Beyond Glass Ceilings and Brick Walls - International Labour ...

There is a competitive advantage for organizations that maximize
the potential of their entire workforce, address the needs and
aspirations of all of their workers, both male and female, and
promote women into management. This is because gender equity
and equality can also affect institutional outcomes through
diversified management, increased efficiency, and enhanced
productivity. Furthermore, the differing perspectives, attitudes,
work and management styles of men and women can foster
innovation and creativity in the workplace.
From the point of view of good corporate governance, then,
there is currently an increasing trend on the part of leading
organizations to better manage workplaces by conforming to
good practices that are accepted by international standards of
human resource management, and are in keeping with concepts
of personal rights and gender justice.
This involves an organizational approach that promotes gender
equity and equality. Here, we use the term gender to refer to the
socially constructed roles and responsibilities, status, expectations
and relationships of men and women (adapted from Rao et al
1999). It is worthwhile reiterating here that our perceptions of
gender and our executions of gender are defined socially,
according to various ideologies and discourses (religious, political
etc.) through social institutions (schools, workplaces etc.) and
practices (cultural, familial etc.) as well as real-life experiences of
gender.
Thus, we can talk in terms of people being socialized or socially
learning (Mischel, 1970) how to become men and women or to
have gendered identities (Kohlberg, 1966; Wickramasinghe,
2002). Most often, views of gender identities are based on
pervasive gender stereotypes - a standardized and sometimes
pejorative idea or image held about a person on the basis of
gender (Pilcher et al 2004).
But, neither men nor women are homogeneous groups, and
gender identities vary with such determinants as age, geographical
location, social class and values, ethnicity, sexual orientation,
cultural practices, and scientific interventions.
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