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

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The legal officer who had been promoted recently had to share the cubicle of her boss (female,) which deprived them both of privacy, adequate space, and appropriate furniture and other equipment; whereas the male managers (in the company) were well provided for. A nurse described how the head office did not provide nurses who were engaged by the agency (virtually all female) any space in the office to linger or spend non-working time. In an insurance company, thirty female workers had access to only one toilet. While this type of general workplace problems might affect all employees at some time or another in their working lives, what needs to be explored here is whether there is a gender dimension to the working conditions affecting women employees. The crucial question that needs to be asked is whether these deficiencies/inconveniences arise due to employer assumptions regarding women’s ‘natural characteristics’ of acquiescence, amiability, and tolerance etc. In this context, the worst affected are the women workers in the Free Trade Zones. Employers (within and outside the zones) violate the law on night work for women. Management does not obtain consent from the workers. “They force workers to sign letters consenting to night work and then each time they are required to work nights, management adds a date to a photocopied letter, that was signed - these are then submitted to the Commissioner of Labour, stating that consent has been obtained. Often workers are required to work at night immediately following a day shift, women workers then usually sleep for a few hours at the factory, under their machines, if they have time. This is due to the pressure of work, the requirement to continue to work the following day and lack of safe transport home. Night work is mostly considered as overtime, not as a salary, this means that EPF & ETF payments are affected.” (http:// www.somo.nl/monitoring/reports/sri_lanka.htm). In many instances, workers have been made to resign when they get married and not join a trade union without prior written approval from the management. Many of these workers sleep, live, and work under appalling conditions, but do not seek redress from Labour Tribunals due to ignorance and fear of losing their jobs (cited in de Alwis 2000). 29
Some examples of conditions for workers inside the zones include: • Being forced to work long hours of overtime to reach unrealistically high production targets; • Denial of legal entitlements, with leave being extremely difficult to take; • Excessive fines and penalties, ranging from being late; sick; not reaching production targets and refusing compulsory overtime. Bonuses, fines and penalties are complex and workers frequently cannot calculate how much they will earn each month; • Repression of the right to form a union or bargain collectively; • Poor or non existent Occupational Health and Safety practices; • Frequent sexual harassment and imposition of inhumane restrictions such as a time limit per week for going to the toilet; • Lack of transportation, especially after late night shifts; • Misrepresentation by the Board Of Investment (BOI) of labour laws and frequent attempts to circumvent the law or to make it more “flexible” for employers. (http://www.somo.nl/monitoring/reports/sri_lanka.htm). Another sector which remains unregulated due to legal deficiencies is subcontract work. Here too, there is a large concentration of women doing piecework or outwork (the manufacture of foodstuff to beedies, artificial flowers, parts of footwear, garments and embroidery etc.). Subcontract work is essentially linked to production targets and consequently, these workers are not beneficiaries of competitive wages, sick leave, or other labour allowances etc. (SL Shadow Report 1999). Plantation workers are yet another category of women who live and work under demanding conditions. Kurian writing in 1985 is able to give a powerful insight into the life of a tea plucker, which is valid even today: “The daily life of a tea plucker starts well before sunrise on the days she has work (which is not always now) … by women fetching whatever water the family needs (and in most instances this has to be fetched from a very long distance )… Then they set about the task of preparing meals (sometimes preparing the midday meal as well)... as in most cases, the distance (of work) involved are far too great for women to return and eat at home … They then get their children ready for school … prepare milk for smaller children… they tidy their line-rooms and send the children to school… One the way they trudge to the crèche to leave the smaller children… All of this has to be completed before the women report for 30
Page 1 and 2: Beyond Glass Ceilings and Brick Wal
Page 3 and 4: The Wages Board Ordinance No. 27 of
Page 5 and 6: An assault may include any act that
Page 7 and 8: The most recent gender disaggregate
Page 9 and 10: Table 2 indicates the major occupat
Page 11 and 12: Table 5: Private Sector Employment
Page 13 and 14: Aside from the survey of 100 compan
Page 15 and 16: men in the public sphere working ou
Page 17 and 18: to higher education (including thos
Page 19 and 20: The inequalities and inequities cem
Page 21 and 22: Unfortunately, these entitlements a
Page 23 and 24: One interviewee stated how the mark
Page 25 and 26: Employee Mobility 24 Training Respo
Page 27 and 28: doubtful that management was aware
Page 29: There were facile explanations in r
Page 33 and 34: such as secretaries, who may be pro
Page 35 and 36: There are, of course, many other wo
Page 37 and 38: Women who undergo sexual harassment
Page 39 and 40: out to be the victim. (He had also
Page 41 and 42: worker dissatisfaction. This in tur
Page 43 and 44: Workers Rights and Unionization Non
Page 45 and 46: and family balance, the needs of wo
Page 47 and 48: linked to the type of product or se
Page 49 and 50: Women’s dress is also taken to si
Page 51 and 52: Language is also utilized in unders
Page 53 and 54: 2) There is organizational prejudic
Page 55 and 56: 54 PART II
Page 57 and 58: undertaken for the purpose of pinpo
Page 59 and 60: III Strategic Management In today
Page 61 and 62: The concept of “quality of work l
Page 63 and 64: • Successful organizations will r
Page 65 and 66: is rising. People today see more op
Page 67 and 68: 1. Social Expectations and Gender S
Page 69 and 70: Centralized, hierarchical, top-down
Page 71 and 72: organizational cultures can be deve
Page 73 and 74: posts will be mutually beneficial.
Page 75 and 76: 1. Soft toy manufacturing 2. Tea tr
Page 77 and 78: In the ten companies selected for t
Page 79 and 80: Such situations can be avoided if c
Page 81 and 82:
In the IT service provider company,
Page 83 and 84:
The inability or reluctance to trav
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In such a framework, persons with a
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to be provided with opportunities f
Page 89 and 90:
women are treated by male colleague
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I. At Policy Levels • Articulate
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within an organization needs to be
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III. Training and Development • I
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V. Promotions • Improve advanceme
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98 systems and the underdevelopment
Page 101 and 102:
developing an enabling environment
Page 103 and 104:
Organizational Superstructure: inst
Page 105 and 106:
Employment of Women, Young Persons
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Sage Publications, (London / Thousa
Page 109 and 110:
Contents Foreword Acknowledgments I
Page 111 and 112:
Foreword Today, women are active ev
Page 113 and 114:
I wish to express my sincere apprec
Page 115 and 116:
Introduction This book is written w
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Moreover, these same gender unequal
Page 119 and 120:
Hence, a majority of workplaces do
Page 121 and 122:
Moreover, gender roles and responsi
Page 123 and 124:
IT, hotels and travel. There is als
Page 125 and 126:
This is followed by a more localize
Page 127:
PART I
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