Anthony Ngare
15 November 2007
opinion
Nairobi — "When you grow up, you can become whatever you want to be." Little girls hear this all the time, from their mothers and teachers. They are encouraged to believe that girls can be just as smart, athletic and successful as boys. Even the pictures of spunky women on magazine covers tell them that when you are a girl, anything is possible.
However, as they grow older they are forced to face the harsh realities of life and realise the proverbial glass ceiling does exist. Life for the adult working female is not usually exactly what it is perceived to be in childhood years.
There is an old tale about a certain kingdom that existed long ago. It came to pass that the women of the kingdom were called upon to leave home, where they had been confined, as that was their 'natural' place, to go out and work for pay to sustain the economy.
The years went by. One day, one of them asked, "Why is it that all women's jobs are low paid?"
Her companion also questioned, "Why is it that men with jobs that require less education or less responsibility earn more?"
They asked for more money for their hard work.
But the rulers answered, "We can't pay you more. Pay is decided by the gods, and they are never wrong."
The women said, "Your gods did not want a minimum wage. Is minimum wage wrong? Your gods say that childcare workers should be paid less than zookeepers. Isn't that wrong?"
The rulers answered, "We don't really believe there is a pay gap. And it would cost too much to close it."
And that is where things have stood for a number of years.
Since the beginning of time, women have been viewed as lesser beings and for centuries, they have been treated as man's inferior.
They have been denied the right to vote, own land or hold a bank account. They have been forced into arranged marriages, and even denied custody of the children they bore and raised.
One woman once said, "If you want to be a person, do not be born a woman. Her fate is sad she spends her whole life under someone else's control."
Children learn from their parents and society in general about the conception of feminine and masculine. But much about these conceptions is not biological -- it is cultural. The way we tend to view men and women and their roles in society is determined by the prevailing paradigm.
In the world today, issues such as child abuse, human rights and the environment have been, or are being addressed. So why isn't sexism in the workplace? In an otherwise modern 'equal' world, women are still not receiving the opportunities and the treatment they are entitled to.
It is amazing what people put up with in order to succeed in their profession says Magdalene Owuor a marketing executive with an insurance firm.
"A friend of mine is close to a mental breakdown due to conditions at her workplace. Being the only female in her department, she faces discrimination on a daily basis."
She is constantly left out, left behind, left out of the loop, and ridiculed by her male colleagues. Yet, she is sometimes considered one of the 'boys'.
"Sadly, this does not just entail talking about the game around the water dispenser. My friend is now burnt-out, and literally dreads going to work everyday. She feels sick every Sunday in anticipation of Monday morning. This is a shame. When will the boys let the girls play equally in the sandbox?" she poses.
We have a cultural bias that clouds our decision-making process. Sexism is the result of that bias imposed by our process of acculturation. Gender roles in Western societies have been changing rapidly in past years, with the changes created by evolutionary changes in society, including economic shifts. This has altered the way people work and interact and, as more and more women become blue-collar workers, and by perhaps pressure applied to make changes because of the perception that the traditional social structure was inequitable.
"When I was growing up, it was uncommon for a woman to be working as anything other than a schoolteacher or seamstress," says 65-year-old Pauline Munene.
"The woman's job was to take care of the house. We had a big farm from which we got most of our vegetables. A farm is a lot of work you know. We also had to make clothes for the family." Gender can be defined as a social identity consisting the role a person is expected to play because of his or her sex. There is diversity in male and female roles, making it impossible to narrow them down.
The culture of the West was, for centuries, based on a patriarchal system in which exclusive ownership of the female by a given male was considered important. This meant that women were considered little more than property, with no voice and no decision in their fate.
The girl-child was trained from birth to fit into the role awaiting her, and as long as compensations were adequate, women were relatively content. For example, if in return for being a wife, a woman receives economic security, a good house and an opportunity to express her capacities in its management, she has little cause for discontent. While this statement is arguable in the way it assumes that women are not discontent under such circumstances, it is clear that for most of history women accepted this position.
In most countries women are paid only 60 to 70 per cent of men's earnings, and there are more women in seasonal jobs. It has also been argued that sexism prevails in the home as well, since most housework is still undertaken by women.
And sexism is not only indicated in the pay gap. Suggestive behaviour toward female colleagues and unwelcome sexual advances are some of the things women have to put up with at work.
In conclusion, women are devalued in many organisations. Even if they are employed with equal qualifications, they are still paid less than men.
The different colours of sex discrimination
Sex discrimination at work is unlawful. The law covers recruitment, terms and conditions, pay and benefits, status, training, promotion and transfer opportunities, right through to redundancy and dismissal.
However, in some cases, a job can be offered to someone of a particular sex because of what is called a 'genuine occupational qualification'. Examples could include:
Some jobs in single-sex schools
Jobs in some welfare services
Acting jobs
Discrimination falls into four categories:
Direct discrimination -- treating you differently because of your sex, because you are married or because of your gender reassignment (for example, paying men more than women for doing the same job, promoting someone because they are single instead of an equally qualified person, or sacking a woman because she is pregnant.
Indirect discrimination -- putting you at a disadvantage because of certain working practices or rules (for example, setting a minimum height, which might discriminate against most women, or an employer's refusal to recruit part-time workers without good reason)
Harassment -- behaving in an offensive manner, or encouraging or allowing other people to do so (for example, making sexual remarks or gestures, allowing displays or distribution of sexually explicit material, or giving someone a potentially offensive nickname because of their gender).
Victimisation -- treating you unfairly for making a complaint about discrimination (for example, preventing you from going on training courses, taking unfair disciplinary action against you, or excluding you from company social events)
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