Rajashree Das
(The writer is from Gauhati University. She can be reached at ruchadas98@gmail.com)
We are in the twenty-first century, and by and by wrestling with issues related to gender equality, equivalent compensation and lewd behaviour in the work environment. While the situation is better than which it used to be five or six decades back, however, as per a McKinsey Report (a worldwide report done by an American Management Consulting Firm), gender primarily based on progress has bogged down in latest times, despite the rising awareness about these issues. Sadly, gender-based discrimination in the workplace, pay gap and sexual harassment continue. There are other highlights from the report that have brought to light the condition of working women now.
Working ladies are taking up more familial obligations
In an encouraging trait, the number of educated and employed women is on the rise, but that does not mean their involvement in the family and household responsibilities is diminishing. According to the report, although working women are investing increasingly more energy in their office, they are also devoting more time to childcare or getting household chores done than their husbands or the other men in the family.
Ladies need to go through more extra pressure and burden as there are no special policies for women. While working ladies shoulder more family they have no access to any special workplace policies and are entitled to the same number of medical leave, sick leave and flexible working hours as their male colleagues except maternity leaves. There was a recent development in India where women employees were demanding menstrual leaves. However, the world was divided into two camps. One was against the idea of granting women special menstrual leaves and others were supporting the cause. Their demands didn't see the light of the day. It's not rare to see women going into bad diet practices, depression and anxiety while trying to manage both work and home. Women still suffer in regards to getting a leave during their menstrual month. You might have heard about the Menstruation Benefits Bill: 2017 been introduced in the Lok Sabha but which now remains unattended.
Despite numerous campaigns and petitions for menstrual leaves, this issue remains a discarded element. Many objections were passed regarding the implementation of the bill like this bill is a misguided attempt to attain inclusivity for women, is a form of gender bias, not a big problem and terms menstruation as a form of sickness which only seems to be a few baseless remarks against women rights.
How do these greater responsibilities affect women?
The greater part of working ladies (very nearly 54%) withdraws from work after turning into a parent interestingly because ladies take a larger number of liabilities of childcare than men. They are also most likely to look for more flexible jobs after childbirth and make a compromise on their salary. The number of working women who take leaves or leave their jobs to take care of an ailing or elderly member of a family is also more in comparison to men. All these factors lead to long-term financial consequences for women and they have a lesser amount of savings as compared to men after retirement.
Sexual-harassment and women
Additionally, we should not fail to remember the MeToo development, which exposed numerous episodes of work environment provocation against ladies, shook the entire world. From compelling government officials to producers, writers to money managers, reports of how they irritated ladies associates began pouring in from all corners. Such developments like #MeToo made us face an unforgiving reality that regardless of how instructed and exceptionally positioned a lady may be in the authoritative graph, she isn't protected from the sexual stalkers and inappropriate behaviour in the workplaces.