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

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B) Further, a senior woman manager of a soft toy export company stated that, “Women in general are more honest and hardworking, which is a major advantage to any organization. They are also more dedicated to their assigned work, take their job more seriously as managers, are better decision makers, and since they are more people-oriented, others find it easier to deal with female managers than male managers”. She also feels that “women are more efficient than men, and women can do any type of work, if the opportunity is provided, in this organization it was a woman who had mainstreamed and developed a sound financial management system”. However, in a reputed tea trading company, the human resource development officer felt that “women are more efficient and in control than men are”, but was not willing to accept that they could be a strength and supplement the profile of management skills in the company. “If women have the confidence and the qualifications they can take any senior management post, similar to men, but they do not have unique and different capabilities to men,” was his final comment. Although there is an awareness of women sometimes having unique capabilities, there are sociological reasons why there is a reluctance to concede to these strengths. In a company whose core business was in marketing, there was a belief that women may not be able to travel long distances and hence not suitable for senior posts. “Although women are good at interpersonal skills, at senior positions we can’t afford to grant maternity leave and deal with situations were they can’t travel and stay overnight. These are too costly for the company.” While women managers maintain that, “We can do any task men do in our company we are ready to travel, but most men and families think we can’t and shouldn’t,” is a common situation that affects women adversely in many ways. Thus there is a need for increasing awareness of gender issues in management. Applied knowledge of the theories and models of management will benefit managers to optimize human resource use. In all of the case studies where women managers were contacted they felt that women had to work hard and constantly prove themselves to be good in the eyes of the male colleagues or superiors. A human resource development approach targeting the senior managers will also make such organizations become more gender sensitive and more productive in the long run. 75
In the ten companies selected for the detailed case studies, it was clear that the senior managers felt that women can do any executive management task as well as men do. But it is the social conditioning and expectations that often prevent them getting the opportunities. Need for gender policy: The situations in the companies studied confirmed once again the need for gender policies and guidelines at company level. None of the companies had a gender policy or a set of guidelines. However it must be recorded that several companies had welfare-oriented facilities and privileges to accommodate the special needs of women. Two senior managers in the soft toy export company stated that “gender policy is really not needed, we provide for all the needs of the workers. A gender policy means favouring women and this is not good and fair by men. We need to treat both men and women equally”. However, the need for the company to be sensitive to the needs of pregnant women or mothers with infants was thought by the two to be necessary. There is confusion about equality and equity. The same senior mangers in the company stated that they provide for special requirements for sanitation etc. in the factories for women; however, in the light of equality, stated that, “It is not proper to have special treatment for women, since it is not fair by men!” The chief executive officer of the IT service provider company stated that they did not have a gender policy and had faced numerous difficulties when an earlier attempt was made to introduce one. “A gender policy is necessary for the company. This will ensure better interpersonal relationships and create greater awareness of the importance of women’s work and contribution in the organization. Our company does not have special programs for women. We feel that this is unnecessary and unhealthy, for women to be treated differently. But all laws and regulations related to maternity leave and the like must be followed.” Managers desire to be fair and are unable to deal with being equitable and just. There is a need at senior management levels to understand the differences in the key concepts of equity and equality. The gender policy guide that is an output of this study will help provide some clarity to mangers on these concepts. It was interesting to note that one company that had extended rest room facilities to women, withdrew this facility, because they felt that the productivity had suffered as a result of the action. 76
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Beyond Glass Ceilings and Brick Wal
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The Wages Board Ordinance No. 27 of
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An assault may include any act that
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The most recent gender disaggregate
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Table 2 indicates the major occupat
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Table 5: Private Sector Employment
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Aside from the survey of 100 compan
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men in the public sphere working ou
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to higher education (including thos
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The inequalities and inequities cem
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Unfortunately, these entitlements a
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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 and 30: There were facile explanations in r
Page 31 and 32: Some examples of conditions for wor
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: 1. Soft toy manufacturing 2. Tea tr
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
Page 85 and 86: In such a framework, persons with a
Page 87 and 88: to be provided with opportunities f
Page 89 and 90: women are treated by male colleague
Page 91 and 92: I. At Policy Levels • Articulate
Page 93 and 94: within an organization needs to be
Page 95 and 96: III. Training and Development • I
Page 97 and 98: V. Promotions • Improve advanceme
Page 99 and 100: 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
Page 107 and 108: 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
Page 117 and 118: Moreover, these same gender unequal
Page 119 and 120: Hence, a majority of workplaces do
Page 121 and 122: Moreover, gender roles and responsi
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Page 125 and 126: This is followed by a more localize
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PART I
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