Political Party Guidelines Eng

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3.6 DiscriminationThe CEDAW Convention (see Chapter 1) defines discrimination against women”...any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairingor nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status,on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic,social, cultural, civil or any other field.” 26Discrimination can be direct, or it can be indirect. Direct discrimination has the intention of discriminating.If a person is treated unfairly by someone simply because of who she or he is, this is directdiscrimination.Forms of direct discrimination can be classified as:1. Current discrimination;2. Past discrimination – historical discrimination;3. Intersectional discrimination – multiple forms of discrimination faced by subset groupsof people based on their sex, ethnicity, religion, caste, language, social or economic status,geological location.Indirect discrimination is more difficult to define. Indirect gender based discrimination is action orinaction that has the effect of denying women their ability to exercise their rights. Usually it is connectedto practices, policies or rules which apply to everybody in the same way, and which place oneperson or some persons at a disadvantage.If, in your political party, you are in the habit of holding important meetings in the evenings, meetingswhich go to the late hours, this can be called indirect discrimination. Why? Because there maybe mothers of young children, who really would like to attend, but they cannot as they have to be athome putting their children to bed. (It is also worth remembering that these mothers of young childrenmight be able to contribute a lot. Without them, talent is being wasted.) So, to avoid the pitfall ofindirect discrimination, it is better to agree to have meetings at such times that all can attend.There is also discrimination that we are not aware of ourselves. This kind of behaviour was researchedat Yale University. 27 Scientists working for the university were given an application bya student applying for a lab manager position. A part of the scientists got the application with a malename, another with a female one. The result was that the “female” applicants were rated clearly lowerthan “male” applicants. The “female” applicants were also offered a much lower pay. The scientistsdoing this rating were both men and women. Scientists generally take pride in being objective, but16GUIDELINES FOR POLITICAL PARTIES IN MYANMAR
clearly, this was not objective behaviour and not equal treatment of women and men. Simply put: it wasdiscriminative.The problem is that we are not aware of this discriminative thinking of ours. It is a bias which is deeplyingrained in us, as we have, since the day we were born, been socialized to think in a certain way ofmen, and in another of women. We believe that a) we are objective, b) we always choose the person whois most competent, and c) men tend to be more competent for most positions.When in some universities exam answers were given anonymously, the markings of young womenwent up, those of young men went down. Some companies have started inviting anonymous CVs fromapplicants for their open positions, and as a result women and people belonging to ethnic minoritieshave been called to job interviews more often than before. And, as mentioned earlier on, researchalso indicates that big companies which are led by women do better than those led by men. Thus, thisbiased thinking of ours is giving us results which are not as good as they could be, if we were moreopen-minded.It must be stressed that discrimination, on top of being economically short sighted, is wrong. It isagainst the constitution of Myanmar, and it is against all democratic principles.Have you come across discrimination in your own life? What kind? How did it feel? Was direct orindirect? Do you think you might have, yourself, in some incidence practiced discrimination towardsanother person? If yes, try to think what you could have done differently.3.7 Harmful traditional practicesWhat are so called “harmful traditional practices” ? UN has a listing of traditional customs whichimpede the fulfilment of gender equality and of women’s and girls’ rights. They include practices likechild marriage, forced marriage, dowry-related violence or harassment, bride price, female genital mutilation,so-called “honour crimes”, stove burning, acid attacks, forcing the victim of rape to marry theperpetrator, “pay-back” or revenge rape, disinheritance, maltreatment of widows and polygamy.UN has a useful document of information on these: Good Practices in Legislation on “Harmful Practices”against Women. 28GENDER EQUALITY: A SHORTCUT TO DEVELOPMENT AND PROSPERITY 17
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