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

within an organization needs to be nurtured, and constraints identified and
resolved. Regular gender audits will help identify constraints, and can be a
learning process with valuable insights to make the required changes for
gender justice.
• Appoint competent women to visible, senior positions in strategic areas of
the Company as part of organizational policy. Such persons can be role
models as well as an inspiration to inspire other women workers and help
formulate their own career paths.
• Ensure that competent women (who are gender sensitive) are appointed to
committees, boards and other agenda-setting/decision- and strategy-making
bodies. Such appointees will ensure that the proceedings and decisions are
gender balanced by incorporating gender concerns in decision -making.
• Implement a comprehensive sexual harassment policy, clarifying what
constitutes harassment, along with Company mechanisms for redress.
There is plenty of published information from Sri Lanka as well as elsewhere
to assist organizations in this exercise.
• Make certain that workers are not penalized at the workplace for their
sexual orientation/ transgender status. Often, despite the skills and
productivity of a worker, identity issues may interfere in the smooth
operation of an organization. Aside from a Company’s commitment to
non-discrimination on such grounds as sex/gender, race, relegion, caste,
age, marital status, disability etc., its positive stand on worker sexuality
and status needs to be clarified.
• Ensure that all images and publicity material of the Company are gender
balanced and promotes opportunities for both women and men. It is
from the publicity material that people formulate opinions about an
organization. The positions and policies adopted by the organization to
create a gender just work environment needs to be projected in its publicity
material to keep stakeholders informed of such vital initiatives.
• Adopt a holistic approach incorporating gender into the human resource
management plan of the organization. The decision-making executive
pool of personnel should have the required balance of personal (male and
female) as well as management orientations to meet the widest range of
internal and external challenges.
II. Recruitment and Selection
• Prepare gender-sensitive job descriptions and specifications. Build a team of
like-minded employees sensitive to gender issues and committed to the
gender policy of the organization in the long term. It is necessary to create
consciousness and encourage applicants by incorporating the required
specifications in job descriptions.
92