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

The inequalities and inequities cemented into the superstructure of
organizations may be easily apprehended and dismantled brick by brick
through policy and implementational actions. Yet, the more insidious workings
of the institutional substructures may need to be demolished at the conceptual
levels; with institutional transformation requiring not only policy and executive
interventions but also changes at a personal and individual level.
In the first section of this chapter, qualitative analysis will portray exactly
how institutional arrangements either directly discriminate against women,
or indirectly place women at a disadvantage and has gender inequitable
assumptions of management, or the overall insensitivity to the implications
of gender issues, or gender micropolitics at the workplace contribute to this
state of affairs. This section will categorize the organizational superstructure
under employer/ employee contract, employee mobility, working environment
and women’s voices and representation.
The second section will consider the workings of organizational substructure
and gender micropolitics. Selected examples will show gender-based
assumptions and the micropolitics of language and morality within these
institutional structures and cultures. They will also show how these serves
to demand and inculcate double standards in men and women, create adverse
work environments, and influence the productivity of women workers in
particular.
The Employer / Employee Contract
Recruitment
Recruitment processes in the private sector can allow for indirect forms of
gender discrimination. One of the critical instances of gender bias that
restrict equal opportunities for women can be seen in the advertising of job
opportunities. Our research shows how work organizations may deliberately
or unthinkingly subscribe to gender inequality from the moment they advertise
a job position. Recruitment advertisements may be written in ways that are
discriminatory. Apart from instances of outright bias where organizations
specifically call for either male or female applicants, there are those job
categories that employers contend are ‘female’ or ‘male’ due to high
concentrations of either sex. Advertisements based on such assumptions
clearly tend to promote further gender segregation in job categories. Moreover,
postings of job categories such as secretaries state the required sex and age
of the employee, instead of merely stating the vacancy and the necessary
years of experience that would suit the job grade.
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