ABSTRACT
In the 21st century, gender issues are becoming more prominent as women increasingly enter the workforce. Like race and ethnicity, gender is pivotal to initiatives seeking to recognize and embrace diversity under the auspices of globalization and the need for marketplace innovation. Social role theory seeks to explain the cause of differences and similarities in social behavior. Gender discrimination is referred to as sexism, and "occurs when employers make decisions such as selection, evaluation, promotion, or reward allocation on the basis of an individual's gender". In further exploration of occupational sex segregation, an examination of the "glass ceiling" and "glass escalator" effects provides further understanding of the prevailing inequalities between women and men in the workforce. Demographic shifts in the workforce have significantly changed how American women and men view their roles both inside and outside of the work environment.
