There is a need to invite and encourage more men into non-traditional spheres of employment and in turn channel more women into male dominated domains of work, Prof. Maithree Wickremesinghe told the AAP Graduation and Awards ceremony held yesterday in Colombo.
It is important for women particularly to be powerful in the workplace because generally they are as a sex and a gender, often powerless within families, in workplaces and in society as a whole, she said.
“It is very important that we are able to look at the world in terms of commonalities. In terms of what affects both men and women together, in other words in terms of individuals.
Nevertheless, it is also of equal significance we look at the world from the worldviews of men and of course the perspectives of women. Because often public and private institutions, in fact workplaces are governed by the needs, interests, the value and traditions, standards and practices of those who dominate and govern these entities. And more often than not these happen to be men.”
She said as a result workplaces do not take into serious consideration of the multiple roles that society, tradition, family and culture, imputes to women and imputes to men. She said she was referring to workplace practices, like workplace harassment and sexual harassment that can become grim concerns for women who are affected physically and psychologically to the extent that their work can suffer.
Historically women have fought these battles for gender equality alone. This has led to gender stereotyping of women workers, workplace ridicule and castigation, for things like absenteeism, for inefficiency and distraction on many an occasion.
Globally workplaces are fast becoming environment friendly. The International Labour Organsation and Scandinavian countries have led the way in recognizing the need for a healthy work life balance in ensuring safety and security of women employees from sexual harassment and instituting beneficial work practices that are fair to women and men.
“If you are a professional you have to be confident enough to speak out on issues of ethics principle and values at the workplace,” she said.
However, sounding a note of caution, she said there will also be resistance, opposition, perhaps even a backlash when promoting individual institutional workplace and social change.
This is where professional should strategise to overcome resistance and be strong, she said.
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