Women and Minorities in Business

Women and Minorities in Business

When I ponder my opinion on why there are fewer minorities and women in business, one word continuously pops in my head--- Stereotypes. Stereotypes are formed by everyone about almost everything. "Fast food is fattening" is an example of a general stereotype. When we stop and think about it, yes, most fast food is fattening, but not all of it is. On a higher level, stereotypes occur most frequently between groups of individuals, whether it is by race, gender, popularity, profession, etc.

For example, "Football players are not intelligent people." This is a common stereotype of football players, but there are plenty of football players that are extremely intelligent. Another example is "Band members are dorks." Again, when we stop and think of it, of course not all band members are dorks. Most of them are not, but that is the harshness of stereotyping. I will point out that we as humans do this without knowing it, and I might even make stereotypes in this paper.

This inclination to stereotype groups of individuals is happening frequently in the business workforce, especially for women and minorities. Women were predominately homemakers up through about the 1960's. Their job was basically to be "pregnant and barefoot in the kitchen" as some would say. Today, this role for women has change for the most part. More and more, women are obtaining outstanding educations and working

in professions that were once "male professions." However, the stereotype of women being strictly housewives still exists, especially in business because it is a predominately male workforce. This workforce tends to stereotype that women are not capable of doing a man's job when they are just as, if not more, qualified for a high ranking business position. This causes women to struggle and fight more than they should for a position in a business environment.

Minorities also suffer from stereotypes in the business world. For simplicity, I am going to focus on African-Americans in business in the United States. African-Americans have had a long battle in the USA for equality and freedom. For the most part, that equality and freedom has been achieved, but there are stereotypes remaining that hold them back from obtaining highly respectable positions in the workforce. White males mostly fill these business