The Perennial Struggles of Women in the Workplace - Essay Example

The Perennial Struggles of Women in the Workplace The women’s movement is greatly responsible for the empowerment of the “fairer sex”. It has catapulted deserving women into positions of power and authority, and has given license for the majority to step out of their comfort zone and venture into the rat race, gaining momentum, with men as both their allies and competitors. Working women are usually faced with a multitude of challenges. On top of balancing their duties and responsibilities as members of their families, they need to be efficient workers and competitive in their chosen professions. One main challenge is the issue of equal opportunities afforded to them. Competing with men for opportunities to advance their careers has built-in dilemmas brought about by sexual stereotypes passed on from generation to generation. This paper will examine the existence (or non-existence) of equal opportunities of women in the workplace. It also explores the possibility of sexual discrimination and sexual harassment, assumed to come with the territory. Equal Opportunities “Equal opportunity” is a means by which a person receives equal access in society. An “equal opportunities approach” is premised on the principle that all people can avail of certain rights or privileges such as education, employment, health care or other welfare services without any discrimination or any preference whatsoever. Bracknell Forest Borough Council in the UK, in their statement of policies and practices assert that they aim to create working environments “where all employees and potential employees have fair and equal access to available opportunities and enjoy fair and unbiased treatment” (Bracknell-Forest website, n.d.) Due to the significance of equal opportunities to citizens the world over, laws have been passed to ensure that they are available to everyone. These laws have been designed to provide, compensation for those who consider they were discriminated against by reason of sex, marital status, ethnic or national origin, color, race, nationality, age, disability, religion, and differing terms of employment, including pay for jobs of equal value. In employment, these acts make it unlawful for employers to discriminate on any of these grounds. Legal action can be taken against employers who demonstrate unfair discriminatory practices. (Bracknell-Forest website, n.d.) In the United Kingdom, three agencies have been established to help ensure that such laws are obeyed, namely, the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) which aims to prevent discrimination on grounds of gender and marital status; the Commission for Racial Equality, which aims to prevent discrimination on grounds of color, race, nationality, ethnic origin and national origin; and the Disability Rights Commission, which aims to prevent discrimination on grounds of disability.(Equal Opportunities Management Guidelines (EOM), n.d.) Sexual Discrimination One major kind of discrimination in the workplace is on the basis of gender, which this paper intends to thoroughly investigate. Sexual discrimination is a biased attitude towards a person because of his/her gender, pregnancy, marital status, etc. This is considered to be direct sexual discrimination. An example is a company’s policy of not hiring married women because of possible restrictions their marriages can pose that may affect job performance. Indirect discrimination happens when the requirements are equal for all people, but these result in an unfair disadvantage on certain groups due to their gender, marital status or pregnancy. An example is a manager’s demand for overtime for the whole staff including pregnant workers. (Equal Opportunity, 2006) Different legislative acts have been adopted to ensure fair and non-discriminative attitudes to people of risk groups. These acts aim to establish gender equality, eradication of different manifestations of gender, marital or pregnancy discrimination, and sexual harassment at workplaces and in society in general. To attain these results, governments resort to providing training aimed at promoting equal opportunity policies at work. The United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women was the largest mobilization of the global women's movement to date. Nearly every country of the world and tens of thousands of people participated in the multi-year process that culminated in Beijing in September 1995. (“Beyond Promises, 1996) The monumental world-wide response to the Platform for Action for the resolution of women’s issues still reverberates until the present time. Much of the initial initiatives regarding this Plan of Action include creating new mechanism, upgrading existing structures and energizing participatory processes. The movement against discrimination of women, particularly those who are disabled either temporarily ( by pregnancy, illness, etc.) or permanently has likewise been strong. A manifesto by disabled women in Europe was adopted in Brussels on 22 February 1997 by the European Disability Forum Working Group on Women and Disability and was launched in the European Parliament on 4 December 1999. (edfwomen website). The manifesto echoes the context of treaties and international political agreements, such as the UN Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities and the Beijing declaration and Platform for Action from the 4th World Conference on Women. At EU level legislation, initiatives and the two communications on equal opportunities for men and women and for people with disabilities are relevant (edfwomen website). It also adheres to the UN Human Rights instrument, “The UN Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities", adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1993 and composed of 22 basic rules. On October 15, 2003, the Honorable Stefania Prestigiacomo, Minister for Equal Opportunites of Italy read the Statement on the Advancement of Women to the Third Committee, on behalf of the European Union. She states that “The European Union appreciates the efforts by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and urges States to accept the amendment to Article 20, paragraph 1, which would allow the Committee to enjoy a greater flexibility. “(Prestigiacomo, 2003). She likewise advocates that “all States must recognize that the creation of an enabling environment is necessary to ensure the advancement of women and to realize the full implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and of the Outcome of the Twenty-Third Special Session.”( Prestigiacomo, 2003) Sexual Harassment Susan Webb in her book “Shockwaves, The Global Impact of Sexual Harassment” (Webb, 1994) did research of sexual harassment in a number of countries. She maintains that the issue of sexual harassment as well as its definition, was distinguished only the 1960s. Until that time there was no precise definition of this term. Schultz, in her comprehensive paper about Sexual Harassment (2003) culled different definitions or descriptions of sexual harassment from three agencies. EEOC guidelines define harassment in terms of “unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.” In 1999, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reported results of a survey of sexual conduct as viewed by HR professionals as the following: sexual jokes, remarks, teasing sexual touching negative sexual remarks about a group pressured or asked for sexual favors threatened or actual sexual assault displaying or distributing sexual materials or pictures inappropriate e-mails with sexual overtones inappropriate use of the Internet by visiting sexually suggestive sites pressured or asked for a date Schultz cited that in the book of The Bureau of National Affairs, sexual harassment definition includes, but is not limited to, "sexual innuendoes, sexual propositions, jokes of a sexual nature, sexually suggestive cartoons, suggestive or insulting sounds, leers, sexually related whistles, and obscene gestures. In addition, pinching, brushing against another person's body, and subtle pressure for sexual favors is considered harassment." The discussion section notes that "different people have different ideas as to what constitutes sexual harassment" and warns that the following acts may be considered harassment by some, even if not considered harassment by others (Schultz, 2003). A male manager habitually puts his hand on the shoulder of a female employee while explaining something to her. An employee tells dirty jokes to co-workers. A supervisor or co-worker repeatedly asks an employee for a date. A co-worker constantly talks about his or her sexual experiences or dreams. With more awareness of equal opportunities for men and women, the population of women aspiring to join the Armed forces grew considerably. However, with the increase of this number comes with it the increase of the occurrences of sexual harassment cases. Almost 20 % of women in the Navy, 15 % in the Army and 10 % in the RAF experience sexual harassment. The number of cases shows that women are treated in a sexist and offensive manner and with excessive attention on their sexual characteristics (Equal Opportunity, 2006). Sexual harassment quite often implies abuse of power and status and is not limited to some inappropriate touches or glances or offensive remarks. Inappropriate remarks indicating sexual harassment are more easily prohibited and punishable since they are more usually witnessed by others. However malicious and unnerving glances, stalking, and eventually inappropriate touching cause more psychological stress and anxiety to the victim and cannot always be proven that it really happened. It is this type of sexual harassment which is particularly offensive and can result in different psychological problems and lower quality of work (Robbins, Bender & Finnis, 1997; Seymor, 1999). The problem of sexual harassment may be worsened by the lack of education and training concerning this issue. However, over the last years, there appeared many different programs, which intend to provide women with sufficient knowledge, necessary to identify sexual harassment as well as empower them with techniques of effective management of this problem. In these programs, women are trained not to keep silent when they are sexually harassed. Instead, they are pushed to fight against their harassers. They should report to the senior manager or another person responsible for management of such issues. In any case, a woman is must be assured that she will not be dismissed or punished for her claim. Legally, she can sue the perpetrator of the sexual harassment. It is a sad fact that more than sexual discrimination of women in the workplace, there is the more assaulting sexual harassment. Current researches prove that this issue is very typical in contemporary workplace. Although different legislative documents try to control sexual harassment and many women are aware of their rights, the problem persists. Legislation against Sexual Harassment In response to legal incentives the Supreme Court established as long ago as 1986 (and strengthened in1998), the article counsels companies to establish a policy to prohibit sexual harassment and to set up a grievance procedure to punish those who engage in it. The article recommends prohibiting and punishing sexual conduct that, in and of itself, would not necessarily amount to sexual harassment under Title VII (Schultz, 2003) With the arrival of legislative regulators of sexual harassment at workplace, this problem was partially managed. It is not as prevalent as it was 30 years ago. Nevertheless, is still not completely eradicated. Such cases still happen and harassment becomes more sophisticated and subtle. Sexual harassment manifests itself in the use of sexual abusive vocabulary in speech, text messages and e-mail (Verkaik, 2005). Only in UK more than 30,000 working women are made to leave their workplaces because of sexual harassment or pregnancy discrimination. Equality laws are still imperfect with regards to the gender pay gap and sexual harassment. Schultz examines sex harassment policies and realize that these suggest that there are two slightly different approaches to prohibition. The first approach is a "zero-tolerance" approach, in which all conduct with sexual overtones is prohibited and punished, regardless of the context (including the absence of any real complaint, e.g. the “victim” was a willing participant in the alleged harassment) and regardless of whether the conduct would amount to sex harassment under Title VII. Currently, the situation with sexual harassment is not as difficult and urgent as it was several decades ago. It changed considerably due to the existing laws and greater attention to this problem. It is hoped that this claim is valid even as the seemingly calmer surface is scratched. ‘ References Beyond Promises: Governments in Motion One Year After the Beijing Women's Conference September 1996’ [Online] Available from < www.wedo.org/files/beyondpromises.htm > 27 Feb, 2008 Bracknell-Forest website [Online] Available from: http://www.bracknell-forest.gov.uk/your-council/yc-job-vacancies/yc-equal-opportunities.htm 29 March 2007 Equal Opportunities Commission (n.d.)[Online]. Available from: < http://www.eok.org.uk > 28 February 2008. Prestigiacomo, S, (2003)EU Presidency Statement - Advancement of Women, Retrieved on July 25, 2007 from http://europa-eu-un.org/ Robbins, I., Bender, M. P., & Finnis, S. J. (1997) “Sexual harassment in nursing.” Journal of Advanced Nursing. 1997 Schultz, V., ‘The Sanitized Workplace’. Yale Law Journal. Volume: 112. Issue: 8.: 2003. Verkaik, R.(2005) Thirty years on, women still face harassment in the workplace: Equal Independent. London Webb, S. (1994) Shockwaves, The Global Impact of Sexual Harassment. MasterMedia, Ltd. Read More