Individual Research

Global Perspective

María Camila Silva Suárez

Employment

How is the extending of the maternity law an aspect that stimulates

gender inequality affecting women, when it comes to getting a job
in companies that prefer to save monetary resources?

Introduction:

Gender inequality in the workplace or better known as sex discrimination has

been a situation or problem that has increased from the last centuries to today in
the moment of obtaining employment, especially for women. According to
Hirby, n.d. ‘D​espite decades of reform, statistics suggest that for every dollar a
man earns a woman in a similar job earns just 77 cents’.
A person should be treated unequally based on their sex, rather than being
treated differently, making them feel bad.

We could put as an example the separation by sex in the baths, this would not be
considered a gender inequality, but if the owner began to charge in a
disproportionate manner, there would be gender inequality. Now let's talk a little
about discrimination against pregnant workers, no employee, official and / or
boss is authorized to discriminate in any way. It is prohibited to discriminate
against a pregnant woman or in labor as it should be considered as none or other
illness or disability without adversely affecting the employee's ​chances of being
promoted or remain employed. Sexual harassment can be considered as another
form of gender inequality in the workplace.
According to ​Hirby, n.d. ‘The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a groundbreaking
piece of legislation that prohibited employers from making hiring, firing, salary
and promotion decisions based on gender. Title VII of the act offers protection
from gender inequality in the workplace and from sexual harassment. Under
Title VII, employers also are not permitted to retaliate against employees who
make allegations of gender inequality in the workplace.’

According to Abc.com.py, n.d. ‘Let's start with article 89 of the National

Constitution, Of the work of women. It says: Maternity will be the object of
special protection, which will include the care services and corresponding
breaks, which will not be less than twelve weeks. The woman will not be
dismissed during pregnancy nor during the length of maternity breaks. That is
what the Constitution says, considering that women have a double role in
society: we are producers and, for now, we have not been replaced as
reproducers of the human species.’ Thanks to these laws and articles,
entrepreneurs and big bosses are considering and implementing the new idea of
​non-contracting towards the female sex, since they could be expensive, simply
because they can later become pregnant and for them It would be an insert as
well as silver lost, but let's think ... That businessman or boss from where he left
or how he came to the world to be who he is right now? Because it was not the
stork, was it?

Perspectives:

● Global:

From a global perspective, we know that the problem of gender inequality in

employment or work has not been 'overcome' since some countries have the
idealism that maybe for some people is wrong and for others correct. Countries
like Iceland, Finland and Norway are the countries with the most equality
between men and women in 2016; on the other hand, there are Chad, Pakistan
and Yemen, which present the greatest differences in relation to the problem of
gender inequality. In Chad, inequality and violation of women's rights reach
terrible numbers, as Ocsi.org says, 2011, ‘Violence towards women and
children in Chad is reaching appalling numbers. In spite of the official
commitment of the government and the development aid partners to carry out a
tireless struggle against these practices that harass the two most vulnerable
sectors of Chadian society. Despite their numerical importance, 51 per cent of
the population in Chad are women, it is established that they are minorities in
decision-making bodies and have limited access to basic social services’. This
means that more than half of the population in Chad are women, who, by the
way, do not have, realistically, the same rights as men, exempting them or
limiting them to certain sociable things, whereas men do not, in this Including
the use of labor, where, as I have previously shown, man has a greater
advantage, bearing with what is said by Ocsi.org says, 2011, ‘On the contrary,
the communities are left free to act according to the ancestral traditions and
beliefs that maintain Violence against women: beatings, deprivation of
fundamental freedoms, the right to succession and education, mistreatment,
pedophilia, incest, sexual exploitation, work overload, economic exploitation,
early or forced marriages , Rape, sexual abuse, expropriation in cases of
divorce, abandonment of the home, crimes of honor, etc’.
Gender inequality also occurs in Pakistan, where women suffer from violence
and live under severe subjection, which means that they are not only
discriminated against in the social sphere, but also in the economic and political
spheres. According to Faure, 2006, Mukhtaran Mai is one of the victims of the
law of her panchayat or local council, which determined to condemn her to
collective and public rape to punish her family because the elder brother had
illegitimate relations with a woman of A rival tribe. In this country gender
inequality reigns, thus making women less overvalued, so to speak, restricting
them from many things in the social, political and economic sphere. Where the
opportunities for women are limited, thus putting more problems to women to
obtain employment, and more in the prenatal or gestation area.
Pregnant women are frightened that something bad happens to them during their
pregnancy because they have only four doctors in the district who have to take
care of all the women, according to the doctor Mohammad Sarwar. "In Pakistan,
350 women die every 100,000 live births due to complications related to
pregnancy and childbirth. In FATA, the situation is much worse, with 500
deaths per 100,000 live births ": Fayyaz Ali.
Gender inequality, with women as its main victims, has reigned in Yemen, a
country where women do not have a voice or vote, where, in addition to the
above, they are forced to prostitute even when they are in a state of pregnancy.
Yemen is a country where women live unsafe lives, as they may die second or
simply be part of the group that are saved. According to ​Servicio de Noticias de
las Naciones Unidas, n.d. ‘After a year of conflict in Yemen, about 3.4 million
women of reproductive age are at risk and in need of humanitarian aid, the
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) warned Thursday’.
According ​to unicef, ‘Oxfam estimates that women work around 60 to 90 hours
per week, and time-use surveys reveal that across a selection of developing
countries in Asia, Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa, women’s working
hours exceed those of men, often by a wide margin.’
What are we going with this? At a time when a woman is in a state of
pregnancy, employment is still very heavy, because in those countries, gender
inequality in the workplace is very strong, leaving women The men paying him
disproportionately, despite the great work they do in comparison to what men
do.
There is a page where several moms from different places can express their
problems in front of this problem, the page is called 'Pregnant The Screwed'.

● National:

The extension of maternity law for women in Colombia is said to have been
applauded because of some benefits they bring, but in reality it should be
rethought because, according to the results of a previous research published in
the 'BID' concluded that it may affect the employment opportunities of young
women. According to ​Cluster Salud | AméricaEconomía, n.d., ‘A study
published by Ana María Tribín, Natalia Ramírez and Carmiña Vargas -
researchers from the Bank of the Republic of Colombia - showed that the
extension of maternity leave in 2011, when it went from 12 to 14 weeks, had a
negative effect on the Women of reproductive age. These results could provide
insight into the predictable effect of the recent extension for the coming years’.
Colombia is a country where people are very 'stingy', so to speak, so they prefer
not to hire women for the simple fact that they would lose money if they
became pregnant.
The extension of the maternity law brings many benefits to society. The
extension allows and guarantees a good growth to the baby, since it can fulfill
its cycle taking breast milk, which is very essential for them since it can prevent
of several diseases, the baby would have all its vaccines up to date and would
have visits to the doctor Periodically.
Gender ineq​uality in Colombia is an obstacle. A report by the United Nations
Development Program says that women, despite their education, are not highly
represented in the labor market. We could say that this is a macho country,
where it does not matter that, they will always think and say that women are
inferior to men, that men can do things better without the need of women, now
more where women are being pregnant, the jobs prefer even more the
contracting of men than women. In Colombia, the rate of unemployed women
doubles the rate of men with 11.6% and men with 6.6%. "Colombia is wasting
qualified staff of very high quality," said Hochschild.
According to internacional.elpais.com, ‘Colombia has a value of the Gender
Inequality Index of 0.429, which places it in the 92nd position of a total of 155
countries valued in 2014. As an example of this gap, in this country, only the
20.9 per cent of parliamentary seats are occupied by women, despite the fact
that 56.9 per cent have at least one more year of secondary education compared
to their male counterparts.’

● Local/Personal:

In Santander, pregnancy was' viralized 'since, according to GARCÍA, 2016,'

there were only in 2015 at least 5,717 young people from Santander between the
ages of 10 and 19 became mothers, according to the Dane's preliminary report '.
Unemployment in Santander is not so dominant, on the contrary, Santander had
a historically low unemployment rate, which makes it clear that here, jobs or
employment do not have any type of discrimination against women; In some
family cases, the city fully supports this goal. However, the companies are
taking into consideration the fact that they do not hire women, since in the eyes
of the company, it would be serious if the woman or employee becomes
pregnant. Is the case of the company of my parents, FootPrints, a company that
has different points of sale that sells different sports brands. This company
started or not to hire women, because thanks to the new extension of the
maternity law, the amount of money invested in those women who will later
lose will increase. They then made the decision not to run the risk of hiring
women, getting pregnant, and then getting in the way.
 Possible scenarios:

- Women could organize a revolt, unemployment, or comfort with both the

​

company and the government, for not allowing women the right to work with
being discriminated against simply because they are women.

- The country could increase its position in the ranking of gender inequality,
​

leaving the country in very bad image, causing the number of tourists, sales and
births or any other means where the country increases economicallyto decrease
their number.

- Women would start to see their job more valuable than having a child, so what
​

would happen is that the population would not advance, the only thing that
would do would be to decrease, since children would not be born for the simple
fact that women prefer their employment before To become pregnant and lose
their job at once, or not being able to get a job simply because they are women.

Courses of action:

- Make an agreement with the people that establishes, modifies, creates or

​

stipulates the laws as much for the country or globally, so as to agree an

agreement so much that it is beneficial for the company and for the affected
ones, that in this case with the women.

- That companies have a flexible schedule for pregnant women, but as the
​

schedule also changes, the salary also, what I mean is that it is a fair wage for
both sides.

- ​That the company has the opportunity to dismiss those women who do not take
pains to at least give a little in their work, but they are living making
inappropriate excuses for the simple fact that they can not dismiss them.

Personal Response:
From my point of view, I can not say whether I am for or against, because I am
actually in a neutral way. I have positive points, both negative points to discuss
this. I feel that companies that are starting to not hire women, may have
something fair, since some women are so full of excuses and excuses for not
attending employment since they know that they are assured the job or quota
and that they can not Dismiss for nothing of the world, since it would be more
expensive to the company. But I also think that the company is creating or
implementing gender inequality in the work environment, since women and no
living being can be judged or discriminated by gender or gender. So what I'm
going to do is that, on both sides they are to blame, since if one does not
collaborate and is flexible the other will lose, and vice versa.
We, the women, have the right to be with our children as soon as they are born,
and also to have some support, which in this case would be the job or work, so
as to be able to hold or carry the baby forward, but for that, The death must
show a lot of interest in the work and gratitude to be able to do so, because that
is the problem of h and day, the attitude of women and also of men in
employment has diminished, they have become disorganized and Lazy, being
thus a stimulant of unemployment and gender inequality.

Links:

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2017].

BBC Mundo. (2015). ​Los mejores y peores países para que las mujeres puedan prosperar - BBC
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[Accessed 10 Apr. 2017].

Color, A. (2009). ​Conozca la protección legal de la mujer en el embarazo y la lactancia - Articulos -

ABC Color​. [online] Abc.com.py. Available at:
http://www.abc.com.py/articulos/conozca-la-proteccion-legal-de-la-mujer-en-el-embarazo-y-la-lactanci
a-1180465.html [Accessed 10 Apr. 2017].

Pregnant Then Screwed. (n.d.). ​Pregnant Then Screwed - This is a safe space for mothers to tell their
stories of discrimination and to receive the support and protection they need. 54,000 women a year
are forced out of their jobs for getting pregnant or taking maternity leave - watch our new video and
support our valuable work: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/pregnantthenscrewed​. [online] Available at:
http://pregnantthenscrewed.com/ [Accessed 10 Apr. 2017].
Unicef.org. (n.d.). ​Inequality in employment - State of the World's Children 2007: Gender equality​.
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Apr. 2017].

Tiempo, C. (2016). ​Si está embarazada, no tarde en decírselo a su empleador.​ [online] Portafolio.co.
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