ICEM WOMEN’S BULLETIN N° 17

Contents 

1. Chile – Government Publishes
Gender Equity Guide
2. France – Women’s Position at EdF and GdF
Worsens
3. Germany – Men and Women
Experience Stress Differently
4. Kenya – Nairobi +21 Conference Held
5. Korea – Equality Job Index Increases
6. New Zealand – Government Prepares
for Equal Pay Reviews
7. Nicaragua – National Assembly Passes Total Abortion Ban
8. South Africa – NUMSA Gender Awareness Quiz
9. United Kingdom – Women’s Pay Gap Narrows
10. United States – Supreme Court To Hear Goodyear Case
11. From Our Readers
12. Resources

1. Chile – Government Publishes Gender Equity Guide

SERNAM, the Chilean Women’s National Office, published, on 9 November, a guide on gender equity in companies, called Guía para Impulsar la Equidad de Género en las Empresas. The guide contains examples of good practice, as well as tools to put the ideas into practice.

With Chile’s president Michelle Bachelet currently promoting corporate social responsibility, SERNAM found that discrimination against women continues to exist: women’s average pay is still 30% below men’s, with those in higher pay categories even earning 52% less.

87% of all women work in services where they have less access than men to skills and management jobs. Chile ranks 110th out of 125 in terms of gender equity. There is, therefore, plenty of room for improvement. The SERNAM guide will soon be available on the Acción RSE site (in Spanish - www.accionrse.cl).

2. France – Women’s Position at EdF and GdF Worsens

In spite of the fact that an ambitious equal opportunities agreement was signed one and a half years ago, FCE-CFDT has found women’s position worsening, or at best stagnating, at EdF (Electricité de France) and GdF (Gaz de France).

In 2005, the average number of hours’ training that women took advantage of went down, as did the number of women taking vocational training. There were also fewer men taking parental leave than the year before. In addition, new hires are generally found in technical areas, where fewer women are present.

Women make up 23.1% of the workforce in the two companies, whereas they make up 49% of the precarious jobs. The union has also found that stereotypes still prevail – management still refuses men’s requests to look after sick children, for example.

3. Germany – Men and Women Experience Stress Differently

IGBCE has launched a pilot project to investigate stress factors at three companies in Germany. The aim is for employees to cope better with stress so that, for instance, they can go home free of stress in the evening.

Since women and men experience stress differently, preventive and curing measures have to be applied differently according to gender. In general, men have more injuries and accidents, whereas women suffer more from psychological problems.

Men are more afraid of failure and high performance standards; women suffer more from poor communication and lack of recognition. Strategies to manage stress also differ – women get rid of stress by doing yoga or relaxation exercises, while men play football.

The Infracor Company has distributed a questionnaire to track stress factors. While still analysing the results, one finding is that work against deadlines, heavy workloads, lack of decision-making power, fear of job loss or the double burden of working and looking after the family are all possible causes of stress.

Stress has physical and psychological effects, which, if not eliminated, often reduce performance and concentration. However, they also lead to allergies and cardiovascular ailments. The IGBCE found that managing stress and health on the job pays for itself.

4. Kenya – Nairobi +21 Conference Held

The Nairobi +21 Conference was held in Nairobi on 27 October 2006 to reflect on what has happened since the first UN International Women’s Conference, which was held in 1985. Women evaluated the progress made over the years, by following the development of strategies aimed at fostering the advancement of women. Speakers reminisced about times gone by, when women’s issues were treated with disdain.

However, 20 years later, things are different. Kenya now has 18 women parliamentarians, and many women have been appointed to the judiciary and senior public service positions. Many battles have been won, but the war for realizing gender equality is far from over.

Women are still under-represented in policy making. Societal and cultural biases and practices, such as female genital mutilation, still pose a health risk to girls. Insecurity and conflicts continue to expose more women to hunger, poverty and assault, and HIV/AIDS destructs millions of women’s lives in sub-Saharan Africa.

One conclusion of the conference was to demand better resource allocation for gender ministries and to push for 50-50 representation in leadership.

5. Korea – Equality Job Index Increases

Two recent findings by the Korea Labor Institute are that the labor status of women in Korea is lower than men’s and that the labor status of workers over 50 has been declining. These findings are the result of an analysis of the Employment Equality Index in Korea, which includes factors such as gender, age, labor status and wage levels for the past 10 years.

The Employment Equality Index consists of four sub-categories: the Labor Compensation Index, based on wage levels per hour; the Labor Participation Index, based on the ratio of wage workers; the Labor Status Index, based on the ratio of management level workers; and the Job Security Index, based on the ratio of regular workers. A figure above 100 indicates that the employment equality status is higher than that of men, whereas a figure below 100 indicates that the status is lower.

With the male workers’ Employment Equality Index set at 100, the female workers’ index started at 50.1% in 1995, went down to 49.5% during the 1998 crisis, and reached 55.7% last year.

According to the study, the women’s Labor Status Index was 8.1%, indicating that the number of female management-level workers is less than one tenth that of men. The women’s Labor Compensation Index stood at 69.4%, and the Job Security Index at 61.3%. The study also found that the labor status of older workers was gradually worsening.

The Ministry of Labor hopes that more women will take management jobs after the government’s affirmative action programs. The government also hopes to encourage workers over 50 to stay in the labor market.

6. New Zealand – Government Prepares for Equal Pay Reviews

The New Zealand Cabinet has agreed on the terms of reference for the equal pay and employment equity reviews. Although the equal pay law has been in existence since 1972, women’s average hourly earnings are still only 86.4% of men’s.

The public service, health and education sectors will all be subjected to a review designed to ensure that occupations dominated by women pay women fairly and provide equal employment opportunities.

A template must be completed, which tests each occupation’s job size and remuneration against a comparable occupation, before a pay equity or equal employment opportunity claim is lodged. A review will also be carried out before a claim is lodged.

Depending on the review’s findings, workers such as teachers, secretaries, librarians, dental therapists and nurses may have their pay boosted.

New Zealand’s Council of Trade Unions Vice-President Helen Kelly said that, with pay equity claims resolved, women would look at the state as a preferred employer, boosting the need for the private sector to undertake similar actions.

7. Nicaragua – National Assembly Passes Total Abortion Ban

Nicaragua’s national assembly has voted - 52 to 0 - to ban all abortions, even in those cases where the mother’s life is at stake. Nicaragua already had restrictive anti-abortion laws, with women and doctors who take part in abortions facing prison sentences of up to six years.

Members of Nicaragua’s medical association and United Nations representatives opposed the timing of the vote, which coincided with the presidential elections on 5 November. They claimed the abortion debate had become too politicized. Hundreds of people protested outside the National Assembly in Managua before the vote took place, saying the law would be a death penalty for some. They fear the law will force women to die.

8. South Africa – NUMSA Gender Awareness Quiz

NUMSA, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, has published a gender awareness quiz. Answer the questions and check where you stand on the public and private struggle.

1. Your wife/partner wants to stand as a shop steward in her union. Do you:

• a) Say that she cannot stand because you are worried that the children will be neglected and it will interfere with the cooking and the cleaning of the household.
• b) Support her and say that together as a family you will all discuss how she can be active in the union and how the family will accommodate her.

2. Your wife/partner is a shop steward and wants to attend NUMSA National Congress for five days. Do you:

• a) Say she cannot go because a NUMSA National Congress is not a good place for a woman to be.
• b) Encourage her to go and together with your family work out how you will all manage.

3. Your workplace has many women workers. In shop steward elections, workers voted for three new women shop stewards. Do you:

• a) Carry on having your shop steward committee meetings after work as you have always done.
• b) Ask the new women shop stewards if the time is all right for them or if they want to suggest an alternative time.

4. Your workplace has always had many women workers but no women have ever stood as shop stewards. Shop steward elections will take place in 18 months time. Do you:

• a) Assume that it’s because women are not committed and that’s why they don’t stand as shop stewards.
• b) Speak to workers and set up a gender committee in your factory. Link the gender committee to the shop stewards committee and provide training to the gender committee reps so that they can learn the job of the shop steward.

5. You are holding a shop steward council in your local. The meeting was meant to start at 9h00 and finish at 12h00. However some of the male office bearers are late and the meeting only started at 10h30. At 12h00 many people start to leave, especially the women comrades. Do you:

• a) Complain that those leaving are not committed.
• b) Apologise to those that are leaving for having started the meeting late and appeal to all those present to respect the times so that next time the meeting can start and finish on time.

ANSWERS: If you answered mostly (a) then you need to seriously look at your views on gender and your relationship with your wife/partner. If you answered mostly (b) then you have opened the door to challenge patriarchy. Congratulations but don’t stop here!

9. United Kingdom – Women’s Pay Gap Narrows

Women are closing the pay gap with men, as indicated by recent government figures. The gap between male and female pay is at its lowest since 1938, the year when recording began.

Men’s average pay went up by 3.5%, while women’s pay rose by 4.2%. Women now earn, on average, 12.6% less than men, compared to 13% last year. A man’s weekly average earnings stands at 487 pounds. A typical woman is paid 387 pounds a week. The reason for the large gap is that men work more overtime.

A key reason behind the change is that more women now work in high-earning professions. In the 22-29 age group, women actually earn more than 1.5% more than men. But beyond the age of 29, male earnings greatly outstrip those of women, as women returning to the workplace after childbirth tend to miss out on several years of pay rises.

The Equal Opportunities Commission estimates that the pay gap means that the average women working full time will lose out on about 330,000 pounds over her working life. That means 19 years of down payments on a house, 15 new cars or 10,500 nights out.

10. United States – Supreme Court To Hear Goodyear Case

On 27 November, the US Supreme Court will hear the arguments on a pay discrimination case involving a former Goodyear employee. Ms. Ledbetter charged that she earned 15% less than the next lowest paid manager in her work group. She claimed that she had been underpaid for her management positions since she was first hired.

Goodyear claims her lower salary was based on low performance ratings. Ledbetter, however, claimed her evaluations had been falsified, at least in part because one of those who reviewed her job performance was an immediate supervisor whose sexual advances she had rebuffed.

A jury in the US District Court awarded Ledbetter nearly US$234,000 in back pay, almost US$5,000 for mental anguish and nearly US$3,3 million in punitive damages. In the end, the court was required by statute to limit the verdict to US$360,000. Goodyear is appealing this verdict.

FROM OUR READERS:

Oluchi Okorie from Nupeng, Nigeria, comments about Bulletin 16:


“It is surprising that Indian women still face these problems of dowry to their husbands. Unlike in our country Nigeria, the reverse is the case.

The bride’s family receives the bride price and other gifts from the groom and his family. Some extended family members of the bride also make their demands which, if not met, sometimes will lead to the threat of withdrawing from the marriage contract.

The major problem with this in some cases is that the groom will start maltreating the bride after the marriage must have been contracted with the belief that he bought her expensively. There are other cases where the groom may not have enough resources to take care of the bride after marriage.

In either way, none is perfect because the whole thing falls back on women. We pray there should be a remedy to this in this modern age."

RESOURCES

Falling Through the Floor lets young Chinese women workers tell us in their own words about their arduous experiences of trying to earn a decent living in the boomtowns of the Chinese economic miracle today. See at: http://www.china-labour.org.hk/public/main. 

WOMANKIND Worldwide helps women in developing countries - silenced or isolated by harmful traditions, conflict, violence and intimidation or the sheer exhaustion of surviving in poverty – to have a distinctive say in what goes on in their family, community and country. See http://www.womankind.org.uk.

Public Services International has done an evaluation of its 2002-2006 Pay Equity Campaign. The evaluation can be obtained from ICEM – write to [email protected].