Gender equality in modern society and organizations.pptx

Study of role of the gender equality in organizational setting

1. MAINSTREAMING GENDER EQUALITY- A STRUGGLE

2. Ask a question to yourself before asking for a change in the society what exactly are we as women asking forDon’t we have caste discrimination, religious discrimination, racial discrimination ? Don’t we judge person by his last name, conveniently ignoring the fact what kind of human being he or she is ? The focus should be on reducing perpetual oppression of one section of the society(women in this case) and make equality a practiced virtue and not just politicized issue, which has now become compulsory lip service on part of politician. Yet we everyday witness bizarre statements given by politicians and bureaucrats which gives us chance to understand the mindset…

3. THEORIES ON CONTRUCTION OF GENDER IDENTITIES 1. PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORIES : Psychoanalytic: emphasizes inner psychic conflicts of children instead of external pressures. For example:- Freudian concepts of oedipal conflict. Cognitive-Developmental: emphasizes stages of mental development. For example:- Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory that “children are almost inevitably led by their own cognitive processing to choose gender as the organizing principle for social rules that govern their own and their peers’ behavior.”

4. 2 . EXTERNAL THEORIES : Socialization or Social-learning theory: emphasizes influence of differing “learning environments”, especially of children but sometimes of adults also. Imitation of models and examples they see in society Response to rewards for gender-appropriate behavior and criticism or punishment for gender-inappropriate behavior. Gender-Schema theory: merges cognitive-developmental with social-learning theory. Schemas are internal cognitive networks that organize and guide individual perceptions; gender schemas are cognitive networks associated with concepts of masculine and feminine. Highly gender-schematic individuals tend to organize many of their thoughts, perceptions and evaluations according to gender stereotypes and symbols. - Research shows that by 3 years old children have already begun to learn figurative or metaphorical meanings of gender… children learn an underlying framework for understanding the nature of masculine and feminine that does not depend on the specific models having appeared in their environment.”

5. Social-Structural or Situational theories: emphasize structural constraints on children and adults i.e. the fact that men and women are in different and unequal positions in the social structure. Conscious discrimination Unconscious discrimination: people may not be aware that they are discriminating or being discriminated against. 3. IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION THEORY : emphasizes the individual’s personal and conscious commitment to specific image of self.

6. ENCULTURATED-LENS THEORY : Sandra Bem’s theory, which includes all the above and also emphasizes the social and historical context containing lenses of gender. There are 2 key enculturation processes that are constantly linked and working together:- “the institutional preprogramming of the individual’s daily experience into the default options, or the historically precut ‘grooves’, for that particular time and place” which differ markedly for men and women. “the transmission of implicit lessons-or metamessages- about what lenses the culture uses to organize social reality,” including the idea that the distinction between male and female, masculine and feminine, is extremely important.

7. INTERNATIONAL LAWS United Nations Rule of Law Gender based discrimination permeates all cultures, and is often manifested in the laws, policies, and practices of institutions. For example, in many countries women are not afforded the same inheritance rights and property rights as men, nor are they allowed to testify in court. Even where constitutional guarantees provide for equality and protect women’s rights, discriminatory practices by law enforcement and security services, courts, lawyers and social services can serve as major obstacles to women’s security and access to justice. Customary and traditional norms and practices, including informal justice mechanisms, may perpetuate gross violations of the rights of women and girls. The UN rule of law approach seeks to realize international human rights norms and standards related to gender, in particular the Convention on the Elimination Of All Forms Of Discrimination Against Women(CEDAW).

8. CEDAW provides a definition of discrimination that emphasizes de facto improvements in women’s lives, and requires state to “embody the principle of equality of women and men in their national constitutions or other appropriate legislation.” Legal reform must involve not only removal of discriminatory provisions from existing laws, but also the drafting of new laws needed to support measures to achieve gender equality. Effective implementation of laws requires training and awareness-raising of those responsible to enforce and uphold the rule of law, and the provision of necessary financial and human resources. European Union Equality between men and women is one of the fundamental principle of Community Law. The EU objectives on gender equality are to ensure equal opportunities and equal treatment for men and women and to combat any form of discrimination on gender grounds. The EU has adopted a two-pronged approach to this issue, combining specific measures with gender mainstreaming. The issue also has a strong international dimension with regard to the fight against poverty, access to education and health services, taking part in the economy and in the decision-making process, women’s rights and human rights.

9. DISCRIMINATION- ITS MODES UNEQUAL PAY USA: Women in New York earn 84% of what men earn and jobs traditionally held by women pay significantly less than jobs predominantly employing men. The wage gap is more severe for African-American and Hispanic women, who earn 79% and 64 % of that earned by non-Hispanic men in NYS, respectively. 61% of private sector employees in the US report that they are discouraged or prohibited from discussing wage and salary information. If a women does not know how much her male colleagues earn, it’s extremely difficult to determine whether she is a victim of pay discrimination.

10. SEXUAL HARASSMENT USA: Sexual harassment disproportionately affects women in the workplace. In 2011, women filed 75% of all sexual harassment complaints with the NYS Division of Human Rights. 83% of all EEOC complaints of sexual harassment were filed by women.

11. FAMILIAL STATUS DISCRIMINATION USA : State law protects against familial status discrimination in housing and credit, but not employment. Women with children are less likely to be recommended for hire and promotion, and more likely to receive less salary than similarly situated men. An average women loses $434000 over a 40-year career due to the motherhood penalty.

12. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE USA Women are disproportionately affected by intimate partner violence, with more than one in three women experiencing rape, physical violence and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime. Nationally, 11% of evictions involve victims of domestic violence who are evicted due to abuse. An order of protection is a court order directed to the offending party and prohibiting the respondent from contacting the protected party. New York has seen an increasing number of arrests of protected parties when a respondent violates an order of protection, or when a protected party appropriately contacts a respondent.

13. According to the last exhaustive family survey done by the government, more than 54% of men and 51% women said it was okay for a man to beat his wife if she disrespected her in-laws, neglected her home or children, or even over something as trivial as putting less- or more- salt in food. Lawyer Monika Joshi says, because the scales are tilted so heavily against women and unless there is “total equality” between the genders, home will remain “the most dangerous place” for many Indian women. HUMAN TRAFFICKING USA: Because trafficking is often committed behind closed doors, statistics are hard to come by. Whether trafficked into labor or prostitution , women and girls are profoundly harmed by this brutal crime. Since New York state first recognized human trafficking as a crime in 2007, few perpetrators have been held accountable, and far too many victims have been denied protection or have been revictimized by USA justice system due to gaps and loopholes in their current law s

14. State Sanctioned Discrimination MOROCCO: Is still enact legal reforms to strengthen punishments for sexual violence and prevent child marriage. Following nearly two years of sustained public pressure on the Government on 22 nd January, 2014 the Moroccan parliament amended Article 475 of the Penal Code- the law that was used to exempt rapists from punishment if they married their victim. “ There is, for example, the Goa polygamy law which actually permits a second marriage for the husband when there is no son from the first marriage.” “There are also laws in some states which do not allow daughters and widows to inherit land.”