Chapter 4 CONCEPT OF WOMEN AND MANAGEMENT
4.5 South African Labour Law
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levels of profitability (Robinson &Stubberud, 2011:26).Women are often stereotyped as being more apologetic. One interesting study by Schuman (2011:2) found that women do indeed apologize more but only because women judge themselves more harshly, and not because they are more willing to apologize. Women are perceived as great social risk aversive (Eckel and Grossman, 2008:1061)and this may be because of a greater social sensitivity, and women wanting to avoid risks causing uncertainties.
Women are better at recognizing subtle facial expressions (Hoffman, Kessler, Eppel, Rukavina, &Traue, 2010:278), even when these expressions are showed very briefly (Hall & Matsumoto, 2004:6). Neurological evidence corroborates that women have a higher activation of the mirror neurons when assessing the emotions of others (Schulte- Ruther, Markowitsch, Shah, Fink, &Piefke, 2008:392). A mirror neuron according to Rizzolatti (2005:419) is “a particular type of neuron that discharges when an individual performs an action, as well as when he/she observes a similar action done by another individual”. Although initially mirror neurons have been largely correlated to motor function, there is evidence that this also works in the domains of social cognition (Enticott, Johnston, Herring,Hoy, & Fitzgerald, 2008:2852). The mirror neuron system (Enticott et al., 2008:2853) helps us to understand and simulate not only another’s intentions, but also their state of mind. Through this, the mirror neuron system facilitates social interactions and empathy.
Cunningham and Roberts (2012:30), argue that men and women differ in their impulsive base-reaction. Where men are most likely to respond through action, and women are most likely to respond through feeling. The findings were that when the brain is at rest, different areas in the brain are activated for men and women. For men, this is a part in the reptilian brain most associated with the fight-or-flight response, for women this is the limbic system, which regulates emotions (Gur, Gunning-Dixon, Bilker, &Gur, 2002:998).
Thus, men’s immediate reaction is to act, whereas women’s immediate reaction is to feel. Charness and Gneezy(2012:110) compared across 15 experiments with the same underlying, contextual, investment game, and did find that women invest less in risky assets. Moreover, women have also been shown to have less preference for competitive environments than men (Niederle&Versterlund, 2007:5).
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racial groups such as Africans, Coloureds, Indians and Asians. In 1994 South Africa held its first democratic elections, where the African National Congress (ANC) came into power. The ANC-led Government attempted to eliminate previous practices by promulgating legislation to support the empowerment of previously disadvantaged groups such as non-Whites, women and people who have disabilities (DOL, 1994).
4.5.1 Labour Relations Act No. 66 of 1995
The Act has specific conditions, which relate to the protection of women. The conditions are:
No unfair discrimination may be exercised, either directly or indirectly by an
employer on any arbitrary ground, including gender, sex, marital status and family responsibility.
It is an automatically unfair dismissal to terminate the services of a female employee owing to pregnancy/ intention to get pregnant or any reason related to her
pregnancy and
It is unfair dismissal not to allow a female employee to resume work after she takes maternity leave in terms of the law, a collective agreement or her contract of
employment, or owing to her absence from work on maternity leave.
4.5.2 Basic Conditions of Employment Act No. 75 of 1997
The above Act provides for maternity and family responsibility leave for all employees.
The following codes of good conduct were also produced, which is relevant for women in the workplace:
Code of Good Practice on protection of employees during pregnancy and after birth of a child, which contains specific guidelines to be considered for protection of the health of women in employment against potential workplaces hazards; and
The code of good practice on the arrangement of working time.
These conditions are meant to help women in the workplace, and to make it more accessible for them to enter. The code, which focuses on the protection of pregnant women against workplace hazards, specifically for women who work with chemicals in engineering and related fields, are given an opportunity to be free and safe to work in these fields. This particularly addresses the issue that many women in the past would have given up their jobs once they fall pregnant in an attempt to protect their unborn
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babies. This would result in a negative impact on promotional opportunities, as she would have taken almost a year off work, thereby giving an advantage to male counterparts who continued to work.
4.5.3 Employment Equity Act No. 55 1998
The Employment Equity Act was introduced to correct past injustices, unfair discrimination and other inequitable laws and practices that transpired in the labour market. The aim of the act is to encourage the Constitutional right of equality; eliminate unfair discrimination in employment; ensure implementation of employment equity; and achieve a diverse workforce that represents all citizens of the Republic of South Africa (Employment Equity Act, No 55 of 1998). Another chapter in the Employment Equity Act deals with Affirmative Action. Under section 15(2) of the Employment Equity Act, lists of measures are provided that should be taken into consideration by employers in order to implement Affirmative Action. These measures include:
Measures to identify and eliminate employment barriers, including unfair discrimination against people from designated groups;
Measures designed to further diversify the workplace based on equal dignity and respect of all people;
Making reasonable accommodation for people from designated groups in order to ensure that they enjoy equal opportunities and are equitably represented in the workforce;
Ensuring equitable representation of suitably qualified people from designated groups in all occupational categories and levels in the workforce; and
Retain and develop people from designated groups to implement appropriate training.
In addition, the Code of Good Practice on the handling of sexual harassment cases aims to eliminate sexual harassment at work. The Act has made it possible for women to apply and compete for jobs fairly, and that they are not discriminated against because of their gender.
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