Women across the world are better positioned in enjoying greater opportunities and freedom in life than ever before, thanks to the United Nations (UN) initiated adoption of the Convention on the Eimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) nearly 35 years ago, as well as the Beijing and Cairo conferences and the review of the Millennium Development goals. It is a peaceful revolution underpinned by an extraordinary transformation of legal rights. Almost every country has signed international conventions signaling their commitment to outlawing discrimination against women. Today, nearly 140 national constitutions specifically guarantee gender equality.
But promising equality, of course, is not the same as delivering it on the ground. Despite numerous strides that women have made in all walks of life, and despite universal promises made at the highest levels of government, gender equality largely remains an unfinished agenda for the 21st century. There sadly remains an immense gap between the welcome legal guarantee and everyday life for women. Many girls and women worldwide still do not have equal opportunities to realize rights recognized by law. It is a justice deficit which can be found in rich and poor countries alike and in every aspect of our societies. The worst failure of justice to women is found at the workplace where, besides other drawbacks, they have to face difficulties and even humiliation in balancing family and work.
Most corporations in the world run diversity programmes, of which gender diversity is an important constituent. Most take pride in the role they play in empowering women and trying to ensure that discrimination of any form, over to covert is eliminated. While there are some business that pay only life service to these politically correct nations, there are many that pursue these goals with an honesty of intention.
And yet, fewer than five per cent of board positions are held by women, and most surveys show a dramatic decline in the share of women as we move up the hierarchy. A big reason for this, apart from entrenched stereotypes about women, is the significant number of women who leave the workforce when they start a family, or decide to scale down their ambition in deference to the needs of their families.
In fact, today’s norms seem to be an overhang from a time when working outside home was exclusively a man’s domain. Maternity is seen as a disruption in this world, and the woman is encouraged both by tangible material signals as well as by way implicit cultural signs that taking a break is unproductive and acts as a drain on the company and its other employees. Another anomaly in today’s norms in the economic sphere is that; despite 117 countries having equal pay laws, women in every sector and region continue to be paid between 10 per cent and 30 per cent less than men.
Parental leave norms vary widely across the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) suggests a minimum period of six months for breastfeeding. In India, women are guaranteed paid leave for only 12 weeks, in Sweden they are given paid leave for 47 weeks and unpaid leave for another 123, whereas in the US, women get leave for 12 weeks and that too unpaid. Even such leave is granted grudgingly, and the pressure to come back quickly is strong. Consequently, women get the feeling that their pregnancy is barely tolerated, with much rolling of organizational eyes.
No wonder so many women decide to opt out of employment at this stage for the idea of leaving such a small baby at home becomes an exceedingly difficult one. Even for those, who choose to return to work, the decision is often an emotionally wrenching one, and leaves these women with a sense of guilt that can last a life time. The issue is not one concerning women alone, but has more to do with the future of the family as an institution. The idea of parental leave, is an important step in the direction of family welfare.
The UN Women, which brings together all UN gender equality agencies under one roof, in its report – Progress of the World’s women: In pursuit of justice – insisted that women’s strength, industry and wisdom are humanity’s greatest untapped resources, and that this potential we simply cannot afford to continue to waste. While comprehensively and soberingly cataloguing both the lack of legal protection women receive and the reasons behind this failure, the report pointed out many instances wherein women continue to be denied a fair deal because laws themselves are unjust. Consequently, in many countries, women remain barred from certain jobs and industries, the report said.
Social analysts are of the opinion that the workplace is dependent on women and their inclusion can no longer be deemed an act of charity or large-heartedness on the part of some progressive organisations. The entry of women into the workplace is an unstoppable force that is likely to become only stronger. The coming generation sees working as a default choice and therefore, even those organisations that do not acknowledge this today will have no choice but to do so in the years to come.
Experts point out that current rules are based on thinking of women as exceptions to the general rule; today these rules need to recast entirely. A new social contract is needed between organised industry and its women employees. The role of the institution we loosely refer to as society is to align conventions with changing needs of human beings. The idea of work needs to change now that women are such an integral part of the world outside their homes.
According to experts, the system needs to be redesigned from scratch, this time keeping in mind the fact that both men and women have an equal right to employment and only when the needs of everyone are met, is work likely to be a seamless part of our social life.
(The writer is a freelance journalist)
