Egalitarianism In Business

In a business context, pressuring a person to selectively express their talents or forcing them to pretend to possess or not possess a talent because of their gender (or ethnicity, for that matter) accomplishes nothing other than the reduction of productivity.  Even if egalitarianism was not useful in such a setting, however, it would still be true that gender does not dictate the nature of anything but one's body--it is still profitable and beneficial to apply egalitarianism in the workplace all the same.  The problem with how many approach gender equality in the business world is not that they neglect this fact, but that they don't go far enough.

Corporate egalitarianism is not only about ensuring men and women are not discriminated against for applying to jobs conservatives associate with the opposite gender.  It is irrational and harmful to pressure men into dangerous jobs and women into trivial jobs, for instance, yet egalitarianism has more applications than fighting discrimination in hiring.  It also has significant ramifications for how the business world handles its marketing: advertisements often exploit socially conditioned gender norms to make a product seem especially relevant to or valuable for men or women respectively.

Though there are numerous ways marketing can appeal to nonexistent links between gender and personality traits, some are more overt than others.  Consider ads for beauty products and video games.  The former is usually emphasized for women, and the latter for men.  Of course, these contra-egalitarian emphases are asinine.  Many men care about their appearance and wish to be physically beautiful; many women enjoy playing video games, even if those games are violent.  Being a man or woman has nothing to do with whether one cares about one's appearance or appreciates video games, and it is thus illogical to endorse advertisement strategies that imply otherwise.

It is not by happenstance that Western marketing subtly or obviously discriminates against men and women in various ways.  After all, culture can influence marketing approaches just as it might influence how men and women are portrayed in entertainment, but marketing can influence how a culture collectively regards men and women in turn.  To approve of sexist motivations behind specific marketing campaigns is to endorse a potentially self-sustaining circle.

That this aspect of discrimination in business is neglected only shows that many companies have yet to consistently embrace the truths of egalitarianism.  If women are intentionally overlooked when a company searches for leaders, sexism is present in that firm.  If men are intentionally funneled into more dangerous or difficult tasks in a company, sexism is present in that firm.  As businesses are criticized for such practices, they must also be criticized for reinforcing the falsities of gender stereotypes.