Women’s Month is a chance to recenter women’s experiences and raise issues that matter to women. DIWA’s experience in the field indicate that women face distinct challenges while working in the palm oil, cacao, seafood, apparel, electronics, and other sectors. While there are context-specific differences, issues affecting women workers can be broadly categorized as (1) gender-based discrimination in hiring, firing, pay, training, or promotion; and (2) gender-based harassment or violence. Untangling these overlapping issues may help in designing interventions that promote gender equality in the workplace.
Gender-based discrimination
Discrimination is unfair treatment based on personal characteristics unrelated to the job. Discrimination may occur at various touchpoints in the work setting, such as hiring, negotiating pay and benefits, giving promotions, and providing training opportunities. Usually, initial efforts to tackle discrimination include establishing policies and procedures, and providing training for HR; in hiring and selection, for example, these efforts ensure that the job application process does not consider information such as skin color, height, marital status, weight, and others which are not relevant to the job vacancy.
While these are critical steps, gender discrimination often occurs as a result of social norms that dictate a gender-based division of labor in a particular industry. In palm oil estates, harvesting jobs are traditionally and almost exclusively held by men, while spraying tasks are commonly assigned to women. Harvesting is considered highly physical work which is perceived as a job more suitable for men. In palm oil mills and refineries, where heavy machinery is involved, the workforce is also overwhelmingly male. This results in wage inequality—a gendered wage gap—as harvesting and mill jobs pay higher than spraying jobs, which are commonly hired out on an informal basis. In sectors with high informality such as agriculture, women’s work may not be adequately recorded and compensated, and/or their pay included in the compensation of male household members. Even in manufacturing, such as apparel and electronics, women also tend to work in roles considered as low skilled and thus they are more vulnerable to lower pay and informalization.
Women’s social roles in domestic and childcare may further prevent them from having equal time and access to regular work and training opportunities, limiting their earning potential and contributing further to the gendered wage gap.
Gender imbalance extends to leadership positions as well. Women are typically underrepresented in management roles across industries and in leadership positions in unions. Inadequate representation of women in decision-making results in blindness to and silence on issues that impact women, which then heightens women’s vulnerability to abuse.
Gender-based harassment and violence
Harassment is considered a form of discrimination and involves unacceptable behavior that results in a hostile and unsafe environment. Harassment and violence, including verbal, physical, and sexual, are serious issues affecting women in the workplace. Some forms of harassment, such as catcalling or seemingly accidental brushes against women’s bodies have become normalized that women would rather not report them because they do not want to be perceived as “fussy”. Even in companies where a gender committee is set up, issues of harassment and violence remain underreported. DIWA’s experience on the ground shows that while a gender committee is tasked to receive, investigate, and respond to cases of gender-based violence, its members are not always equipped to do so. Without proper training, they may end up encouraging victims to “forgive” the abuser.
It is important for company management, committed to addressing gender inequality in the workplace, to surface potential incidents of gender-based harassment and violence by speaking to women and getting their input in designing protocols including access to dormitories, travel during nighttime hours, isolation, or other safety and security concerns. It is also critical to provide the proper training to HR staff or gender committee members on how to sensitively handle issues of gender-based harassment or violence to avoid re-victimizing the victim.
How to take women’s unique concerns and needs into account?
While we recognize that deeply entrenched gender norms cannot be changed overnight, women deserve the opportunity to enter and work at jobs traditionally thought to be male-only. Women should be encouraged and supported to take on leadership positions through fair access to opportunities and necessary training. Here, support would have to include addressing their care duties at home, of which women are disproportionally burdened. Integrating women’s voices into company HR systems benefits all workers. Responsible businesses that commit to addressing gender inequality intentionally bring more women to the table and promote a culture of safety and respect for women in their workplace.
DIWA, as a women-led organization, has always used an intersectional approach to how we work, unpacking and making visible the many ways that women continue to be vulnerable in the workplace. This month we join the call to “Accelerate Action” by sharing key insights on integrating women’s rights into Human Rights Due Diligence.