[TLDR (too long didn’t read): If you are reading this, chances are it behooves you. This HR Reader explores some assorted truths about the condition of women and how they are coming out of the shadow. For a quick overview, just read the bolded text]. Traducir/traduire los/les Readers; usar/utiliser deepl.com
1. I happen to believe that, with women, there is more certainty of integrity and morality and greater consistency in representing the desires of the population. The performance of men has always been very winding; women‘s proposals are much less ideologized; they have certainly shown to be more practical and sensitive to the needs of those most humble and neglected. As housewives and mothers, they are much more reliable. All this does not explain why women make up the majority of the unemployed population in the labor market –and their salaries still being below those of men. (Juan Pablo Cardenas)
2. Let’s face it
- Let’s face it: The market does not care for women, the environment, the poor, sustainability, justice, resources depletion, human rights, or cultural diversity.
- Let’s face it: Many of the mid-level workers are women; they are the real agents of change; they are the link with the grassroots.
- Let’s face it: Women have traditionally been considered sustainers and men providers; but this stereotype is rapidly changing.
- Let’s face it: It is hard to start a discussion on gender issues with economists trained in neoclassical economics.*
*: Just an aside: “Economics limps along with one foot in untested hypotheses and the other in untestable slogans”. (Joan Robinson) “If economists could manage to get themselves thought–of as humble, competent people on a level with dentists, that would be splendid”. (John Maynard Keynes) “To the unknown economist, who died in the economic war, who, all his life, magnificently explained the next day why he had been wrong the day before, as well as to all those, still alive, who savor the word gratuity…” (Epitaph of Bernard Maris in his book Antimanual de Economía).
(Although not always the case), trade unions have played a pivotal role in fighting for gender equality (ITUC)
3.In the world of work and beyond, trade unions have historically tried to ensure that all people regardless of gender, class, race, migrant status or other grounds can participate on equal terms. They have struggled:
- To realize equal pay for work of equal value for all, including through minimum living wages, pay equity, pay transparency and anti-discrimination legislation, as well as campaigns addressing gender-based discrimination and stereotypes at work and in society, and
- To eliminate gender-based violence and harassment in the world of work, through the ratification and effective implementation of ILO Convention 190 and Recommendation 206.** (He who strikes does not offend his victim but himself. (Anton Chekhov, Ward Number Six)
**: Convention No. 190 and Recommendation No. 206 are the first international labor standards to provide a common framework to prevent, remedy and eliminate violence and harassment in the world of work, including gender-based violence and harassment. (file:///Users/claudioschuftan/Downloads/wcms_738114.pdf)
4. Strengthening women’s leadership in unions is thus essential to advancing gender equality in the world of work and in society at large. To create a world where gender equality is, not a distant aspiration, but a lived reality for every woman and girl. (ITUC)
Tax, debt, free trade agreements, and monetary policies are far from (gender) neutral.
5. Shaped by colonial, neoliberal, and patriarchal foundations, societies systematically push women, girls, and gender-diverse people to the margins. Austerity, regressive taxes, and rising external debt strip them from public services and devalue care, especially in the countries rendered poor that are pushed into signing such agreements. These injustices are systemic and too often ignored.*** (CESR)
***: What it is then about is to work to reclaim foreign trade as a tool for cooperation –not competition– and for justice for women and girls –not wealth accumulation for the pushers of these trade agreements. (IPC)
Bottom Line
6. To benefit the entire family, programs for women can and will only succeed if and when they address power relations. This implies that we need to really get involved in gender mainstreaming rather than in exclusively empowering women. [Note that the use of the concept of ‘gender mainstreaming’ is on its way out; it is being replaced by ‘full integration of women and men (and boys and girls).’].
7. Ultimately, the most effective way to achieve all the above is for women to organize so they demand to be promoted to positions where more of them are put in charge of planning and executing development projects and programs.
8. Whimsical or decadent, progressive or premonitory, visionary or risqué, revolutionary or utopian, novel or repetitive, the above are roughly the pathways PHM thinks gender equality proponents will have to travel through forthe power implications of gender equality to be brought to the foreground and to become a reality in the decade(s) to come. (PHM)
Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City
Your comments are welcome at schuftan@gmail.com
Postscript/Marginalia
-What if every woman simply took the day off?
On 24 October 1975, the women of Iceland went on strike for one day to protest unequal working conditions and to demand greater participation in society. It was the day Iceland stood still: Flights were cancelled, shops closed, newspapers delayed. An astonishing 90 % of Iceland’s women stayed out of work and home, leaving their children with their husbands. The impact of the collective ‘day off’ was huge. Five years later, Iceland had the world’s first democratically elected female president and is now one of the world’s leading countries for gender equality. Every year on 24 October, the country’s women leave work early to raise awareness of gender inequality. (D+C)