Professional Documents
Culture Documents
In certain sectors, women are taken as cheap labor and are paid fewer wages than
their male counterparts. Females workplace, too, is not often adequately designed
where they could feel at ease during work and break timings. Such unfriendly and
oppressive behavior of employers is not a peculiarity of our society; rather it is a
world-wide problem, and an offspring of the capitalistic approach, in which the real
goal of any entrepreneur is profit maximization, and not human welfare (Hyder,
2009).
As far so, the capabilities of women are concerned, they are no less than men. Even
from our indepen-dences earlier days, women have worked to overcome outdated
social attitudes and to improve conductions for their sisters in the country, yet the
Pakistan population census of 1981 states that only 3% of these builders of the
national are what the government defines as working women. Thus, is a gross
distortion of womens actual economic contribution to the national productivity
(Hussain, 2001).
Poor transport system is also adding to the problems of working women. Public
transport is costly, scarcely available and unpleasant. Government is still unable to
provide adequate transport facilities to the commuters,
Zhu et al. 11369
even in the major cities of the country. Working women find themselves in another
dilemma: they always feel that home is their original domain, which they have to
sustain in all circumstances. Women generally prefer to stay at home, and normally,
do not opt for the job out of choice, but out of necessity. They always have a feeling
of guilt for sparing less time for family and maternal respon-sibilities. This dual
responsibility proves the double burden on her, and resultantly, she has to fight
simulta-neously on two fronts (Hyder, 2009). Discussing the problems of working
women, she explained that they have to face different types of difficulties and
harass-ments. Harassment, in different manifestations from staring and stalking to
sexual advances, is fear for many of them. Women do not generally feel intellectually
challenged in their pursuits; rather they face psycho-logical pressures, which restrict
their active participation in work. Such annoying behavior is not limited to any
specific society or any section of the society; even the employers, highly educated
bosses and government officials, are also the cause of the psychological pressures
faced by these women (Hyder, 2009).
In a recent workshop on womens employment con-cerns and working conditions
organized by the employers Federation of Pakistan (EFP), Sindh Governor,
Muhammad Soomro admitted the fact that integration of women in the development
process as equal partners, has become one of the crucial areas of governments
policies not only for us here in Pakistan, but at the global level as well. Rahul (2009),
notes that womens employment today is increasingly viewed as a necessary and
integral component of the overall national economy. Importance attached to
womens issues and particularly those related to their employment and human
resources development are accepted as crucial to development of any country and
economy (Hussain, 2001).
According to Baines and Wheelock (1998), the fear of police is more common in
women than men, and they avoid going to the police station for registering a
complaint for any offending incident. It is unfortunate that citizens feel more
defenseless in the presence of a police official Boden (1999). A woman is always
apprehensive of likelihood of harassment from the policemen. Police needs to be
sensitized on gender issues, and made human friendly in their responses to the
public complaints. A woman would go to a police station only if she is provided with a
secure and trust-worthy environ-ment (Hyder, 2009; Awan, 2000).
Women are however not always weak and subjugated; they enjoy active support and
respect as well from their male relatives and colleagues. In professional sectors,
many women have made their marks with their con-fidence, and have proven their
abilities. There are cases where organizations also facilitate them with equal rights
and remunerations (Hyder, 2009).
The Faisalabad Textile Industry which has a history of
Highly qualified candidates such as Angel Feng struggle to find jobs. Didi Kirsten
Tatlow wrote in the New York Times, Fluent in Chinese, English, French and Japanese,
the 26-year-old graduate of a business school in France interviewed between January
and April with half a dozen companies in Beijing, hoping for her first job in the private
sector, where salaries are highest. Tatlow
quoted Ms. Feng who said: The boss would ask several questions about my
qualifications, then he would say, I see you just got married. When will you have a
baby? It was always the last question. My response would be not for five years at
least, but they did not believe me (Tatlow, 2010)
Even though the Red Guards' violence was directed against the "class enemies", it
was still often "sexualized" and "gendered". Many young women were exposed to
sexual assault, on the countryside by local cadres, in the cities by Red Guards and
other gangs. During the cultural revolution, women were attacked because they wore
fashionable clothes or looked "feminine". The female Red Guards dressed like men.
Whoever behaved like a women could be seen as a "backward element". There were
cases where women were attacked under the pretense of "sexual immorality". One
woman says: "at that time, people were attacked for bad class origin. To women, at
that time, people would say, you had 'lifestyle problems' [a euphemism for sexual
immorality]. Such lifestyle problems would be a huge blow to you. When they had no
reasons to attack you, they would say that you had lifestyle problems. I remembered
during the cultural revolution, those women who were said to have lifestyle problems
wore a string of worn shoes around their shoulders, parading through the streets,
being tainted as 'broken shoes', a euphemism for a loose woman (Liu 38)2.
Problems faced by working women in India
Working women in India are faced with lot more challenges than their counterparts in
the other parts of the world. In India, men do not share on most of the household
chores, it is women who have to cook, clean the house, do the dishes, wash clothes,
get their children ready for school, etc. Men just took care of few chores that are to
be dealt outside the house. So the major burden of running the family is on the
shoulders of women. It was alright for women to handle all the chores as long as they
were homemakers. Now with their increasing need for getting some income for the
family, they have to work all the more harder. They have to take up a 9 to 5 job plus
handling all the household chores that they handled as a homemaker. Mens role has
not changed much (Neetu, 2009).
They have to handle harassment's at their work place, sometimes just over look
things to ensure that their job is not jeopardized in anyway. Many Indian families are
still living as joint families along with the parents and in-laws. This adds to their
stress, further because they have to please all the family members of their husbands.
These women have to listen to the complaints made against them and turn deaf ears
towards them if need be. Overall, majority of women in India look towards or live in
the hope that things will change. Some of us have given
up that hope and learnt to accept that nothing can be done about it. India has a long
way to go before our women will be able to live their lives to the fullest (Neetu,
2009). It is an open truth that working women have to face problems just by virtue
of their being women Brockhaus (1980). Working women here are referred to those
who are in paid employment. Social attitude to the role of women lags much behind
the law. This attitude which considers women fit for certain jobs and not for other
jobs is determined by those who recruit the employees. Thus, women find
employment easily as nurses, doctors, and teachers in the care and nurturing
sectors, and secretaries or assembling jobs in the routine submissive sectors. But
even if well qualified women engineers or managers or geologists are available,
preference will be given to a male of equal qualification. A gender bias creates an
obstacle at the recruitment stage itself. When it comes to remuneration, the law
proclaims equality but it is seldom put into practice. The inbuilt conviction that
women are capable of less work than men or less efficient than men governs this
injustice of unequal salaries and wages for the same job. The age old belief of male
superiority over women creates several hurdles for women at their place of work.
Women on the way up the corporate ladder discover that they must be much better
than their male colleagues to reach the top. Once at the top male colleagues and
subordinates often expect much greater expertise and efficiency from a woman boss
than from a male boss. Conditioned by social and psychological tradition women
colleagues do not lend support to their own sex. Working in such conditions
inevitably put much greater strain on women than what men experience. These
problems tend to make women less eager to progress in their careers. Indeed, many
of them choose less demanding jobs for which they may even be over-qualified. A
womans work is not merely confined to paid employment (Rahul, 2012).
Technological advancement results in retrenchment of women employees. No one
thinks of upgrading their skills. Maternity leave is seldom given. It is much easier to
terminate the womans employment and hire someone else. Trade unions do little to
ameliorate the lot of women workers. Womens issues do not occur on the priority
list of most of the trade unions. Women going to work are often subject to sexual
harassment. Public transport system is overcrowded and men take advantage of the
circumstances to physically harass women (Lurie 1998). Colleagues offer unwanted
attention which can still be shaken off, but a woman is placed in a difficult situation
if the higher officer demands sexual favors. If refused, the boss can easily take it out
on the woman in other ways to make life miserable for her. There have been several
cases of sexual harassment recently involving even the senior women officials. On
the other hand, if a woman is praised for her work or promoted on merit, her
colleagues do not hesitate to attribute it to sexual favors Birley (1989). The
psychological pressure of all this can easily Zhu et al. 11371 lead to a woman
quitting her job. Most of the problems that beset working women are in reality
rooted in the social perspective of the position of women. Traditionally, men are seen
as the bread winner and women as the house-keepers and child bearers. This
typecast role model continues to put obstacles before the working women. A
fundamental change is required in the attitudes of the employers, policy makers,
family members and other relatives and the public at large (Rahul, 2012).
2nd
Henley (1979) stated that the feminine stereotype depicts women as being more
concerned than men about their bodies, their clothing, and their
appearance in
general; as is often the case, there is both truth and reason to the stereotype.
Women are subject to a great deal more observation than men; their figures and
clothing; their attractiveness is the criteria by which they most often are judged. Not
surprisingly, then women are more conscious than men of their visibility. This
difference translates into both a power and a sex difference. In a situation where one
person is observing and the other is being observed, the observer dominates
the situation. When a man on the bases of her dress and appearance judges a
woman, the man is able to dominance over the situation.
Johnson (1979) in his study started that women , if theory act in an acceptable
feminine manner, would rely on indirect personal and helpless forms of power. The
interplay of these sex roles expectations and opportunities form and male styles.
Kapur (1979) his shown that the twin roles of women cause tension and conflict due
to her social structure which is still more dominant .In her study on working women
in Delhi, she has shown that traditional authoritarian set up of Hindu social
structure continues to be the same basically and hence. Women face problem of role
conflict change in attitudes of men and women
according to the situation can help to overcome their problem.
Locke (1979) in his study stated that a cause-effect
relationship is available between family functioning and work life,
this cause-effect relationship could work in both directions, that is,
work attitudes could affect family attitudes and vice versa. The
mechanism that is positive in bringing about such effect is
emotional generalization of spill over.
M.R Wood (1979) in his study of middle class urban
sanitary women un Gujarat showed that some of the women is his
sample including one whose marriage was arranged, had
established a give and take relationship with their husbands,
Women also take part in important decisions.
Rosen and Jerdee (1979) in their study stated that
women were seen less favourably in terms of the knowledge,
3rd
Worklife balance is defined as an employees perception
that multiple domains of personal time, family care, and work
are maintained and integrated with a minimum of role conflict
(Clark, 2000; Ungerson & Yeandle, 2005). Workfamily
balance reflects an individuals orientation across different life
roles, an inter-role phenomenon (Marks and MacDermid,
1996). Work-life balance is a key issue in all types of
employment as dual-career families have become common
and high work demands with long working hours have become
the norm. The importance of helping employees achieve a
balance between the demands of their work and their home
lives has been emphasized. Demographic changes as seen in
the increasing number of women in the workplace and dual
career families have generated an increasingly diverse
workforce and a greater need of employees to balance their
work and non-work lives (Bharat, 2003; Komarraju, 1997;
Rajadhyaksha & Bhatnagar, 2000; Ramu, 1989; Sekharan,
IRACST International Journal of Commerce, Business and Management (IJCBM),
ISSN: 23192828
Vol. 2, No.5, October 2013
275
1992). The knowledge economy has created greater access for
women coupled with factors such as changes in marital
patterns and smaller families. This has led to an increase in the
number of working women and, hence, working mothers
(Grossman, 1981). The gift of this knowledge era for women
is occupational opportunity and mobility. But this gift has
become a great challenge for the working women of today as
they are not only exposed to the same working environment as
men but in turn are also exposed to the pressures created by
the multiple role demands and conflicting expectations. By
fulfilling their economic needs, employment has no doubt
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Work-life balance, workplace culture and maternity/childcare issues A literature review PAGE 123
Appendix 1. Glossary of terms
Adoptive leave Leave for an eligible employee adopting a child
Annualised hours An employee will have a defined number of hours
per year. Working time can be scheduled around a
number of core days or hours that must be
worked. Working time can be adjusted to meet
business demands
Banking of hours This means time worked in addition to normal
working time can be banked and taken as leave at
the end of a period, usually between 4 and 6
weeks. There are usually limitations on how much
time can be banked and when the leave must be
taken
Bereavement leave Leave given on the death of an immediate family
member
Career break A period of leave agreed by both the employer and
employee for a specified period, generally unpaid
Carer's leave An employee is entitled to unpaid leave to
personally care for a person full-time. All
entitlements are governed by the Carer's Leave
Act (2001)
Compassionate leave Leave given to an employee for personal
reasons
Compressed hours Standard amount of hours worked over fewer
days
E Working Forms of flexible working that utilise technology
and telecommunications to conduct work outside
the workplace
Flexitime An employee's starting and finishing time are
124
Work-life
balance,
workplace
culture
and
Their pay can be given on a pro rata basis or spread out over the
yearly pay period
Work-life
balance
balance
between
work
and
domestic
responsibilities
Work-life balance, workplace culture and maternity/childcare issues A literature review PAGE 125
Crisis