Minority Individuals Less Likely To Be Promoted

Finding a good job in today's economy is no easy task. Yet recent findings show that minority men may be more likely to get "feminine" jobs and less likely to receive promotions than counterparts. 

For the study, researchers analyzed over 125,000 cases of workers in the lowest grade over several years working at a FTSE company. Findings revealed that men who were in the lowest grade positions were also about three times more likely to deal with a disability than others in the workplace. Furthermore, lower grade jobs often involved customer service roles or clerical work. These men were also more likely to be in the income bracket.

White men were also twice as likely to be promoted when compared with ethnic minority counterparts. Men without disabilities even four times more likely to be promoted than others.

"It is an unpalatable yet accepted fact that the lowest paid, lowest status work in the UK is predominantly undertaken by women. However, this is the first time that academics have studied the types of men who undertake this work," said lead study author Professor Carol Woodhams, from the University of Exeter, in a news release. "Our data shows that men from disadvantaged groups are much more likely than women to end up in low-level work. We don't know why this is, but one suggestion is that men with labor market 'disadvantages' are perceived to be less 'masculine' in some way. Another explanation could be that women already bear a huge, overriding disadvantage because of their gender alone, which means men may suffer disproportionately when they are disadvantaged in other respects."

"This research is the first time that the impact of labor market disadvantages on men has been quantified. We were surprised by the results that disabled men, and those from an ethnic minority, are more likely to be found in feminized, low status work but more shocked that this effect is worse amongst men than it is in women. This same pattern can also be seen in relation to promotion out of low-level work. Employers really need to have a good look at their workforce and start addressing these inequalities," Woodhams concluded.

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journal Sex Roles.

For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).