GENDER ISSUES

IN WORKPLACE
DIVERSITY
Introduction
◦ The issue of discrimination at work is common place in most parts of the world.
This comes quite often when women are considered as part of today's workforce.
This is a sea change that has taken place worldwide seen from images from the
media and activities undertaken by women today. This chapter addresses the
gender issue by paying particular attention to women in business. Long ago, we
all knew of the traditional family illustrated with the father as the bread winner,
the mother as the one who did the household chores and looked after the
children. Women were submissive in the initial part of modern history
confronted to minimized roles and influence at work. This obviously changed
with time and women are now at the forefront of organizations; a few having
leading roles to play in business.
◦ Traditional societies in the developing world have usually given the impression that
men are more important to women. In China, there are villages whereby there is a
majority of males. The same applies to tradition-rooted India where baby girls were
claimed to be killed in the wait for male children. There are exceptions however
within the developing world in some African societies where women have a greater
role to play and this applies exceptionally to matriarchal societies. Else, male
dominance is paramount be it the industrialized or the developing nation. Even today
in the USA, there is still the wait for a female to become the president of the world's
first economic power.
◦ This chapter raises the issue of gender from the perspective of the role and influence
of women in today's diversity. It evidently covers the emancipation of women
including the inevitable outlook on Simone de Beauvoir's "Deuxième Sexe" as an
intention to clearly see how women deserve their role in society. Examples are taken
from various sources to enrich the reader's experience of efforts undertaken to give
women their due right and expectations within diversity and to welcome their
achievements.
◦ Despite all positive things said in favour of women, there is still a high level of discrimination and this
affects the workplace. Women, in general, are less paid for the same job that they undertake with men in
certain spheres of life. Promotional opportunities in top management positions can still be barred for
women or simply patriarchal organisations might not favour accepting women to break the "glass
ceiling" and expect themselves as leaders or captains of industry. But the argument here is that case
studies do reveal that women can do as well as men or even better. Once again, it is the disparity among
nations, their archaic structures, the lack of support from central government, the lack of education and
health care to women, which are impending issues concerning their discrimination. The perception of the
"male-dominated" society still permeates across all cultures.
◦ Attaining perfect equality is not possible and this has been claimed in scholarly articles selected in this
chapter. There is a need to better consider the issue whereby deep barriers could be overcome, where
women could be given more chances to succeed and where 'sexist' issues should be overcome.
Traditional roles in society
◦ Tradition broadly establishes roles and intentions of people. Starting from dressing habits to
activities in the family to gifts like balls for boys or dolls for girls, tradition has an
overwhelming presence in shaping the role of men and women in society. Newbie (2009)
comments that the traditional roles of men and women were established to ensure the power
of the head of household. Historically speaking, that head of household was always male. But
the rapidly developing world has brought about many changes into the traditional roles of
both men and women. People have been socialised to expect men to be brave, industrious and
domineering, whereas women have been expected to be submissive, timid and nurturing,
Nowadays, however, women do not have to rely on their husbands anymore to provide a
financial support for the home and in many cases they become breadwinners and head of the
home themselves. Thus, these changes have resulted in male losing his image and ego as the
dominant gender in society.
Woman as a basic unit of society
◦ The basic unit of society is a woman. As woman makes a family, family
makes a home and homes make a society. So we should never think that a
society would come into existence without the contribution of women. We
all know that without education, no development is possible. Here we have
forgotten that the very first and best school of a child is its mother's lap
(Gicki, 2013). A good healthy society does not automatically emerge on its
own and stands firm but it needs to be emerged and for its emergence
women play a pivotal role. From behavioural to health education women
have their hands in. These all are the basic fundamentals of a good society
and women are the main contributors in building up a strong society.
Women's Movement
◦ It is interesting to start by speaking of women's movement which initially developed
in forward-looking nations, particularly in Scandinavian countries where the rights to
vote started as early as the 1925 for women while this was passed on much later to the
United Kingdom, around the fifties and its colonies by the late 1960s. The first
women's movement grew out of the context of European revolutions during the 18th
and 19th century. Whereas it mainly focused on fighting for access to education and
political participation (women's right to vote), the new women's movement in the
second half of the 20th century drew its strength especially from the struggle for
sexual and reproductive rights of freedom and equal opportunities in all areas of
society. While this second phase of the organized women's movement in the US has to
be seen in a context with the black civil rights movement, e.g., in West Germany it
stemmed from the student movement.
Feminism
◦ The term "feminism" is increasingly found since the early 20th century, when it was used as a synonym for the
women's issue and female emancipation endeavours. Today, feminism can be assumed as a political movement as
well as a critical trend in the philosophy of science that deals with power, power relations and domination.
Currently, we find different national and cultural developments on the conceptional level and concerning its self-
image. So instead of talking about feminism, it seems more apt to talk about "feminisms". Its different
orientations (including liberal, Marxist, autonomous, deconstructive, differential and equality feminism) originate
from heterogeneous theoretical paradigms, but their smallest common denominator is "the complete realization of
the emancipation of women". It was mainly in the course of the second women's movement and its march through
the institutions that feminism got universally established, became increasingly academic and further developed
through critical women's and later gender studies (Neusüß and Chojecka, 2008).
◦ The second half of the 20th century significantly changed the status of women: the right to contraception, to
divorce, the right of control over her body, demands for gender equality in professional life, respect, sharing of
responsibilities, etc. May 1968 in France, the hippie years in the USA, the walk for liberty by Martin Luther King
in 1965 followed earlier by Rosa Parks have already been triggers for the advancement for equality and gender.
Since the early 21st century, important laws promoting equal access for men and women to political and
administrative functions have been enacted (France.fr, 2015).
Gender
◦ "The fundamental transformation that took place in Beijing was the recognition of the need to shift the focus from
women to the concept of gender, recognizing that the entire structure of society, and all relations between men and
women within it, had to be re-evaluated. Only by such a fundamental restructuring of society and its institutions
could women be fully empowered to take their rightful place as equal partners with men in all aspects of life. This
change represented a strong reaffirmation that women's rights were human rights and that gender equality was an
issue of universal concern, benefiting all. (UN org, 2010).“
◦ Gender equality is achieved when people are able to access and enjoy the same rewards, resources and opportunities
regardless of whether they are a woman or a man. Many countries worldwide have made significant progress
towards gender equality in recent decades, particularly in areas such as education. However, women continue to earn
less than men, are less likely to advance their careers as far as men, and are more likely to spend their final years in
poverty. At the same time, some men find it more difficult to access family-friendly policies or flexible working
arrangements than women (Commonwealth Government of Australia, 2014).
The aim of gender equality in the workplace is to achieve broadly equal outcomes for
women and men, not exactly the same outcome for all individuals. To achieve this requires:
◦ workplaces to provide equal remuneration for women and men for work of equal or
comparable value
◦ the removal of barriers to the full and equal participation of women in the workforce
◦ full and genuine access to all occupations and industries, including to leadership roles for
women and men
◦ elimination of discrimination on the basis of gender particularly in relation to family and
caring responsibilities for both women and men
Achieving gender equality is important for workplaces not only because it is "fair" and "the
right thing to do", it is also vitally important to the bottom line of a business and to the
productivity of a nation.
◦ Advancing gender diversity is a key focus area that organizations should look to, armed
with the knowledge that there is still significant progress to make before most
workplaces achieve true gender equality. Gorman (2014) suggests that at organizations
where leaders are active and engaged in diversity programs, more women are present
throughout the organization, in top leadership roles, and there is more equality in talent
flows between men and women. Another key driver of gender diversity is that active
management of talent creates more favourable results than traditional diversity
programmes that are put in place to support women's needs.
◦ Organizations that actively manage pay equity vs. making passive commitments ensure
that women and men have equal access to profit and loss responsibilities, and
proactively support flexible work arrangements driving gender equality at a greater rate
than those with traditional diversity programmes.
Women's emancipation
◦ When women's emancipation movements initially emerged, they were usually closely connected to political and
social opposition movements. In liberation movements and revolutions in which men and women jointly exerted
themselves for basic rights, national independence, and a constitutional charter, the position of women was also on
the agenda. Some men, although not the majority, were prepared to accept women as companions with equal rights.
Women availed themselves of the additional scope for action which materialised during periods of social upheaval.
There arose new forms of feminist involvement in the form of societies, journals, and alternative lifestyles.
Insight: Rosa Parks-Feminist and Activist
◦ Although this portrait depicts more a fighter of civil rights in the United States in 1955, it also latently covers the
theme of women emancipation with the ardour of a feminist activist whose legacy is still widely passed on and
respected by generations that have succeeded.
Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
◦ Rosa Parks rode at the front of a Montgomery, Alabama, bus on the day the Supreme Court's ban on segregation of
the city's buses took effect. A year earlier, she had been arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus.
◦ There is therefore a need for greater linkages with women at the grassroots as the latter
have not identified with the cause of increasing women's political representation. The
issue of formal politics has also proved to be highly divisive among the various women's
organisations in the country due to competing political ideologies, women's multiple
identities and conflicting demands on their loyalty. Ramtohul (2011) states that
intersectionality is a major obstacle to the endeavours of women's organisations seeking
to enhance women's political space. Women are often sympathetic to the feminist
demand for more women in parliament but are loyal to the political parties that their
families support. This problem has led to hampering the efforts of the women's groups
that brought the issue of women's political representation to the public scene and lobbied
for political parties to allocate a greater number of tickets to women candidates. Hence,
on the issue of women's representation in parliament, there is need for sensitisation to be
done at all levels and greater collaboration among the different groups of women.
Simone de Beauvoir's concept of the "Other"
◦ The original French edition of Simone de Beauvoir's landmark feminist philosophical work of 1949, "Le
deuxième sexe", unprecedentedly raised the question of woman: who is she, really? This dynamic question
endures after centuries of struggles for equality (Parker, 2011). Beauvoir asked, why should a woman feel
internally compelled to answer this question not in relation to her own lived singularity-as she exists for herself-
but instead according to ill-fitting myths?
◦ Simone de Beauvoir (1949) in her seminal book "The Second Sex", stated that what peculiarly signalises the
situation of woman is that she-a free and autonomous being like all human creatures- nevertheless finds herself
living in a world where men compel her to assume the status of the Other. They propose to stabilise her as object
and to doom her to immanence since her transcendence is to be overshadowed and for ever transcended by
another ego (conscience) which is essential and sovereign. The drama of woman lies in this conflict between the
fundamental aspirations of every subject (ego) - who always regards the self as the essential and the compulsions
of a situation in which she is the inessential. How can a human being in woman's situation attain fulfilment? What
roads are open to her? Which are blocked? How can independence be recovered in a state of dependency? What
circumstances limit woman's liberty and how can they be overcome? These are the fundamental questions on
which de Beauvoir would fain throw some light. She was interested in the fortunes of the individual as defined not
in terms of happiness but in terms of liberty.
Highlight: 1975: Year of the Woman
◦ The United Nations (U.N.) designated 1975 International Women's Year. The U.N.
charter had long stated that the global organisation is dedicated to human rights with no
discrimination based on sex. During the 1970s, feminism was gaining momentum as an
international social and political movement (Napikoski, 2015). The U.N. General
Assembly declared International Women's Year and organised the first World
Conference on Women, held in Mexico City during the summer of 1975.
◦ After the conference, the U.N. expanded the recognition of International Women's Year
by declaring 1976-1985 the U.N. Decade for Women. This highlighted the need for
women's rights and asserted a U.N. commitment to equality. Some critics perceived the
declarations as political gestures rather than productive action. The U.N. also
established a Voluntary Fund for the U.N. Decade for Women, which became
UNIFEM, to further work on women's issues.
◦ After the conference, the U.N. expanded the recognition of International Women's Year by declaring
1976-1985 the U.N. Decade for Women. This highlighted the need for women's rights and asserted a U.N.
commitment to equality. Some critics perceived the declarations as political gestures rather than
productive action. The U.N. also established a Voluntary Fund for the U.N. Decade for Women, which
became UNIFEM, to further work on women's issues.
◦ TIME's 1975 Women of the Year cover celebrated the changing roles and diversity of American women
and proclaimed that "enough U.S. women have so deliberately taken possession of their lives that the
event is spiritually equivalent to the discovery of a new continent."
◦ Although TIME selected and profiled a dozen remarkable women in various fields as symbolising the new
consciousness of women, it found the truly exceptional development to be the change in "the status of the
everyday, usually anonymous woman, who moved into the mainstream of jobs, ideas and policymaking."
Women have continued to make steady gains in the corporate and professional world over the past
quarter-century, but while progress has been impressive in some areas, the overall pace has slowed from
that heady time in the mid-70s, to the discouragement of some (Levinstein, 2015).
THANK YOU