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Social Sciences Directory

Vol. 1, No. 1, 19-33, September 2012

Gender equality in the workplace: the perceptive

realitySangeeta Sharma *University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, India

Manju Sharma *University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, India

Introduction

Gender is a social construct that outlines the roles, behaviours, activities and attributes thata particular society believes are appropriate for men and women. The assignment of theseroles and adoption of these traits can create gender inequities — differences between menand women that systematically favour one group to the detriment of the other (WHO).Gender equality reinforces the attitude and practice of fair and impartial distribution ofresources and prospects for men and women. It promotes equal opportunity to men andwomen in any social congregation. The innate property with which one is born does notperpetuate gender differentiation. However the human world has created virtual and realgender images confined to role specifications. These role limits have created divisiveidentities. The ratio of divisiveness may vary from society to society but an argument whichcan be theoretically proposed could be in terms of the universality of this gender divisiondefying its development, as the baseline criterion. Thus it takes different forms when itcomes to actuality. In developing societies in particular, this presents a very peculiarsituation where the institutional efforts put in by government to legalise gender equalitythrough Acts does not reflect a condition of attained equality. The difference betweenactuality and reality is more or less guided by perceptions and, therefore, what is actuallybeen practiced might not be absolute, as many unforeseen factors may affect thisdifference. Nevertheless it has always generated an incessant urge to unearth the truthbehind the gender issues. The reason is very obvious. There are paradoxes which may be sodeceptive, so that the reality of what is practiced in real social construct appears illusorycompared to what is conceptually framed.

*Email: [email protected]; [email protected]

ISSN 2049-6869http://dx.doi.org/10.7563/SSD_01_01_03

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20 S. Sharma & M. Sharma .

The workplace is a setting where gender inequalities can be noticeable and sustained. Workplays a significant component in shaping power and status for both women and men. Thisgenerates gender inequalities in the distribution of everyday jobs. In the post-modern era,strategies have been designed to deal with situations of gender discrimination. However,gender inequality in the workplace is an acute and persistent problem, especially indeveloping countries. According to the World Economic Forum (2011), India ranks 113th outof 157 countries on its Gender Development Index (GDI). The GDI is calculated using three(3) variables - life expectancy, education, and estimated earned income. Though there isimprovement of gender scores in recent years, India still lags far behind in terms of GDI andthis article attempts to examine the dilemma of gender equality in the workplace.Previously, few studies have been conducted to explore different types of workplace

discrimination. According to the major findings of the survey conducted by Tata ConsultancyServices (2012) women continue to face many barriers on their way to the top, that areunique to their gender. They are often under-represented in organizations, especially insenior management roles and corporate boards. The report states that leadershipdevelopment programs are key retention measures for women. However, very feworganizations provide such programs. Generally, organisations are not allocating theirbudgets, resources and targets to support the mandate on gender inclusion.The rationale of this study lies in comprehending the perceptive reality about women, whoform part of the workforce in nearly all categories of jobs in India. Efficiency and success of

women is widely acknowledged all, but despite this woman in the Indian scenario are oftenexposed to some form of gender discrimination or other. Although laws have been enactedto provide equal opportunities in the workplace for both men and women, the fact is that‘women and glass ceiling still exists’. The present study is an effort to understand theobscurity, reality and perceptions of the situation. This study was conducted on a mediumsized sample to measure the correlation between four variables viz., legal, institutional,sociological and career. This was adopted because no decisive way of estimating therepresentativeness of the sample could be used and, therefore, exact estimation of thepopulation’s parameters could not be adhered to. A brief introduction of variables would bepertinent as no empirical evidences are available to show any research undertaken by usingthese variables.

Legal

Since independence, the government of India has propagated many laws to protectwomen’s rights . The constitution prohibits discrimination on many grounds, includinggender, and recognizes the principle of equality for all before the law and of opportunity inmatters relating to employment (Articles 14 to 16 of The Constitution of India, as modified 1December 2007). Although the Visakha guidelines against sexual harassment were laid down

by the Supreme Court in 1997, studies show that working women are still not aware of this.To study the legal status, the questionniares were designed to explore if the men and

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Gender equality in the workplace 21

women in the sample are aware about the legal act for gender equality and/or whetherorientation programmes are being conducted by their organisation to ascertain gendersensitivity.

Institutional

Specifically, the questionnaire is used to analyse the working ethos and acceptibility ofwomen as working partners in Institutions such as education and health. The Institutionsadopt in principle the regulations to accelerate gender equality. However the study bringsout interesting perceptions that are prevalent in professional institutions.

Sociological chores

In the Indian context the roles that men and women play in society are not biologicallydetermined, so much as they are socially determined. From the moment of birth, genderexpectations influence how boys and girls are treated. The study investigates if the socialmyths are responsible for social inequality.

Career

Differences in gender can be easily seen in career choices of men and women. The currentstudy tries to find out how gender affects the career choices of men and women and ifgender specification hinder or favours their career preferences. This study uniquelyexamines if there is any significant difference between gender equality perceptions andreality.

Review of Literature

Stéphanie affirms the scarcity of women among highly qualified professions. Theorganization and management of work in such firms is typically project-based. This has manyconsequences, such as: long working hours with fierce resistance to any reductions; unpaidovertime; high management expectations of employee flexibility to meet unanticipatedclient demands; and the need for employees to negotiate flexible working arrangements ona case-by-case basis with a project manager, who often has much discretion on whether toaccommodate such requests. The study declares that women are particularly disadvantagedin such a system, which could partly explain their under-representation in such jobs(Stéphanie, 2010).Amartya Sen, Indian author and winner of the Nobel Prize in economics, discusses genderinequality in his book The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture and

Identity. He points out that the social movement for Indian women had been, until recently,primarily focused on achieving better treatment and well-being for women: “In the course of

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22 S. Sharma & M. Sharma

the evolution of women’s movement […] women are not passive recipients of welfare -enhancing help brought about by society, but are active promoters and facilitators of socialtransformations. Such transformations influence the lives and well-being of women, but alsothose of men and children—boys as well as girls. This is a momentous enrichment of thereach of women’s movement” (Sen, A.2005).Some studies have explored the experiences of women faculty members in Institutes ofScience and Technology, to understand the nature of the dual complexity faced by women.Three major problems faced by female academic scientists were: general male dominance inthe work environment; feelings of isolation; and feelings of conflict between being a womanand a scientist. Patrifocal ideology prevails at the workplace and in the family. Women’scapabilities are doubted in the initial stage of their career. There were no women deans in

any institute and the idea of a female director was almost unthinkable. Research suggeststhe need for concentrated effort to analyse the experience of women scientists so thatcollective efforts can be made to solve their problems (Gupta & Sharma, 2003). Women arepaid especially little in “women’s jobs” such as those in cleaning and child care (ILO, 2003).Therefore, women are increasingly choosing to enter traditionally male jobs such asengineering, at least in North America. Such women are exposed to discrimination and thismay put their health at risk. For example, their mental health may be directly affected andthey may feel forced to take risks in order to prove that they are able to do the job (Messinget al , 2003). Singh examined the socio-cultural determinants of the low representation of

women in top managerial positions in Asian organizations. Findings revealed that both maleand female respondents perceived that societal culture has an important bearing on boththought processes and nature. Managers reported organizational culture to be favourableto men. Male respondents believed more in hierarchical relationships, which support thenotion that Asian societies are hierarchical in nature, and affects interpersonal relationshipsof people. In Asian Society, men are perceived to be assertive and commanding, whereaswomen are expected to comply, obey and be submissive and docile. The study concludedthat if effective work-life policies are adopted, which support dual-earner couples,employers would get benefits in turn (Singh, 2003).Khandelwal, in his study on Gender Stereotypes at Work: Implications for Organizations notes that stereotypes and perceptions of Indian women in the workplace appear to have asignificant negative impact on the position of women managers. The study suggests thatmale Indian managers are viewed, stereotypically, as working in the areas of sales,marketing and production; being good leaders, decision makers and bosses; and handlingchallenging assignments. On the other hand, Indian women are viewed as working in HR andadministrative positions at low to junior levels, and in fields such as fashion and beauty.Women in Indian organizations felt that such stereotypes result from not being givenchallenging assignments. Yet, male managers saw women as being treated more lenientlythan men when making mistakes (Khandelwal, 2002).

During the last decade an increasing number of studies have indicated adverse healthconsequences of sexual harassment at work (Kauppinen, 1998). A survey among nurses in a

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hospital in Turkey revealed that 75% of the nurses reported having been sexually harassedduring their nursing practice: 44% by male physicians, 34% by patients, 14% by relatives ofpatients and 9% by others (Kisa and Dziegielewski, 1996). In 1992, a female governmentofficial in rural Rajasthan, India, was gang raped by 5 men whom she tried to refrain frommarrying off a girl (less than a year old) from their family. The demon of sexual harassmentof women and automatic discrimination of women at work hit Indian society very hard. Itwas not people were unaware of these sorts of incidents but it was an eye opener. In thiscase, many women's organizations filed a petition in the Supreme Court, since they wereunable to get justice at lower judicial levels. The petition was filed as Vishakha and, after fiveyears, in 1997 the Supreme Court of India gave a landmark judgment adding teeth to therights of women in the workplace by creating guidelines, called Vishakha guidelines. This is a

significant verdict by the highest court of the land which has ascertained the dignity ofwomen and issued directives to all working places to ensure necessary measures to checksexual harassment. In this regard, it is now mandatory to investigate complaints of sexualharassment filed by women in their workplace.The idea that gender makes men more likely to be exposed to many risks at work has beenraised by several authors (Cru and Dejours, 1983; Loukil, 1997; Kjellberg, 1998). In somecountries, tensions may arise if men feel they are asked to do harder jobs (Messing andElabidi, 2003) while, in other situations, young men may readily accept requests to helpolder women do heavy lifting in exchange for technical help from the women (Assunçiao et

Laville, 1996). Organised sector employment constitutes a small share of total employmentin India and women’s share of organised sector employment is only 17%. Even within theorganised sector, most women are located in the lower steps of the hierarchy (Joseph andPrasad, 1995; Srivastava, 1997). Very few are managers, bosses or decision-makers (Agrawaland Rao, 2004; Menon-Sen and Kumar, 2001). In Kerala, women constitute 39 per cent of allorganised sector workers (DGE&T). The States with a low share of women’s employment inorganised sector jobs are Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir and Orissa.According to Habtu, despite accounting for 46.9% of the working population in Canada in2001, women represented only 27% of skilled ICT workers. Studies continue to show howICTs stand apart even from other knowledge-intensive sectors; for instance, womenaccounted for only 17.7% of software engineers. In comparison, highly qualified women areespecially well represented: in health care and social services (76.5% of the highly qualifiedworkforce in 2002): in the social sciences, teaching and public administration (66.6% of thehighly qualified workforce), and in the arts and culture (52.5% of the highly qualifiedworkforce) (Habtu, 2003; 2004). In several European countries, women are still under-represented in the ICT sector as a whole (Valenduc et al , 2004) and are even more severelyunder-represented in some specific ICT occupations. For instance, making up only 15% of ICTworkers across the European Union in 1999 and 17% of all ICT professionals in 2001(Valenduc et al , 2004). While women are generally making inroads into qualified

employment, occupational segregation still persists.

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A large body of literature indicates that men have many more occupational accidents thanwomen, in all working jurisdictions where data is available (Islamet al , 2001; Laflamme andLilert-Petersson, 2001). Men die at work much more often than women, from violence aswell as accidents (Helmkampet al , 2000). The idea that the gender makes men more likely tobe exposed to many risks at work has been raised by several authors (Cru and Dejours, 1983;Loukil, 1997; Kjellberg, 1998). In some countries, tensions may arise if men feel they areasked to do harder jobs (Messing and Elabidi, 2003).Gender stereotyping has affected research into reproductive health. In general, sincereproduction has been viewed as women’s domain, male reproductive health related tooccupational exposures has been neglected (Wang, 2000; Varga, 2001). However, manychemicals, ionising radiation, toxic contamination, high temperatures and possibly sedentary

work have been identified as hazardous to the male reproductive system (Bonde andStorgaard, 2002). This study is unique in the sense that it focuses on understanding theunderpinning reasons for knowing why gender equality has not in reality been achieved.

Data and Methodology

This study is limited to empirically analysing the existent forms of gender expression atdifferent work places when viewed from legal, sociological, career and institutionaldimensions. Data for this particular study is randomly collected from four sectors viz.,

education, media, medicine & health and administration. The reason for including thesesectors is primarily to study perceptive reality about gender equality in various forms ofworking places, depicting variety of working patterns. The equality is addressed through thefour dimensions mentioned above; therefore it would be interesting to see any variance inwhat is advocated as theoretical constructs in relation to gender equality and itsmanifestation in real situations. This article focuses on finding out concrete results byconstructing and testing hypotheses to find out differences in theory and perception. Theparameters identified include:

gender equality & perceptive gender reality extrapolated on Legal statusInstitutional regulationsCareer developmentSociological mores

In the scientific design the Karl Pearson Coefficient of Correlation is computed to find out thecovariance between variables identified above, to see if there is any association amongst theidentified variables. For this particular study the data is collected from the sample of 50respondents, drawn randomly and representing specific sectors of education, health, mediaand administration by instituting a validated questionnaire. The questions are framed toassess the responses pertaining to the parameters identified. The unskilled sectors are

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excluded from this study as the responses were collected electronically. The external andinternal validation is done through pilot study which led to some changes to improve theconsistency. The data has been subjected to statistical analysis to test the followinghypotheses to investigate any differences:

H1 = There is a significant relationship between gender equality and perceptivereality when extrapolated on legal, sociological, career and institutional dimensionsH2 = There is no significant relationship between gender equality and perceptivereality when extrapolated on legal, sociological, career and institutional dimensions

The qualitative analysis is done by construing the questions on four different dimensions.

The results have been depicted in subsequent pages. The major limitation is thatrespondents are selected from the mid-level elites. The results may vary in high level elitesand lower level workers. Nevertheless it reveals a general trend which can be tested furtherthrough other such studies; hence it also paves the way for further research in thisimportant area.This research article centres on the idea of judging the perceptive reality of gender in theworkplace. The four categories with different workplace backgrounds - education, health &medicine, administrative services and media - were selected randomly. The data wascollected to compute the Karl Pearson Coefficient of Correlation between variables viz. legal,

institutional, sociological and career. The questionnaire had five sections pertaining todifferent nuances of gender reality. Section 1 included questions of general awareness aboutgender discrimination at workplace; Section 2 had specific questions from the legal arena;Section 3 from the institutional regulations; Section 4 from the sociological mores; andSection 5 from career development. The sample size selected for this particular articleconstituted 51 from the respective strata.

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Table 1: The Karl Pearson Correlation

Legal Sociological Career InstitutionalLegal Pearson correlation

Sig.(2-tailed)

N

1

51

.049

.733

51

.542**

.000

51

.631**

.000

51

Sociological Pearson correlation

Sig.(2-tailed)

N

.049

.733

51

1

51

.363

.009

51

.239

.091

51

Career Pearson correlationSig.(2-tailed)

N

.542**

.000

51

.363**

.009

51

1

51

.405**

.003

51

Institutional Pearson correlation

Sig.(2-tailed)

N

.631**

.000

51

.239

.091

51

.405**

.003

51

1

51

Interpretation

The study focuses on understanding the difficult conundrum of workplace gender equalityin relation to perceptive reality. The data compiled by the survey, which was specificallydesigned to measure the co-variability between the variables, indicate a very interestingtrend. The above table partially supports both the hypotheses H1and H2. Neitherhypothesis, when extrapolated on legal, sociological, career and institutional dimensions, arecompletely accepted. When it was extrapolated on Legal it a showed significant relationshipwith Career, having a correlation value of .542 significant at .01 level (2-Tailed); and withInstitutional regulation the value is .631 at the same level of significance, which means it has63.1% dependency with Institutional and 54.2% dependency with Career. However, withSociological situation it did not reflect a significant relationship, being as low as .049,meaning only 4.9% dependency is indicated. The probable reason for this might be thatInstitutional regulations are inherent in the legality and careers are defined by formalpositions on the basis of legal rational authority. On the other side, low value the withSociological situation might be due to low levels of awareness about gender sensitisation.When it was extrapolated with Sociological it showed a significant relationship with Career,the value of .363 (36.3%) meaning it is on the lower side which replicates the justification asmentioned above. The correlation of Career with Institutional regulation is of the value .405

significant statistically but at 40.5% is an average dependency, again with same logic thisvalue shows that career awareness is of average level.

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The inference which can be drawn on the basis of the results is that the perceptive realityabout gender equality in the workplace, is that it is not perceived as expected. The reasonsmay be that, in a developing society, there are many impediments to pursuing careers ofchoices; that, at the societal level, gender discrimination is prevalent, and without economicindependence gender equality would remain an illusory reality. The most plausibleexplanation is that, in the absence of a proper intervening educational strategy, genderequality will be a distant objective.In addition to the Pearson Correlation of Coefficient computation, a set of 13 questions wasalso administered to draw more precise conclusions. The questionnaires were framed tounderstand fundamentally two aspects:

can we have different but fair responses from males and females on questions of

gender rolesare the differences significant enough to describe the perceptive reality at theworkplace

Further the sample was representative of different professions and the data is depicted inthe graphs.

Graph I. Executive positions held by gender

The diagram provides a glimpse into the executive positions occupied by women in

organisations and shows that women are under-represented, especially in decision making

roles. As per the survey responses, only 8% of women held decision making posts whereas

92% were occupied by men. This demonstrates that women’s participat ion across

organisations drops as the seniority of the role increases. Women are often found at the

entry level and representation drops dramatically in senior level roles. It is assumed that the

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factors which are considered problematic for women and which hold them back are: lack of

flexible working hours; and adequate work life balance.

Graph II(a): Perceptive reality

It is pertinent to analyze the responses registered by individual respondents. When thequestion regarding unfitness for challenging roles was asked to females and male separately,86.2% of females and 85.7% of malesresponded ‘no’ , which means that the challengingroles are getting less gender specific.Leadership is an important aspect of ensuring gender equality. However, when the questionwas asked about the undermining of leadership qualities, the responses showed a verypeculiar trend. 75.9% of females and 71.4% of males respondingin the category of ‘no’ but,

more significantly, 24.1% of females and 28.6% of malesresponded in the category of ‘yes’ .The difference of 4.5% indicates that there is a sufficient number of responses to prove thecontradictory position stating that leadership qualities are undermined in males more thanthat of females, which can be attributed to the assertive nature of males.The economic independence is a major determining factor in gender equality thatinfluences perceptions about equal treatment at the workplace. The graph (IIa) also supportthis by registering more responses in favour of this inclination, as 20.7% of responses arefemale and 14.3% are male. Perhaps the reason for this could be that women might accept jobs at a lower package to prove their ability to perform the challenging roles, as reflected in

the earlier response.

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Access to land, housing and property are the principal factors determining the economic andsocial well-being of women. Graph II(a) explains that 69% of females and 58.6% of males areaware about women ’s property rights in India. However, 31% of women and 13.8% of men


are uninformed about any such privileges. The results show that, among men and womenalike, there is still a lack of awareness about property rights. In addition to this, a largeproportion of women (31% > 13.8%) do not have information and resources to obtain whatthey are entitled to. Women who earlier stayed at home to attend to domestic duties arenow maintaining work and home simultaneously, participating in the process of economicdevelopment on an equal footing with men.The above graph shows that 17.2% of women and 10.3% of males feel insecure at the workplace. Though the percentage is small, this shows that safety norms set up by their

respective establishments are not adequate. (This is slightly skewed data as none of theparticipant in the present study was exposed to late night duties, which possibly wouldincrease the fear of insecurity.)The Constitution of India declares that all citizens are equal before the law and are entitledto equal protection. It prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex and commits the State totake steps to ensure the full participation of women in all spheres of life. The above graphshows that 37.9% of female employees are the victim of delayed promotion; simultaneously42.9% of male employees face the problem of delayed promotion which possibly may be dueto the weakness of the systems existing in their organizations. One of the basic rights

women have, is not to be discriminated against in the workplace based on their gender.Unfortunately, the reality does not always comply with the law and women continue to bediscriminated against in manifold ways.

Graph II(b): Perceptive reality

In Graph II(b), the responses illustrate that 27.6% of females and 23.8% of males haveexperienced inequity at their workplace due to their gender. The gap between men andwomen (27.6%> 23.8%) shows that more women feel that gender discrimination exists. It is

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difficult to find out a single reason for discrimination against women but the researcherassumes that the basic reason behind this is because of stereotyping and misguidedpreconceptions of women’s roles and abilities, commitment and leadership style. The30 S. Sharma & M. Sharma

response also illustrates that discrimination against men also occurs in the workplace,particularly in health care. The results show that 37.9% of females and 23.8% of males feelthat their institute does not have gender inclusive culture. For that reason it is vital toprovide a gender inclusive culture which encourages each gender’s career progression.Sexual harassment is usually about expressing male power over women. The Protection ofWomen against Sexual Harassment at Work Place Bill 2010 states that every employer isrequired to constitute an internal complaints committee at each office, for redress ofcomplaints. The above graph shows that 17.2% of females and 19% of males feel that there

are no laws and policies at their workplace to take punitive action against genderdiscrimination and sexual harassment. This shows that, in spite of the above mentionedlaws, workplaces in India do not adequately provide women with specific protection fromsexual harassment in their workplaces and that endorsement of such legislation will takeconsiderable time.In addition to this the graph also depicts that the majority of men and women (76.2%,93.1%) agree that gender laws are mandatory for preserving gender equality. However 6.9%of female and 23.8% of male are of the view that such regulations are not compulsory forpreserving gender equality.

Bullying and sexual harassment can create negative work environments and unhealthyconsequences for employees. The above graph represents that 27.6% of females and 4.8% ofmales agree that they have been bullied at work due to their gender. The gap between menand women states that women are more prone to be the victims of bullying.Further, it is unlawful for employers to discriminate because a woman is pregnant or hasrecently delivered. However, 37.9% of females and 33.3% of males stated that, in their view,pregnant and new mothers are considered incompetent for jobs. This may be because familyresponsibilities are considered as hurdles to women’s professional commitmen t.

Conclusion

Policy Interventions

The statistical analysis indicates that there is a significant difference in the ways genderequality is perceived and applied in the workplace, be it legal, institutional or otherwise.Interestingly it was found that there existed a significant difference for the reasons, some ofwhich could be obvious and some more obscure. The obvious reasons could be:

sociologically-driven role specifications that are prevalent in Indiapatriarchal form of social structuring which is also reflected at workplace

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stereotyping image of female, confined to family roles and which directly leads torole conflict if they opt for employment


Similarly there are some reasons which have obscure explanations such as not trusting thedecision making capabilities of women in general. Customarily they are believed to be moreemotionally complex and hence are charged with having less rationality in their employmentperformance. In the Indian context, the discrimination begins at an early stage ofsocialisation and becomes reflected in the workplace.The theoretical premises included in studies and the practical reality are far apart for thereasons cited above, but it is high time that policy directives are planned and aim to adhere

to the principle of gender equality. The moderately high correlation values with the Careerand Institution regulations indicate that gender equality in its true sense can only beattained when more career options are created and institutional regulations are exercised inthe proper way, which eventually reduces the gap between perception and reality. As anemerging economy, India does provide an opportunity for government to design policypertaining to this area. Also, importantly, the technological proliferation in the educationsector is making a difference to the perceptions of a younger generation that mightperpetuate equality in a real sense. Constitutionally, increasing awareness about legalaspects will help to achieve gender equality. Hence the categorical interventions can be

suggested as:

At the formative levels of personality development, educational institutions need tosensitise individuals to accept other genders as equalThe conventional gender roles which are divisive and prevalent in India must betransformed systematically by increasing employabilityIn the workplace the relationship between employer and employee must be drivenby formal regulations to make them gender inclusiveThe government must ensure the implementation of laws, to create a conduciveenvironment to reinforce equalityWomen should be involved in policy development and planning. The ensuingpolicies and programs are more likely to be helpful and effective if these policiesreflect the perspective of girls and womenEmployers can approach sex discrimination by implementing gender-relatededucation and training programs. These programs help employees to exploreattitudes and belief systems about gender issues

This study is unique in character because it explores the latent undercurrents pertaining togender equality. Changes will have a functional impact on attaining gender equality in theworkplace, but for societies with a deeply entrenched cultural ethos,,this gendertransformation happens at a slower pace. This inference is well supported by the data

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analysis, thus the suggestive trajectory is an important input for accelerating the pace. Themodern era must dissuade any such practice which justifiably promotes discriminatorytendencies and must work for equality by changing perceptions. Thus this study has includeda moderate sample but sets a direction for future research in this area. As with all studies,32 S. Sharma & M. Sharma

this one has some limitations. The sample size was too small to make statisticalgeneralisation of the situation of gender equality, and was limited to four sectors viz.,education, media, medicine & health and administration. However, there are several othersectors were women are assumed to be discriminated.

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