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| The Role of the Law & Civil Society in Advancing Gender Equality at the Workplace |
| Written by Rachel van Doorene |
| Tuesday, 17 August 2010 08:56 |
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It is DAY 2 of the Women in Business: Beyond 2010 conference at GIBS. First up is a Panel Discussion with the focus of "The Role of the Law & Civil Society in Advancing Gender Equality at the Workplace." First to address the conference is Advocate Boogie S.N Khutsoane. She is the Commissioner of the Commission for Gender Equality. Her keyword in her discussion was the word 'discrimination'. We need to understand what it is and what discrimination against women is. The UN treaty provides a definition that states that discrimination against women is distinction, exclusion and restrictions of women on the basis of sex which has the effect of purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or excercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field. As per the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against women.For more info view Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women State needs to make clear that:
are protected by women. It is important that our governments protect the right of all employees.
South Africa has a number of laws and Codes of Good Practice that discuss the detail of Women in the Workplace. The Code provides guidelines of what needs to be done in the particular sense.
The laws are there, but essentially it is us who has to change the reality of the challenges we face. The law provides a framework, but the humans need to apply practices that thinking that reinforces this framework. We need to understand what the law says and at the same time we need to change attitudes of the employers, employees and citizens of our nations. There is a heart and mind component that is critical.
Second to address the group is Janet Love. She is the National Director of the Legal Resources Centre. She began her address reflecting on a talk show where a presenter was discussing research that was evaluating whether Pre-Menstrual Tension really existed. When we look at today where Breast Cancer is a primary research that is centered around women.
As I consider this question, I want to turn the question on it's head. How does equality in the workplace affect society. The Glass Ceiling is not directly related to the law. How then is the glass ceiling going to be penetrated? A change in law is not going to achieve this. Sure there are a few women who are accomplishing this. However it is not nearly enough. She believes that the thing that will change it will be for society to refuse to tolerate it. People who have experienced that discrimination need to be freed from the shackles of this inequality to demand and assert that the glass ceiling can not exist. If you want this ceiling to be shattered, we need to recognise the importance of a social commitment. That society will not tolerate the evidence of the glass ceiling.
The second thing is how do women behave in the workplace. We need to embrace what we know to be the strength of being a woman. It is not that women cannot attain the C-Suite. Usually we find women in HR, Marketing and possibly Legal. The reason is because people recognise that to manage people in a company requires emotional intelligence and in her opinion men are less emotionally intelligent than women. Women are able to apply great lateral thinking. The problem is we sometimes limit our influence. We don't apply how important the emotional intelligence in areas in business of finance etc.
Thirdly, we need to consider the diverse areas of business and those who are unemployed. It becomes important to us in the workplace to be very aware of what the conditions are that face those women. The bulk of complaints that come forward from women are still about the experiences of sexual pressure or abuse. We don't pick up the signals quick enough, we don't seem to find this 'important' enough for women to feel safe. We don't recognise the imporatnce that needs to be taken into account of what it costs a woman to get to work on time (especially for those women who are needing to get to work via taxi's in the dark). We may want to give more opportunities for flexi time. We may not give all opportunities, because we need hands on deck, but maybe within that there is an opportunity to think differently about how we can affirm (not in a patronising way) that we do want to enable people to get to work safely, without the terror or experience of what they have to go through to get there.
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