MEASURES TO INCREASE WOMEN’S
REPRESENTATION AT ALL MANAGEMENT LEVELS
TO ALLEVIATE GENDER INEQUALITY
ANNIE CHEN
CHAIR OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE
INTRODUCTION
• Gender inequality has been a lingering issue over
the past decades, and is still prevalent in many
countries.
• Management levels can differ from CEO positions to
factory manager positions.
• With an increase in women’s representation in
management levels, there would be a more equal
platform for women and men.
• One of the Millennium Development Goals is
promoting gender equality and empowering
women
DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS
• Management levels: These are management positions in
an organization, responsible for overseeing the
productivity and performance of employees. The
number of levels in management increases when the
size of the business increases. Levels of management
can be classified in three categories:
• Top level managers – administrative level; controlling and
overseeing the entire organization
• Middle level managers – executing organizational plans in
conformance with the objectives of the top managers
• Low level managers – controlling, directing, and supervising
employees
Each level possesses certain job responsibilities to ensure
the effectiveness of the organization.
DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS
(CONTINUED)
• Gender equality: Equal rights, responsibilities and
opportunities of women and men. Equality does not
mean that women and men will become the same
but that women’s and men’s rights, responsibilities
and opportunities will not depend on whether they
are born male or female. Gender equality implies
that the interests, needs and priorities of both
women and men are taken into consideration,
recognizing the diversity of different groups of
women and men (UN Entity for Gender Equality).
TOPIC OVERVIEW
• In the recent decades, many countries around the
world have made significant progress towards
gender equality through education, but generally,
women still continue to earn less than men and are
less likely to make it to the top of the career ladder.
• Women continue to undertake a much higher load
of unpaid work than men, which then constrains
their opportunities in paid work. Compared to men,
employed women also work fewer hours, are less
likely to make progress in their careers, and are
underrepresented in decision-making positions.
TOPIC OVERVIEW (CONTINUED)
• Gender inequalities persist in:
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•
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Working hours
Conditions of employment
Occupation and sectors
Earnings
Representation in decision-making positions
• Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD): on average in OECD countries,
women are paid 16% less than men, and these OECD
countries are largely the more developed ones. With
such a notable gap in gender inequality of employment
and management levels in these MEDCs, these statistics
would only continue to worsen in LEDCs.
TOPIC OVERVIEW (CONTINUED)
• Within the European Union, only 13% of the major
companies’ executives are women, with only 3% female
chairs.
• In 2011, the Economist showed that in the United States,
only between 15-20% of all executives are women, less
than 10% of all top earners are women, and fewer than
5% of all CEOs.
• In Saudi Arabia, a nation with strong cultural Islamic
beliefs, occupational segregation between men and
women is strongly evident in their labor market, with
Saudi women largely restricted to traditionally femaleoriented fields. There is a lack of opportunities for women
in decision-making and management positions—less
than 1% of decision making posts are held by Saudi
women.
• Barriers to women’s rise in management levels :
MAJOR PARTIES INVOLVED
• OECD: Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development
• Mission: to promote policies that will improve the economic
and social well-being of people around the world.
• Involvement: OECD has held meetings that have
extensively discussed gender equality in education,
employment and entrepreneurship. The final report of this
2012 meeting:
http://www.oecd.org/social/family/50423364.pdf
MAJOR PARTIES INVOLVED
• OHCHR: Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights
• UN agency promoting the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (UDHR)
• Has a Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women
• Meetings in which 23 experts on women’s rights monitors the
implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women
TIMELINE
• 1948 – Creation of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights
• Article 23: Everyone has the right to work; Everyone, without
any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
(Everyone– men and women)
• 1979 – CEDAW adopted by the General Assembly
• 1981 – CEDAW came into force
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women. Vital document for women’s rights and
equality. Extremely relevant to this topic:
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cedaw.htm
• 2006 – UNHRC was established and replaced the UNCHR
• The Human Rights Committee
• 2012 – EU resolution A7-0041 targeting women’s equality
in management levels
• http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA-2012-0069+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN
UN INVOLVEMENT
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
• An international treaty that was adopted by the United
Nations General Assembly in 1979, aimed to give equal
rights to women and men. The spirit of this Convention is
rooted in the goals of the UN: “to reaffirm faith in
fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the
human person and in the equal rights of men and women.”
The document states the meaning of equality and
establishes an agenda of action ending gender based
discrimination.
UN INVOLVEMENT
• Human Rights Council Resolution A/HRC/RES/15/23
• This resolution is working to eliminate discrimination against
women. “Emphasizes the significant role that women play in
economic development and in the eradication of poverty,
and stresses the need for promoting equal pay for equal
work or work of equal value and for promoting the
recognition of the value of women’s unremunerated work,
as well as for developing and promoting policies that
facilitate the reconciliation of employment and family
responsibilities;” (Clause 8).
• Adopted without vote, nonbinding actions, but
recommendations.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
• Take active measures to combat discrimination
• Empower well-resourced specialized bodies to investigate
companies and organizations
• Empower specialized governmental bodies to take legal
action against employers who engage in discriminatory
practices, even in the absence of individual complaints.
• Family-friendly domestic policies
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Flexible working hours
Parental leave
Child-care facilities for women while they are at work
Transportation
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
• (Extension on child-care facilities):
• Ask governments to invest in affordable facilities for the
care of children and of the elderly
• Parents, especially women, would then have more freedom
in occupation and working hours. Also a larger opportunity
to take on a bigger commitment job that could potentially
result in the availability in achieving a higher management
level position.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
• Proposed quotas for companies:
• Quotas to increase the percentage of female
representation in corporate management bodies, taking
into account of individual member states’ responsibilities
and their economic, structural (i.e. company-size related),
legal and regional specificities.
• E.g. European Parliament resolution A7-0041/2012: “Call
from 2011 for legislation, including quotas, to be proposed
by 2012 to increase female representation in corporate
management bodies to 30% by 2015 and to 40% by 2020”
(Clause 28)
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
• National plan of action:
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Forming policies for working women
Targeting women’s participation in the labor market
Upgrading female levels of literacy and education
Increasing capacity building and vocational training
Governments should work hand in hand with NGOs for
implementation and follow-up of action plans.
• Raise public awareness:
• Let the public be more aware of the positive role that
women play within the labor market, as well as their rights,
opportunities, and successes.
• In numerous countries, women often represent the
untapped and important source of power for the economy.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• "About the OECD." The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). OECD, Web. 17 Feb.
2013.
http://www.oecd.org/about/
• "Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women New York, 18 December 1979." Office of the
High Commissioner for Human Rights. Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Web. 17 Feb. 2013.
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cedaw.htmb
• "European Parliament resolution of 13 March 2012 on equality
between women and men in the European Union - 2011."
European Parliament. European Parliament, 13 Mar. 2012.
Web. 17 Feb. 2013.
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA-2012-0069+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• "Proportion of women in senior management falls to 2004
levels." Grant Thorton. Grant Thorton, 2011. Web. 17 Feb. 2013.
http://www.internationalbusinessreport.com/Pressroom/2011/women_in-senior_management.asp
• "Report on the Gender Initiative: Gender Equality in Education,
Employment and Entrepreneurship." Meeting of the OECD
Council at Ministerial Level Paris, 25-26 May 2011. OECD, 26
May 2011. Web. 17 Feb. 2013.
http://www.oecd.org/education/48111145.pdf
• "Women’s Employment in Saudi Arabia: A Major Challenge."
Booz&Co. Booz & Company Inc., 30 Mar. 2010. Web. 17 Feb.
2013.
http://www.booz.com/me/home/what_we_think/40007409/40
007869/47902935?pg=all