1. WOMEN WELFARE ISSUES AT
WORKPLACE
BY
AKSHATA RAI
RITU KARN

2. WELFARE
Welfare is the provision of a minimal level of wellbeing and social support for all citizens, sometimes
referred to as public aid.
In most developed countries, welfare is largely provided
by the government and to a lesser extent charities,
informal social groups, religious groups, and intergovernmental organizations.

3. SOME OF THE ISSUES WOMEN FACE AT
WORKPLACE
 Glass ceiling
 Pregnancy discrimination
 Gender Discrimination
 Sexual Harassment

4. THE GLASS CEILING AND WORKING
WOMEN
 Whenever we talk about women empowerment these names
immediately strike our minds - Ms.Indira Nooyi, Ms.Chanda
Kochar, Ms.Pratibha Patil, Ms.Saina Nehwal, Ms.Kiran Bedi

5. CONTD..
 The “glass ceiling” is a concept from the 1980s describing an
invisible barrier that blocks the access of women to the top.
 Women still face hindrances in reaching top positions.
 The phrase “glass ceiling” was introduced to illustrate a world
where businesswomen in their attempt to reach top positions
are blocked by corporate tradition and prejudice.

6. SUGGESTIONS
ROLE OF ORGANIZATIONS:
 acceptance that women can be in senior positions and the
belief that they can collaborate with men to build a great
work environment.
 Build an eco-system for women in the organization where the
womanly qualities are valued.
 Try to change mindsets through gender audits and gender
sensitization training and workshops.

7. CONTD..
 Assess women on the deliverables and their challenges rather
than on personal traits, whether they can put long hours at
work, or their efforts are visible.
 Perceive women as significant players at senior positions.
 Nurture and develop them through focused executive
mentoring, leadership training programs, special training
programs to build communication skills, confidence and
developmental workshops.

8. CONTD..
 By sending them on overseas assignments so that women can
acquire new skill-sets, get a global mindset, and position
themselves as strategic thinkers and innovators, and open up
access to corporate network groups.
 Build a focused career-progression plan for women.
 Provide flexible work arrangements, a caring and supportive
climate, have family-friendly policies like maternity leave,
paternity leave, child-care leave, etc.

9. CONTD..
ROLE OF WOMEN:
 Women can discover prospects and emphasize who they are
and what have they accomplished.
 Ask for challenging assignments and more responsibility.
 Make a difference at every job so that they stand out and
change biases.
 Constantly learn and improve.
 Become domain experts.
 Try to get maximum exposure and experience through job
rotation and transfers.

10. MATERNITY DISCRIMINATION
 Dismissing, demoting or disciplining females either
because of their pregnancy or maternity leave is known as
discrimination because of pregnancy and maternity leave.

11. CONTD..
For example, it would be pregnancy and maternity leave
discrimination if a female is dismissed or disciplined:
 because she is unable to do her job during her pregnancy for
health and safety reasons
 because she asks to take maternity leave or is on maternity
leave.

12. EXAMPLES OF MATERNITY LEAVE
DISCRIMINATION
 suspension from work by the employer for health and safety reasons and





full pay is not received.
dismissal because the employers say they can't afford to pay her statutory
maternity pay.
if the female is disciplined for having performance issues due to an
illness connected with her pregnancy.
if the employer fails to carry out a health and safety risk measures and
forces her to resign
if the employer demotes or dismisses her, or stops her from having
training or promotion opportunities, because she is pregnant or on
maternity leave
if the employer chooses her for redundancy because she is pregnant.

13. SUGGESTIONS
 If a female is treated unfairly because she is pregnant or on
maternity leave, following can be done.
 Raising a grievance with her employer:
Formal written complaint to the employer can be given,
using a grievance procedure.
 Making a claim to an employment tribunal:
If the problem is still not solved using a grievance
procedure, she can make a claim for pregnancy and maternity
discrimination to an employment tribunal.

14. APPLYING FOR A JOB WHEN THE
FEMALE IS PREGNANT
 An employer can’t refuse to employ a female candidate just
because she is pregnant. They should base their decision on
whether she is having the required job skills and not on
whether she is pregnant.
 There is no liability to tell the employer that a female
pregnant while applying for the job. If she does tell and not
offered the job because of this then this will be pregnancy
discrimination.
 Also they must not dismiss her when they find out about the
pregnancy after her joining.

15. GENDER DISCRIMINATION
 Payment.
 Promotion
 Job title

16. CONTD...
 India has the distinction of being the lowest ranked on gender
parity, which includes pay parity, among the BRIC
economies. This was revealed in the Global Gender Gap
Report of 2010.

17. SOME OTHER DISCRIMINATIONS
APPEARANCE
PHYSICAL ABILITY

18. SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT WORK PLACE
 It is a behavior where unwelcome sexual advances, requests
for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a
sexual nature occur at workplace.
 Workplace sexual harassment is one of the most difficult and
insidious issues to tackle, because victims are so often in a
position of vulnerability, afraid of damaging their careers or
even losing their jobs altogether.

19. TYPES
VERBAL:
 Referring to an adult as babe, baby.
 Whistling at someone and making sexual comments.
 Making kissing sounds, howling.
 Repeatedly asking out a person who is not interested.
NON-VERBAL:
 Looking at a person up and down or staring.
 Blocking a person’s path or following
 Giving personal gifts
 Displaying sexually suggestive visuals
 Making facial expressions such as winking, throwing kisses

20. CONTD...
PHYSICAL:
 Putting arms around shoulders.
 Touching the person’s clothing, hair or body.
 Hugging, kissing, patting or stroking.
 Standing close or brushing up against another person.

21. SUGGESTIONS
 ROLE OF OFFICE EMPLOYEE:
 ROLE OF VICTIM
 ROLE OF ORGANIZATION/MANAGEMENT:

22. STORY OF ARUNA SHANBAUG, NURSE
KEM HOSPITAL, MUMBAI NOV-27,1973

23. ARUNA’S STORY
On the evening of November 27, 1973, nurse Aruna Ramchandra
Shanbaug was attacked by a sweeper in KEM hospital where she
worked. Allegedly enraged at her for telling him off and
threatening to report a theft by him, he accosted her when she was
changing in a basement room, wrapping a dog chain around her
neck. He tried to rape her but , he sodomised her, the chain
twisted around her neck cutting off oxygen to her brain. Aruna
was found lying on the floor with blood all over, unconscious.
While her immediate family, including brother Balkrishna
Shanbaug and a sister, came to visit her in hospital in the early
months after the incident, she was later abandoned by the family.
Her fiance, a doctor, reportedly left the country after a few years.
A sister, Shanta Nayak, continues to live in Mumbai, not far from
KEM Hospital.

24. ACTS EMPOWERING WOMEN
 Equal Remuneration Act, 1976
Equal opportunity, equal treatment and equal wages
 Maternity Benefit Act, 1961

25.  The Factories Act, 1948 –
Section 34 provides that the State government can lay
down rules prescribing weights that may be carried by
men and women.
 crèches
 The Contract Labor (Abolition and Regulation)
Act and RulesSeparate provision of utilities for women and fixed
working hours.

26. SEXUAL HARASSMENT ACT 2013
 The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace
(Prevention, Prohibition and Redressed ) Act, 2013 is
a legislative act in India that seeks to protect women
from sexual harassment at their place of work. It was passed
by the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Indian Parliament)
on 3 September 2012. It was passed by the Rajya Sabha (the
upper house of the Indian Parliament) on February 26,
2013.The Bill got the assent of the President on 23 April
2013.

27.  Representation and reservations on decision
making bodies
73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution providing for
reservations of seats for women in Panchayats and
Municipalities