Trade
unions under-represented by women
By Quintus Perera
Trade Unions came under the microscope two weeks ago after Nimalka
Fernando, a lawyer and an activist on women’s rights, said
that women were not adequately represented in unions in Sri Lanka.
She
made these comments during a discussion at the launch of “Guidelines
for Company Policy on Gender Equality/Equity” compiled by
the Employers Federation of Ceylon (EFC) in collaboration with the
International Labour Organization (ILO) held at Ceylon Continental
Hotel.
These Guidelines, an ILO research study was done by Ms Maithree
Wickremesinghe (wife of the UNP leader) and Dr Wijaya Jayatilaka.
Ms Fernando said that the trade union movement should also be included
in this issue of gender equality that can be incorporated, and wthen
there could be opportunities to review and monitor the issues rather
than changing laws. She said that the ILO should make a similar
study into the trade union mechanism with regard to gender issues
and certain discussions would be appropriate in this regard.
Gotabaya Dassanayaka, Director General, Employers Federation of
Ceylon said that there was insufficient representation of women
in the trade union movement to negotiate and bargain.
D W Subasinghe, General Secretary, Ceylon Federation of Trade Unions
said that especially in the garment industry women were required
to work overtime sometime more than 120 hours per month and thereby
all the objectives of these guidelines would be nullified as working
on exhaustive overtime hours would affect their health. He said
that the employers should be given guidelines of enforceable self-restraints
making it a level playing field and to restrict overtime to 48 hours
per month.
He said that a study should be made on this kind of exploitation
of women and they should be educated on their rights. Another area
that was discussed was the flexible time, especially for service
industries and now since there is a move to employ women for such
trades like transport where there is tremendous risk on security.
In such situations, Subasinghe said that the employer should ensure
that a calm type of atmosphere for the women to work safely.
Dassanayaka said that would not fall within the ambit of these guidelines
and it has to be studied under security and infrastructure, separately.
Welcoming the guests EFC Secretary General Dassanayaka said that
they initiated a dialogue among the workers, employers and the trade
unions for better relations. EFC has been emphasizing the need of
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by its members and as part
of it they have been encouraging the employment of differently-able
persons in workplaces.
The initial steps to draw up the guidelines on gender bias were
commenced in 2001. In 100 organizations and among 68,500 workers,
46 percent were women and there is high level of participation.
Among these women only 5 percent were involved in the decision making
process. Participation in the management positions was also limited.
He
said that these guidelines are for the managers to understand the
gender bias.
Ms Maithree Wickremesinghe said that the study was made to assess
the situation of women and men at the workplace within selected
private sector companies in terms of their representation and participation,
as well as their job positioning and working conditions.
They have been working on various phases of this study since 2001
and the end result has been the formulation of these guidelines
as well as the publication of the study.
They have looked at a wider picture with regard to gender configurations
and compartmentalization in the Sri Lankan labour force and then
considered the participation and positioning of women and men in
100 selected private sector workplaces.
She said that they found that women employees constitute 45.9 percent
of the total employed in these workplaces. Of the total women employees,
95 percent occupied the lowest rungs of employment. Of 104 representatives
from apex decision making bodies, only five were women, illustrating
the paucity of women in decision making positions and the phenomenon
of the “glass ceiling” became apparent in that considering
the percentage of women employed at other levels of an institution,
they do not reach management levels of an institution.
She said that the tendency for men and women to be employed in different
occupations from each other across the entire spectrum of occupations
was apparent. Of the 66 workers interviewed, only 3 were given training
in non-traditional areas. She said that sectoral or divisional segregation
was also present.
They have looked at gender issues relating to institutional structures
and organizational practices because it was commonly accepted that
women, more than men, were disadvantaged at the workplace.
Consequently, the experiences of women workers and managers were
considered in regard to: recruitment/training/remuneration and other
procedures; appraisals/recognition/ promotions; working conditions/occupational
hazards/ rules and regulations at the workplace; allowances and
benefits; dissatisfaction and redress and workers rights and unionization.
Ms Wickremesinghe said that they have found that gender stereotyping
with regard to what is considered to be men’s work and women’s
work at workplaces resulted in vertical, horizontal and divisional
segregation of men and women.
There were organizational prejudice towards employees’ dual
commitments of work and family, resulting in the perception of women
as more committed towards the family responsibilities than men and
therefore negligent with regard to their work responsibilities.
There was gender stereotyping with regard to the expected characteristics
demeanour, dress and capabilities of men and women in the workplace,
leading to attitudinal obstacles.
She said that there is continuing space for the exploitation of
women workers through the denial of their accepted rights especially
with regard to women’s biological and gender needs as well
as their political rights due to the failure in the implementation
or suspension of isolation.
Ms Claudia Coenjaerts, Director, ILO said that although there were
some remaining areas of differences, it was recognised that Sri
Lanka had an overall public commitment for equal opportunities,
as testified in signature to numerous conventions and treaties.
If gender related statistics to other South Asian countries are
compared, Sri Lanka was not doing badly. She said that in leadership
and management there is emphasis on concepts like partnership, loyalty,
emotional intelligence, participation, affiliation and consultation
are a few social soft skills that help increase productivity, which
are often considered as feminine characteristics.
She said, “clearly then, having more women in senior management
enables you to create a balance workplace, where the combined strengths
of men and women will lead to the excellence we all look for.”
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