Discrimination against women in the workplace -

Discrimination against women in the workplace happens when a female employee is treated worse or less favourably than would a male employee.

Examples of Discrimination against women in the workplace are;

Denying a woman a job opportunity because of her gender.
Firing a woman because she is pregnant.
Quid pro quo ( Something for something).
Denying a woman a promotion due to her specifically bacause of her gender.
when a woman is paid less than her male counterpart.
Setting a different employment conditions for women.

Denying a woman a job opportunity because of her gender;

I have asked several times, why on earth should a woman be asked during a job interview if she intends to have children soon or if she has little children?. Personally I never experienced that but while discusing with some women, I found out that many women especially young married ones have lost many job opportunities because of who they are, women.

Beside women who intend to have children, many women have also been denied an opportunity to work in a sector they have passion for, for example in the fire service, why are there very few women firefighters? Is it because there are no more women who want to be fireghters? The answer is no. The argument is usually the physical fitness needed for firefighting, that women are not up to the physical demands of the job but I wonder, why shouldn’t other qualities be taken into consideration, a quality like compassion, which is a trait asociated with women and it is also very necessary for the success of figherfighing beside physical strenght.

Article 11. 1. a, b and c of The Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) states;

1. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the field of employment in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, the same rights, in particular: (a) The right to work as an inalienable right of all human beings;

(b) The right to the same employment opportunities, including the application of the same criteria for selection in matters of employment;

(c) The right to free choice of profession and employment, the right to promotion, job security and all benefits and conditions of service and the right to receive vocational training and retraining, including apprenticeships, advanced vocational training and recurrent training;

Firing a pregnant woman;

When a woman is fired because she is pregnant, it’s discrimination against her and it violates her rights.

According to article 2 (a) and (b) of CEDAW, “In order to prevent discrimination against women on the grounds of marriage or maternity and to ensure their effective right to work, States Parties shall take appropriate measures:

(a) To prohibit, subject to the imposition of sanctions, dismissal on the grounds of pregnancy or of maternity leave and discrimination in dismissals on the basis of marital status;

(b) To introduce maternity leave with pay or with comparable social benefits without loss of former employment, seniority or social allowances;

Quid pro quo;

This is a latin term that means “something for something” sexual harassment comes in here. A lot of women have fallen victims of this out of despair. It’s discrimination against her if as an employer you ask for sexual favors from her in order to hire her , promote or enjoy other working benefits. It also violates her right to work in equal condition as men and right to promotion.

Denying a woman a promotion due to her;

If you prefer to promote a male employee instead of a female employee even when she is more qualified, you discriminate against her. This reminds me of when I newly started working in europe, a man who was there as a general manager once said to me, “Ada, you are really very good in what you do and very intelligent that I would have suggested that you be one of the shift managers but the problem is that people wouldn’t respect you”, I was like, what ?, because I am a woman?, I thank God, that before long, another person was brought to the branch as a general manager, who didn’t think about it twice to suggest for my promotion to the rank of a shift manager.

Article 11 .1 (c) of CEDAW provides;

When a woman is paid less than her male counterpart

If a woman is paid less than a man for doing the same job, it amounts to discrimination against her. There should be equal treatment and equal benefits to workers at the same level or position. The first time I heard about the possibility of women receiving a lesser pay, I was stunned. I couldn’t find any reasonable explanation for that, may be because it doesn’t happen in the company that I work with. I am very happy and I count myself lucky to be with a company where Legality is the watchword.

Article 11. 1. (d) states;

(d) The right to equal remuneration, including benefits, and to equal treatment in respect of work of equal value, as well as equality of treatment in the evaluation of the quality of work;

Setting a different empolyment conditions for women;

Examples, as pointed out in one of the earlier posts ( see Discrimination against women) any job that demands for a certain height that only very few women can comply with discriminates against them.

In some countries, the Labour law provides that an air stewardess needs the authorization of her father or her husband in order to work, and the collective agreement applicable to the aviation industry in some countries provides for the suspension of the contract of the stewardesses when they become pregnant: they can only have a limited number of children while they are hired, and must withdraw at an earlier age than men.

Effects of Discrimination in the workplace

Feeling of insecurity or lack of confidence.
Without desire to move forward.
Leads to decrease in productivity etc.