Durban - WOMEN were less likely to apply for higher positions for fear of victimisation said the National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) on Monday.
The union is demanding that government ratify the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Convention on the prevention of gender-based violence and harassment in the workplace.
In marking International Working Women’s Day yesterday, the public sector union said it was considering the best possible strategies to lobby the government to make law Convention 190 on the elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work, which was supported by South Africa in 2019.
Convention 190, which according to the union’s second deputy president, Nyameka Macanda, “provides for a series of firsts for people all over the world,” provides a global framework for action based on a common understanding of violence and harassment.
“The convention attempts to overcome the fragmented manner in which violence and harassment have been addressed until now. This is important to women, in particular, because it is women in workplaces who are disproportionately affected by violence and harassment in the workplace.
“The reasons for this are that women mostly work at the bottom of the hierarchy, are at the end of the supply chains, are less educated and have less experience. Some are migrants,” said Macanda.
In highlighting that this was the first time this right has been recognised in an international instrument (the ILO), Nehawu’s international relations officer, Noxolo Bhengu, said this was “a critical acknowledgement because sexual harassment is a detrimental barrier to women’s equal treatment and participation in the labour market”.
“Workplaces that are known to be gender-insensitive and which have high cases of sexual harassment are less likely to have women applying for higher-paying positions dominated by men, thus growing the gender pay gap that exists.
“Moreover, a recent study found that 80% of women who experienced harassment changed jobs within two years, with many choosing to enter an entirely new field of work,” she said.
Bhengu said problems were compounded by the fact that only a tiny percentage of women came forward to report cases of abuse, which made capturing a complete picture of sexual harassment and gender-based violence at work difficult.
“Worldwide, an estimated one in three women will experience physical or sexual abuse in her lifetime. One report by the ILO in 2018 concluded that while more than 50% of women experience sexual harassment at work, only 25% tell anyone at all and only 5% file any kind of formal complaint.
“The convention understands that violence and harassment may stem also from poor working conditions. Things like poor work organisation, unrealistic productive targets and retraction of bargaining agreements make workers, working women in particular, more vulnerable to violence and harassment in the workplace,” said Bhengu.
Nehawu said it was taking working case studies from countries such as Namibia, Zambia, the Philippines, Germany, Spain and Brazil to further inform their policy position.
“Globally, countries are increasingly acknowledging this role of the workplace as a privileged entry point for addressing domestic violence, for example, by requiring or allowing workers (and workers’ organisations) and employers to assume a positive role in identifying and protecting victims,” Bhengu said.
Daily News