PLANET 50-50 BY 2030: STEP IT UP FOR GENDER PARITY (& DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN IN THE LABOUR MARKET).

PLANET 50-50 BY 2030: STEP IT UP FOR GENDER PARITY (& DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN IN THE LABOUR MARKET).

Introduction

According to information from the United Nations official website, the month of March can alternatively be referred to as Women’s month and 8^th of March is globally recognized as the International Women's Day, a day for celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. International Women's Day is a collective day of global celebration and a call to action for accelerating gender parity. IWD has been observed since the early 1900's - a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies. (un.org)

Perhaps, with more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights and an increased critical mass of women's visibility as impressive role models in every aspect of life, one could think that women have gained true equality but the unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women's education, health and the violence against them is worse than men. This year’s International Women’s Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities and ultimately, to enhance gender parity to 50-50 by the year 2030. This piece offers to analyse the discrimination against the female gender in the labour market which co-incidentally happens to be one of the yardsticks of measuring gender equality and offer workable solutions.

Women in Workplace & Labour Market

According to a report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) titled; “4^th 2014 QUARTER JOB CREATION SURVEY REPORT”, women are highly discriminated against in the labour market and they are not fairly compensated when compared to their male counterparts. In a segment of the report with the heading; “NEW FORMAL JOBS BY CADRE” It stated thus, “As indicated in the summary finding earlier in the report, the formal sector of the economy generated 138,026 new jobs in the 4th quarter of 2014. Analysing these new jobs by Cadres, the Operatives cadre recorded the highest number of jobs in the 4th quarter, rising from 49,246 employees in Q3 to 51,100 in Q4 of 2014, indicating an increase by 1,854 new employees or 3.76%. The Managerial Professional and Technical Cadre followed with 32,974 new jobs or 23.89% of the total jobs generated in the formal sector, showing decline in jobs created of 5,707 or 14.75% jobs from the preceding quarter.  The Clerical and Related Office Workers cadre remained third, with 27,169 jobs or 19.68% of the total. The cadre that recorded the greatest increase in jobs created between Q3 and Q4 was the ‘other cadre’, which went from 3,041 new jobs in Q3 to 8,589 new jobs in Q4, increasing by 182.5% over both quarters” But the sad news is that about 64.51% of the total jobs created were occupied by the men leaving the opposite gender to contend with the remaining 35.49%.

Additionally, there are ample illustrations to support the claims that women are highly disadvantaged in the labour market because of the malign belief that some leadership positions should be exclusively reserved for the male. In subsequent paragraphs, I would discuss the limitations to the equal representation and fair compensation of women in the society and suggest solutions later in the article.

The Limitations   

             

•     Educational Background & Qualification- If the truth is to be told, a great number of women/girls are discriminated against and this ugly trend as adversely affected their quest to attain their full educational potentials. The number of Out-of-school children in Nigeria is about 10.5Million and about 75% of these kids are girls, this is because some parents believe that educating the girl-child is unnecessary because they would eventually be married off. Evidently, our societies are structured to support chauvinism and patriarchy tendencies and these anti-female societal systems put women at a disadvantaged position. The Encarta dictionary of English describes patriarchy as a social system in which men are regarded as the authority within the family and society, and in which power and possessions are passed on from father to son. I am certain that every one of us is familiar with this.
•     Poverty- “Women today constitute nearly 70 percent of the world’s poor, despite international efforts to compensate women and men equally in the workplace. While women made up about 32% of the world’s labour force in 1990, the percentage of women in positions to make important decisions was far lower. In 2002 women held only 15.7 percent of corporate executive positions in the 500 largest companies in the United States, an increase of 7% since 1995. In the 1990s women comprised only 1% of executives in the 1,000 largest corporations outside the United States” (http://dailyindependentnig.com/2015/03/gender-equality-lets-make-happen/) (Gender Equality: Let’s Make It Happen – Oluwole Olusanya, 2015)
•     Cultural, Traditional and Religious Beliefs- In my article titled; “WOMEN IN POLITICS: Chauvinism vs. Feminism?” this point was addressed. The female gender is discriminated against in the place of work and other spheres because of some inimical and inhumane cultural, traditional and religious beliefs that women should only be prepared for marriage and their success in life is exclusively accessed on how well they perform at the home front. In some parts of the write-up, I noted that; “In many countries, strong patriarchal cultures subordinate girls and women in private life and exclude them from participation in public life. In Bangladesh, for example, state legislation frequently disregards women’s rights, despite the constitution stating that “all citizens are equal before the law”. In Northern Ghana, tradition dictates that women must not sit with men at community meetings but sit behind them”.  
•     Unfavourable Laws and Legislations- Some of my readers may not agree with this argument but I think that certain laws and legislations are skewed to the disadvantage of women. The Nigerian 1999 constitution (as amended) provides abundant reference. However, I like to apologize for not explaining extensively the reason(s) for this belief because of the following grounds; the first been the length of this article and the second been that enough research has not been conducted to support my assertion.

The Way Forward

Evidently, the world has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in both women's and society's thoughts about women's equality and emancipation; and many from a younger generation may feel that “all the battles have been won for women” while many feminists from the 1970's know only too well the longevity and ingrained complexity of patriarchy. (Wikipedia.com)

Most importantly, the clamour for the actualization of gender equality in the labour market and in other facet of the society is an ever-evolving one and I have come to terms with the realization that the everyone of us have a role to play to ensure that woman’s right and human rights are given the utmost attention they solely deserve and this interestingly authenticates and validates the #PledgeForParity campaign and its ingrained advantages.

Individually, in my own little effort as a freelance writer/journalist, public affairs analyst and social critic, I have made a personal pledge for parity in a number of ways which would be stated below; I have pledged that I would write an article or write-up on issues concerning women and girls at least once in every month and dedicate these pieces to my greatest motivator and role model in life- My mom.

Secondly, I have pledged that I would continue to discuss issues concerning women/girls and women’s right advancement in social gatherings and public lectures when I am a speaker/orator and thirdly, I would continue to give preferential treatments to women in more ways than one. Please, get your mind out of the gutter!

Lastly, I have pledged that my male readers would be inspired by my service to humanity and they would also like to do the same, please no fall my hand o.

God Bless Us All.

Olusanya, Oluwole Sheriff