GENDER AND DIVERSITY

Gender and Diversity

Abstract

Open any recent trade journal, and there are a number of reports detailing the lack of staff and board diversity in the sector. Despite the common perception that organizations are and should be representative of the constituents they serve. Additionally, statistics senior managers and CEOs often reveal that a “glass ceiling” exists for women (Odendahl & O'Neill, 1994). Although women make up the majority of nonprofit employees across many occupations, when it comes to management and senior-level positions, men are significantly overrepresented (Odendahl and O'Neill, 1994).Of particular mention here is the unique demand placed managers to better understand the term gender and diversity within the sector. For example, understanding what it means for an organization to have a diverse workforce in terms of gender is especially unique. The concept of gender diversity in the workforce may require understanding why women (who constitute the majority of the workforce) still do not constitute the majority of managers (Odendahl & O'Neill, 1994). Additionally, in particular subsectors, male staff members would be considered a “minority” group. Again, both a true understanding of the definition of diversity and its nuances within the sector along with a better understanding of the connection between diversity and an organization's performance are necessary components of making a case for diversifying the workforce. However, the number of reports and studies detailing the lack of diversity within the sector seem to have an underlying assumption that increasing the diversity of an organization's board or staff members would improve organizational performance. Yet unlike the growing evidence and research conducted in the business and public sectors examining the connection between workforce diversity and performance, similar research in the sector is sparse and not well known. Oftentimes, when reading a research report on the lack of diversity within the sector, underlying assumptions about the impact of diversity appear anecdotal or normative, without providing evidence of how gender and diversity can impact organizations or workplace.

The impact of gender and diversity in the workplace

Introduction

For the purpose of this research, diversity and gender is being defined as the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) defines protected classes, which includes a person's race, color, religion, sex (including an unborn child's during pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability, or genetic information (http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/index.cfm).

Discussion

This specific definition of diversity and gender is used rather than much broader definitions of diversity (which can include categories like values, personality types, etc.; for a broad discussion of the term diversity and the multiple viewpoints about how diversity and gender should be defined, please see Carrell, Mann, and Honeycutt Sigler, 2006). The EEOC's definition is similar to the perspective of scholars in this arena such as Carmines and Stimson who write that “one of the most enduring relationships is the impact of race and ethnicity on values” (as cited in Meier, Wrinkle, & Polinard, 1999, p. 1026).

Performance measures are defined here as the umbrella concept under which outputs and outcomes are ...