Hi All, Was interested in knowing if one could have an explicit policy for 'no-lady-employees' at a company. Would that be legal? Reg,
From United States, Daphne
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52From United States, Daphne
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What is the reason for " No lady employee "? I am curious to know. I don’t think this is legal in any part of the world. I will leave this to an expert to comment.
From India, Bangalore
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From India, Bangalore
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Dear NIKHIL,
In my view, no question of legality is involved in such an exclusion. It is the prerogative of the employer of a private enterprise to hire employees of his choice; but upon employed, there should not be any gender-based bias. At the same time, I would support the question raised by Shangeet. Nowadays, it is ubiquitous to find lady employees right from retail vending outlets to police and defense services. Even multinational corporations, banks, super healthcare enterprises have lady CEOs who are not only successful in crossing the glass ceiling but also reshaping the companies. When ladies are employed along with men, there may arise some problems but they are small in numbers and can be prevented or set right effectively. In business promos, lady models are used along with newly launched products, some of which have no connection with ladies; in sports and game events, ladies are employed as cheerleaders. Needless to say that these are from a male perception and a kind of subtle sexual exploitation of the fair sex. Therefore, my personal view is that such an explicit no lady employees policy adopted by an employer, though may not be illegal, is indicative of either male chauvinism or managerial fear psychosis and hence undesirable.
From India, Salem
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In my view, no question of legality is involved in such an exclusion. It is the prerogative of the employer of a private enterprise to hire employees of his choice; but upon employed, there should not be any gender-based bias. At the same time, I would support the question raised by Shangeet. Nowadays, it is ubiquitous to find lady employees right from retail vending outlets to police and defense services. Even multinational corporations, banks, super healthcare enterprises have lady CEOs who are not only successful in crossing the glass ceiling but also reshaping the companies. When ladies are employed along with men, there may arise some problems but they are small in numbers and can be prevented or set right effectively. In business promos, lady models are used along with newly launched products, some of which have no connection with ladies; in sports and game events, ladies are employed as cheerleaders. Needless to say that these are from a male perception and a kind of subtle sexual exploitation of the fair sex. Therefore, my personal view is that such an explicit no lady employees policy adopted by an employer, though may not be illegal, is indicative of either male chauvinism or managerial fear psychosis and hence undesirable.
From India, Salem
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Dear In one word "NO" U can not regularize this in terms of written documents. the document and contents shall stand for NULL & VOID.
From India
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From India
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Hi,
Adding to others, saying no to female employees falls under the category of discrimination. If you refer to the clause provided by the International Labour Organization, it states, "No person shall be subject to any discrimination in employment, including hiring, salary, benefits, advancement, discipline, termination, or retirement, on the basis of gender, race, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, nationality, political opinion, or social or ethnic origin." Therefore, implementing a policy as you mentioned could lead to unwanted complications.
If you choose not to hire a female due to the nature of the job, that is a different scenario. However, avoiding hiring females altogether is not fair. I hope you understand the implications of this decision.
Thank you.
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Adding to others, saying no to female employees falls under the category of discrimination. If you refer to the clause provided by the International Labour Organization, it states, "No person shall be subject to any discrimination in employment, including hiring, salary, benefits, advancement, discipline, termination, or retirement, on the basis of gender, race, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, nationality, political opinion, or social or ethnic origin." Therefore, implementing a policy as you mentioned could lead to unwanted complications.
If you choose not to hire a female due to the nature of the job, that is a different scenario. However, avoiding hiring females altogether is not fair. I hope you understand the implications of this decision.
Thank you.
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Thanks for the answers.
I have seen many organizations not employing women, despite being reasonably large ones. With the changing trends in legislation, there have been many instances reported at the workplace where the employer is normally the one to bear the brunt of malafied litigation, especially those where the lady is intelligent enough to bend the law in her favor. Not all are incorrect, but I recall a famous politician stating that he would rather go without a female employee than have one and invite trouble! Managerial fear-psychosis or otherwise, the fact remains that such litigations do cost organizations a lot of time and money - both avoidable. That they come out of it ultimately is possibly the lesser cause of worry.
Hence, the question...
From United States, Daphne
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I have seen many organizations not employing women, despite being reasonably large ones. With the changing trends in legislation, there have been many instances reported at the workplace where the employer is normally the one to bear the brunt of malafied litigation, especially those where the lady is intelligent enough to bend the law in her favor. Not all are incorrect, but I recall a famous politician stating that he would rather go without a female employee than have one and invite trouble! Managerial fear-psychosis or otherwise, the fact remains that such litigations do cost organizations a lot of time and money - both avoidable. That they come out of it ultimately is possibly the lesser cause of worry.
Hence, the question...
From United States, Daphne
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I think this would be highly discriminatory, and I am sure there would be some law proscribing such a practice (a simple Google search may help in finding out the exact law). Otherwise, we would start having private organizations exclusive to certain communities, castes, religions, and regions - discrimination can take several forms. Imagine how horrible it would be to have companies that recruit "no Marathis", "no UPites", "no Hindus", "no Muslims", "no Brahmins", and so on.
There could be certain hazardous industries that may have been legally barred for women, but apart from that, excluding any group of people based on gender, caste, region, religion, etc., would be illegal. Citing the risk of harassment litigation as a reason to discriminate against women candidates is horrible and despicable, whoever does it. It would be better to conduct a few workshops telling everyone about what constitutes harassment and guiding them on what not to do.
From India, Delhi
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There could be certain hazardous industries that may have been legally barred for women, but apart from that, excluding any group of people based on gender, caste, region, religion, etc., would be illegal. Citing the risk of harassment litigation as a reason to discriminate against women candidates is horrible and despicable, whoever does it. It would be better to conduct a few workshops telling everyone about what constitutes harassment and guiding them on what not to do.
From India, Delhi
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Bodhisutra, please state the law... Your views are similar to mine. But it's a legal clarification. In any case, please don't underestimate the cost of legal lawsuits. One thing is knowing what is right. The other is seeking justice from a system. I hope you understand the difference.
From United States, Daphne
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From United States, Daphne
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@Ngurjar: Well, I am indeed at a loss to understand how women in the workplace equal increased costs of "legal" lawsuits. Funny that we talk of excluding women from the workforce and seeking justice for ourselves in the same vein.
Oh, and about costs, I think the cost of excluding 50% of the population from the workforce would be much higher than that of a couple of awareness workshops, which will be enough to prevent most of the normal hot-blooded men from becoming harassers!
My 2 cents.
From India, Delhi
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Oh, and about costs, I think the cost of excluding 50% of the population from the workforce would be much higher than that of a couple of awareness workshops, which will be enough to prevent most of the normal hot-blooded men from becoming harassers!
My 2 cents.
From India, Delhi
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And, as for the law, please check: http://www.nishithdesai.com/fileadmi...harassment.pdf
The Equal Remuneration Act (ERA), 1976 expressly prohibits discrimination in employment against women. Quoting from the above, "Taking up the recruitment process, section 5 of the ERA prohibits the employer from devising a hiring process that puts women at a disadvantage on account of their gender."
From India, Delhi
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The Equal Remuneration Act (ERA), 1976 expressly prohibits discrimination in employment against women. Quoting from the above, "Taking up the recruitment process, section 5 of the ERA prohibits the employer from devising a hiring process that puts women at a disadvantage on account of their gender."
From India, Delhi
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Employee reference policy.doc