General employee perceptions of gender-based discrimination in a selection of South African organisations

Abstract

Gender-based discrimination is prohibited in many countries, including South Africa. Despite this prohibition, employees continue to report discrimination. These perceptions affect individuals and organisations negatively. The aim of this research was to gauge the levels of perceived gender-based discrimination and to comment on gender differences in this respect. Information was gathered from 1 740 employees working for 29 organisations, using the Fair Treatment at Work Survey and the Gender-Based Discrimination Questionnaire. Percentagewise more women reported incidents of discrimination at work, gender being the primary reason for discrimination. Men also reported discrimination, but this was less often. Some women reported pro-male discrimination and other women pro-female discrimination. The same pattern applied was found with men. Each group perceiving similar levels of discrimination, both in their favour and against them, supporting social identity theory and conceptions about group-serving bias. The central finding was that both male and female employees experience the negative effects of perceived discrimination. Therefore it is recommended that interventions dealing with gender discrimination should be directed at both gender groups, as both needs to deal with the consequences of experiencing discrimination in the workplace.