Gender Diversity is the Responsibility of Every Organization
blurb:isstoday:28052008gender
28 May 2008: Gender Diversity is the Responsibility of Every Organization
Inequality on the basis of gender not only violates basic human rights, but also impacts on the individual and collective national and regional development potential in Africa.
A strong case can therefore be made for leveraging gender diversity within organizations - particularly those involved in civil society work. This is over and above the need for gender diversity on purely business grounds, given the recognized contributions that women make towards economic development. In this regard, the argument for leveraging gender diversity can be supported by the following three issues relating to the responsibility of organizations.
Firstly organizations have a responsibility to comply with existing Charters and National protocols. Charters and national protocols provide a country with a framework that mandates compliance by all organizations and institutions.
Significant progress was made towards the commitment to gender equality within the SADC-region when representatives gathered in Namibia for a conference last month with the theme: “SADC Accelerating Progress in Achieving Gender Equality”.
The process of establishing a framework for gender equality in the region has taken three years and it is hoped that the fine-tuning of the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development may finally have prepared the document for adoption later this year.
Some of the other charters and declarations of relevance to Africa on the issue of gender are: The Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women adopted by the AU General Assembly in 1979; The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights adopted in 1986; The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child adopted in 1990; the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, Fourth World Conference on Women of September 1995; The Durban Declaration on mainstreaming gender and women‘s effective participation in the African Union, June 2002 and the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) of October 2005.
The second aim for organizations is to assist their country’s government in the gender mainstreaming initiative.
In its 1997 report the UN Economic and Social Council formally defined the concept as: “Mainstreaming a gender perspective is the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality." Gender mainstreaming means integrating identified gender gaps into the development process so as to counteract the negative effects of inequality. Gender mainstreaming is not about helping women but is a national development agenda. It is a strategy for socio-economic development.
In this context, organizations have a responsibility to assist government with gender mainstreaming some of which entails: training on gender sensitivity for all public servants; political commitment and political mobilization; engendering policies and budgeting processes; establishment of an equal opportunity commission to gather data; carry out gender analysis and make recommendations to government for remedial action and take action to address past discrimination effects. It also implies training women to build their capacity for leadership and providing opportunities for on-the-job training for women to accelerate acquisition of leadership/executive skills.
The third aim for organizations to ensure gender diversity is to assist in the development of women and the community as a whole.
Organizations have both a social and ethical responsibility to meet both Practical Gender Needs (PGN) - these are concerned with inadequacies in living conditions- water, food, healthcare, employment and income, they arise in a given context and are usually met within the short term; and Strategic Gender needs (SGN). These arise from the subordinate position of men and women in society and in a given context, and therefore challenge the existing roles and responsibilities such as: equal pay for work of equal value; equal legal rights; access to decision-making positions and power to make independent decisions on when and how to use assets.
This is one of the more significant roles that organizations can play and is it also one with the greatest impact. Organizations should ensure that their policies and values are supportive of gender diversity. They should aim to create an enabling environment for gender diversity by bridging gender gaps. In this respect, in an attempt to bridge gender gaps within organizations, so as to promote equity, equality and overall organizational performance, organisations should work towards: eliminating gender stereotyping; influencing organizational culture and structure; providing education and capacity building; instituting affirmative action; promoting diversity and practicing gender mainstreaming.
In conclusion, by responding to the afore-mentioned arguments, organizations will be better placed to improve both the conditions and positions of men and women in the workplace, thereby leading to a more diverse workforce. So, by drawing on a broader pool of skills, this enhances the level of productivity within organizations.
Doris Murimi, Deputy Director, ISS
