Since the mid-1950s, women have achieved academic success and slowly entered male
dominated fields of work. However women continue to face discrimination in the workplace
regardless of the equality rights guaranteed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,
in section 15(1). Previous biological research on gender differences show that areas relevant
to work such as problem-solving abilities and motivation to manage, men and women appear
to be more alike than different. Thus, this essay argues that both men and women are equally
capable of working in similar positions and discrimination is a social construct built upon gender
stereotypes and social expectations, which as a result affect women negatively in the workplace. To support this claim, this paper aims to address how discrimination in the workplace is performed through gender stereotypes, how gender stereotypes are socially constructed, and how these gender stereotypes negatively affect women in work-related situations.
