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

worker dissatisfaction. This in turn gave rise to a lot of disheartenment and
disinterest in the job/company. She also describes a situation where some of
the staff officers and clerical staff had taken loans from the company and
were unable to leave due to their debts. Consequently, they were trapped in
a job that they felt absolutely no commitment towards, resulting in a high
degree of absenteeism.
Judging by this case, it is important to note that employee absence does
not arise merely from problems outside the workplace as is assumed by
employers (particularly with regard to women); but that they could also be
related to internal problems at the workplace itself.
The 10 case studies also records two instances when organizational
restructuring resulted in the marginalization of departments/employees with
regard to benefits and avenues of promotion. In both instances, the
departments were female dominated; one was a legal department/the other
a finance department. Due to restructuring, which involved prioritizing certain
departments over others in a bank, and creating new senior management
positions in an insurance company, the interviewees’ benefits/chances of
upward mobility were compromised. However, there was no avenue to express
grievances.
While 87.9% of respondents said that the grievance redress procedures
in their respective workplaces involves reporting to the immediate superior;
for over 60% of workers this was the case even if the grievance was
sexual harassment-posing a question about the employee’s predicament
when the harasser is the immediate superior.
Overall, however, there were no established/official/publicized mechanisms
to redress grievances available to the 10 women workers interviewed as
cases studies. Usually, employees sought the assistance of their immediate
superior/human resources manager, or in certain work situations, a counsellor,
to rectify problems in the workplace. However, the interviewees recorded
many instances of failure in obtaining redress. At times, complaints have
been listened to, but not followed up, to remedy the grievance.
Kumari, a nurse working with a nursing agency, complained of her
inability to lift heavy patients. However, no redress was offered.
In another instance, the expression of a grievance resulted in the employee
being penalized.
Vinitha relates how a Secretary was asked to function as a Telephone
Operator. When the worker concerned refused on the basis that it did not
encompass her job duties, she was summarily transferred to the company
factory at Kelaniya as a punishment transfer. Here, she had to suffer
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