Human Resource Management By Dr. Debashish Sengupta

Women Workforce & HR 16 CHAPTER Human Resource Management

Key Terms Accounting Education Index Human Resource Sexual Harassment Unequal Worlds Women Resource Women Workforce Work Stress Work-life Imbalance Human Resource Management

Unequal Worlds Women in our society have fought and come along way however they still do not find this world equal to what a man finds in this planet. Although such inequities can be found in all walks of life, the ones that I have attempted to discuss here are the ones faced by the working women. Human Resource Management

Work-life Imbalance The work-life imbalance of women is very high. The domestic responsibilities remain the primary responsibility of women. This does not mean that men do not help in domestic chores but please mark the word ‘help’. This seldom gets better than that. And for a moment if you thought that such trends prevail in only countries like India then think again. Human Resource Management

Sexual Harassment & Physical Insecurity Sexual harassment may be categorized under following types of harassments: Verbal harassment: namely comments that have sexual overtones, or personal remarks that are humiliating and of a sexual nature; psychological harassment: namely behaviours that cause the woman mental anxiety, such as, for example, insistence on accompanying the respondent, phone calls at odd hours, stalking/following the respondent, staring and sending obscene sms/text messages; Sexual gestures and exposure Unwanted touch and embraces; Rape, attempted rape or forced sex. Human Resource Management

Pay Discrimination & Glass Ceiling Wide ranges of pay-disparities still exist in many industries between male and female workers. Some statistics discussed earlier in the chapter is an indication in itself. At the same time, it is alleged that still in many companies a sort of glass-ceiling exists when it comes to women leaders. Female employees are considered less favourably compared to male workers when it comes to the senior and top positions in the company. Human Resource Management

Work Stress In a survey conducted by Kenexa Research Institute, an HR advisory firm based in the US, while women at work deliver the same results as men, across occupations, women experience “unreasonable” stress than men do. Some of the key stressors in women were: Payment parity, Equal opportunities, Career growth, Fair performance assessment, Work-life balance, Doing exciting work, Having a respectful manager. Human Resource Management

Women Resource The human resources of the organizations have to evolve into truly valuing the ‘women resource’. In doing so following issues are of key importance: 1. Equal work, equal pay; 2. Women Leadership development; 3. Supportive family policies 4. Anti-sexual harassment policy; 5. Flexible Work Option 6. Physical security of women; and, 7. Networking, Counseling and mentoring. Human Resource Management