplace and this need to be resolved. It has been seen that the victims of gender inequality are demotivated and they lose their morale so they are not able to perform effectively in their job. The productivity is also lost when there is gender discrimination. Women are tied to the family responsibilities and other duties for which the employers they are reluctant to hire them, as they would be more involved in the family duties. The employer is prohibited by the law to ask such question. Australia and many other countries have made progress towards equality at work. There are certain gaps revealed in the current research through the literature review, which would be addressed in the paper. Aim and Objectives: As per the discussion of the background, the main of the research proposal is to see how the employees in an organization coming from the different backgrounds perceived the problem of gender inequality. The more specific objectives are: To analyse the extent to which there is gender inequality perceived by the employees in their work place To identify the factors that has resulted in the gender equality at the place of work To analyse the way the employees they are reacting to the inequality in pay. To identify the factors that would help in resolving the gender inequality in workplace Research Question: The following are the research questions for this thesis paper: What is the extent the employees they perceive gender equality at work place? What are the factors that have resulted in gender inequality at the place of work? What is the reaction of the employees towards inequality in pay? What are the ways through which the gap in gender at workplace be reduced. Research Design: There will be use of both the qualitative and quantitative research. Sampling Procedure: Sampling is a very important method that is used for deciding on the persons to be used for the research. Sampling is a convenient way of conducting the research. The sample should involve some characteristics of the population so that the research results are positive (Bryman, 2012). Sample is a subset of the population. There are two types of sampling techniques that are used commonly and they are probability and the non-probability sampling (Buglear, 2012). In this research paper, the researcher is going to use the simple random sampling technique for the purpose of the research. Simple random sampling technique will not hold any type of biases. There are 50 employees of an organization in Australia selected through this technique. Of the 50 employees, 30employees are male and 20 employees are female are choosen. This will be done using the random selection. The employees will be accessed in an organization in Australia. This also reflected that there is gender inequality present in this form of method of sampling. This technique is cost effective and is done within the time. There are 4 managers of the same organization who were selected through the convenience sampling. This method helped in the easy access to the managers. The four managers will be chosen from the HR department. Data Collection: Data collection is the technique that is used for carrying out the research with a certain tool (Chandra Sharma, 2013). The data collection is divided in the qualitative and the quantitative techniques. Quantitative Data Collection: In case of quantitative collection of the data, there are 50 employees of the Australian organization selected for the survey. The research instrument used for this purpose is questionnaire. They were asked questions based on the close-ended questions. There are some options for each of the questions. The statistics that are gained will help in getting a better understanding of the statistics. Qualitative Data Collection: In the qualitative form of data collection is applied for interviewing 4 managers of the organization. The interview would be conducted on the convenience of the managers and time that they have granted. Transcripts are taken from them so that it can be analysed later. The interview with the managers will be conducted face to face and will be asked whether the employees they have come up with the problems of gender inequality. Draft Research Instruments: The instrument or the tool that is used for the purpose of the research is the questionnaire (Donley, 2012). There were two type of questionnaires framed for the research one that is the closed ended questions and the other is the open-ended questions. The close-ended questions are asked to employees of the organization and open-ended questions were asked to the managers of the same organization. The structured questions has been asked to the employees where there need to tick off answers i.e. yes or no or there is a list of options. The unstructured questions have been asked to the managers. Through the unstructured questions, the managers would be flexible in answering the questions. Proposed Data Analysis: The data that is collected will be used formulating the tables and the charts that are done through the Microsoft Excel .SPSS software will help in performing statistical analysis. This will help in understanding of the subject in a better way through the survey. The percentages that are derived from the data that has been collected will be used for understanding the opinion of the employees on the gender inequality issues that is faced in the organization. The variables that is looked for is the factors that tend to affect the gender inequality i.e. sex, lack of education, extreme poverty .The interview that is taken from the manager is used as transcripts. The transcripts are analysed to see what the manager does for stopping the gender inequality at the place of work. The qualitative data will be analysed through the method of content analysis. There is a need for ideas about the hypothesis that would emerge and look for them into the data that has been collected. Ethical Consideration: The researcher while carrying out the research must see that he does not hurt the sentiments of the employees. There should not be any pressure provided to the employees. They are to be requested to participate in the research. The purpose of the research should be made clear to the employees (Eriksson Kovalainen, 2012). They must be ensured that the information that they provided will be secure and is no way would it be leaked. There is a possibility that all the positive things are reported and there is no mention of the negative aspects. The researcher needs to build a good rapport with the employees so that they are able to give the correct information through ease (Goodson, Loveless, Stephens, 2012). The researcher might be facing the potentiality of risk when they try to question the employees for the research (Jagodzinski Wallin, 2013). Strengths and the Limitations of the project: There is both primary and secondary research done for the thesis and for this, there are limitations that the researcher faces. Strengths of the research: When the researcher conducts primary research then there is full control over the research. The research will be streamlined as per the scope and the objectives. Primary data will help in addressing the targeted issues. (Kumar, 2011). In case of the primary data collection, the marketer as per their need interpret examine of the data collected rather than relying on the secondary data. (Novikov Novikov, 2013). The primary data that is collected by the researcher is quite recent rather than secondary sources (Love, 2012). The use of the secondary sources of the data is very cost effective and this is easily available through the internet (Oakshott, 2012). Strength of Quantitative research is that is helps in the quick collection of the data. This will help in the testing and validating the theories about why and how the phenomenon has occurred. The advantage of qualitative research is that the issue of gender inequality is evaluated in detail and in-depth Limitation of the research: The researcher to conduct the primary research needs to incur higher cost. All the materials that is needed for the research is borne by the researcher (Salaberry Comajoan, 2013). This is a very time consuming technique, as the questions needs to be Timetable: References: Biddle, J. Emmett, R. (2013).A research annual. Bingley, U.K.: Emerald. Bryman, A. (2012).Social research methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Buglear, J. (2012).Quantitative methods for business and management students. Harlow: Pearson. Chandra, S. Sharma, M. (2013).Research methodology. Oxford: Alpha Science International Ltd. Donley, A. (2012).Research Methods. New York: Infobase Pub. Eriksson, P. Kovalainen, A. (2012).Qualitative methods in business research. Los Angeles: SAGE. Goodson, I., Loveless, A., Stephens, D. (2012).Explorations in narrative research. Rotterdam: SensePublishers. Jagodzinski, J. Wallin, J. (2013).Arts-based research. Rotterdam: SensePublishers. Kumar, R. (2011).Research methodology. Los Angeles: SAGE. Love, K. (2012).Ethics in social research. 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