Introduction
The gender gap, which entails the differential treatment between the male and female genders regarding different aspects, for example, pay, is an ever-present problem that characterizes the contemporary global workforce. Women are the most affected by the prevalence of gender-gap. Therefore, eliminating the gender gap in the workplace comprises one of the fundamental goals that is increasingly being pursued by leaders. For decades, Saudi Arabia has been characterized by massive gender gap cases because of the masculine, collectivist and patriarchal nature of Arab society, which has resulted in the creation of a culture of discrimination, stereotyping, and discrimination against women (Al-Asfour et al. 2017). There has been a significant paradigm shift in respect to women’s treatment in the workplace (Varshney, 2019). Women are increasingly taking up a job role that was traditionally designated as men’s. Despite, the entry of women into the medical field in Saudi Arabia from 1975, the female medical practitioners have continued to experience gender inequality (Ferdman & Deane, 2014). This report examines the best approach that the human resource department in the health ministry in Saudi Arabia should employ.
Intervention methods
In its effort to close the gender gap, the HR department should consider the following interventions
Cultural adjustment
Establishing a healthy organizational culture is one of the most effective approaches that the HR department should consider, among the fundamental cultural aspects that the HR department should focus on includes promoting a culture of diversity and inclusion at the workplace. Promoting diversity and inclusion can play a vital role in eliminating the gender gap—the concept of diversity advocates for the appreciation of differences between individuals belonging to different demographic characteristics. Appreciating gender difference as a fundamental component of an organization’s workforce can enhance the HR department’s effectiveness in closing the gender gap by ensuring that women form a part of the organization’s workforce. The HR department should also focus on promoting women’s inclusivity in the workplace. As such, women should be allocated jobs according to their level of educational qualification and experience.
The rationale of fostering inclusivity is underlined by the fact that women rank amongst the minority group (Ferdman & Deane, 2014). Therefore, the HR department needs to focus on ensuring that women as a minority group are not discriminated against with respect to different workplace aspects such as job promotion opportunities based on their gender. Given this, the minority group should be provided equal opportunities similar to the majority group. However, to achieve success in leveraging on culture change with respect to diversity and inclusivity, the HR department should consider fostering a sense of acceptance and belonging between the majority and minority genders. Therefore, the HR department should ensure that the organization’s culture is successfully adjusted to incorporate the concept of equality. By pursuing this approach, the HR department will ensure that the majority and minority genders are treated equitably.
Structural adjustment
The HR department’s effort to reduce the gender gap should further entail integrating structural adjustments. One of the key structural adjustments that the HR department should consider include entrenching the requisite legislative requirements. For example, the HR department should ensure that its operations comply with the anti-discrimination legislation. The organization should incorporate formal procedures aimed at fostering women’s advancement in the workplace. An alternative structural adjustment that the HR department should consider include incorporating employment recruitment policies that are gender-sensitive (Risman, Froyum & Scarborough, 2018). To increase the number of women in the medical profession, the HR department should consider designing special recruitment programs that target women as the minority workforce in the Kingdom’s medical field. One of the areas in which such a program may be applied to relates to the managerial position. Moreover, the HR department must consider adjusting its organization of work. For example, the HR department should emphasize the adoption of networking and teamwork approaches. This approach aims to break the conventional sex segregation in the workplace, which particularly prevails the Arab countries. Sex segregated workplaces are a major reason for the prevalence of gender gap (Risman, Froyum & Scarborough, 2018).
Conclusion
Despite the two intervention methods’ applicability, the HR department should consider pursuing the cultural adjustment approach. The appropriateness of pursuing cultural adjustment is underlined by the fact that it is effective in entrenching a culture of diversity and inclusivity of the minority gender with respect to diverse work-related dimensions. Therefore, pursuing cultural adjustment will result in acceptance of the minority gender as an integral component of the organization’s workforce. Given the radical cultural change that Saudi Arabia is currently pursuing in respect to women’s inclusivity in different aspects of society, pursuing cultural adjustment will amount to a high level of public acceptance. Thus, the HR department will achieve success in transforming its workplace by reducing or eliminating the gender gap.
References
Al-Asfour, A., Khan, S., Tlaiss, H., & Rajasekar, J. (2017). Saudi women’s work challenges and barriers to career advancement. Career Development International, 22(2).
Risman, B., Froyum, C., & Scarborough, W. (2018). Handbook of the sociology of gender. Cham: Springer.
Varshney, D. (2019). The strides of the Saudi female workforce; overcoming constraints and contradictions in transition. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 20(2), 359-372.
https://www.worldcat.org/title/handbook-of-the-sociology-of-gender/oclc/1039888036