The Empty Promises of Women’s Day. It’s that time of the year again. E-commerce sites will hold their Women’s Day sales. HRs in corporate offices will send ‘How to be capable, confident and ambitious‘ emails to women. Celebrities will share their opinions on podcasts. Women will be given chocolates or asked to wear pink or purple. Because obviously, it’s the coloured dresses we want. Some men will whine because why do we need Women’s Day? Aren’t we privileged enough?
They shouldn’t worry because, after 8th March 2024, everything will return to the status quo, parity not transforming into any changes in pay cheques or promotions. There will still be policies made by men which will continue to make it difficult for women to balance work, home and kids. There will be programs run by HRs to get women ‘ready’ for promotions to managerial positions, adding another step in the already skewed ladder, a step not there for men because they are born to lead. Of course!
The Empty Promises of Women’s Day
Women’s Day has become a caricature of what it was supposed to be. It is a way for employers to wash their hands off doing anything concrete for real progress. Just send mailers, and run best-dressed contests. At times, give chocolates and be done with it.
Pay Parity?
It’s a travesty that when it comes to paying women fairly, companies fail. You will say, how do I know? Well, I speak from personal experience and the experience of my colleagues. There have been studies which have proved the same.
As per an article in the Economic Times, ‘A new Aon PLC report shows that the unadjusted gender pay gap in the tech sector in 2023 is 28-30%, while in junior management, it is 18-20%. Another study by Xpheno for ET shows that the percentage of female engineers in the higher salary bracket is significantly lower than that of male engineers in the same experience level and identical job roles.’
And this disparity is not limited to the tech or corporate sector.
According to an article in the Deccan Herald:
The World Economic Forum (WEF) recently ranked India at 135 out of 146 countries in its Global Gender Gap (GGG) Index for 2022. According to the World Inequality Report 2022 estimates, men earn 82 per cent of the labour income in India, whereas women earn 18 per cent.
Equity?
Which company on Women’s Day has given long-awaited and much-deserved promotions to women employees without adding obstacles to their path? Which company has decided to do a market correction of women’s salaries on Women’s Day? In fact, there will be no talk about all these. The empty promises of Women’s Day will be all fluff and no substance.
Career Growth?
But that is not all. A woman, more often than not, has to start her career back from scratch after a maternity break. After a hiatus, I have seen women struggling to get back into the workforce. Why are we punished for our biology? Trust me, women would have been relieved if men could give birth too, a big responsibility off our backs, not to mention freedom from subjecting our bodies to torture. But fortunately or unfortunately, we are saddled with this if we choose to do it. Should we suffer as a result?
Can companies on this Women’s Day promise to pay women returning to work fairly and at the current market prices? Can they pledge to give them designations based on their experience and not behave as if giving birth and taking care of children have reduced their mental faculties? Of course not. They will hire women with gaps in their resumes but will pay them abysmally lower salaries as if they are doing a favour.
Women have to work like superwomen. But none of us wants to be a superwoman! Balancing work, home, and children, falls on women more often than not. This is again seen as a liability. We are penalised if we wrap up within the traditional 8 to 5. Eyebrows are raised, if we don’t stay back at work beyond our work hours. And because we don’t have the headspace or the gift of time to walk out of the office at 8 pm and go for drinks with our colleagues, we do not walk the corridors of power.
An article in the Hindu Businessline says women being treated differently by employers is a major reason for the pay gap. Smaller shares point to women making different choices about how to balance work and family (42%) and working in jobs that pay less (34%).
So, what can we expect out of Women’s Day? I can’t think of anything. Awareness, maybe. But what next?
Women’s Health?
Maybe they don’t want to pay us. Alright. They do want us to live, and lead healthy lives. At least, I hope so. Hence, will the funding for research on women’s health increase? Will they look into women’s health issues instead of attributing everything to that time of the month?
As per an article here 42 million women in India suffer from Endometriosis. Women with endometriosis suffer from dysmenorrhea, chronic pelvic pain, dyspareunia, dyschezia, fatigue, depression, and infertility leading to significant socioeconomic impact and morbidity.
What is being done about it? I do agree we are now having conversations about cervical cancer in India. But more needs to be done especially when medical research for centuries has considered male bodies as the default. Will they do something to change that this Women’s Day?
“For millennia, medicine has functioned on the assumption that male bodies can represent humanity as a whole. As a result, we have a huge historical data gap when it comes to female bodies, and this is a data gap that is continuing to grow as researchers carry on ignoring the pressing ethical need to include female cells, animals and humans, in their research. That this is still going on in the twenty-first century is a scandal. It should be the subject of newspaper headlines worldwide. Women are dying, and the medical world is complicit. It needs to wake up.”
― Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
Sadly, I don’t think anybody is going to do anything for us. We have to fight our own battles. In our own lives, we need to find the best possible ways to be empowered knowing that the system and society are skewed against us.
Let’s not get hoodwinked by the empty promises of Women’s Day. It’s easier when we know what really to expect. Then we can plan and not depend on someone else to make the change for us. At least for the things in our control.
Well, that’s all I had to say. It’s not something new. I have been saying this for years. There was a time when I believed some good could come out of Women’s Day celebrations. But I have become sceptical now because I don’t see changes happening en masse, at all levels or the pace required. I have gone from thinking it was a charade to believing every bit counts to now seeing it as a gimmick.
What are your thoughts?
Tell me.
Until next time, Ciao!