Women still discriminated against, face harassment and equality issues at work

Equality in the workplace between women and men still remains an issue today with an alarming gap between the two despite the efforts made to celebrate women and their roles.

According to Ubuhle HR, equality in the workplace means that no person should ever experience or fear the possibility of discrimination based on their gender, age or race.

“Women today unfortunately still face problems such as unequal payment, unequal support opportunities and sexual harassment.

“This leaves women with little choice but to question the fairness of it all,” explained Andre Botha, Ubuhle HR’s national business development manager.

Ubuhle HR recently consulted a freshly released gender survey which explored the issues related to the topic of gender in the workplace.

“Over a third of women said that they felt that their gender and parental responsibilities were holding them back from advancing in their careers,” said Andre.

ALSO READ: #AmINext: No more violence, says Ubuhle

The gender survey results however did not end there.

Statistics found that the majority of women get between one to three and three to six months maternity leave.

From those statistics gathered, only 18% of women reported having received full payment during the period while a further 28% received less than half of their salary.

Meanwhile, 39% of women reported that they had not been compensated.

“It’s clear that South Africa has a long way to go when it comes to embracing gender equality and making it part of their respective workplace ethos,” said Andre.

With this in mind, Ubuhle HR says that it is all about starting somewhere and finding ways in which a company can adopt a pro-active and positive approach to promote gender equality.

Some of the ways Ubuhle HR believes this can be done is by:

– Encouraging local talks at schools by female entrepreneurs.

– Mentor women in business at local seminars and other events.

– Support local schemes or initiatives by budding female entrepreneurs.

– Consider leadership roles for both men and women.

– Create an office culture whereby both women and men are treated with the same respect and dignity.

– Minimise the gender salary gap.

– Prioritising work life balance to accommodate both women and men with responsibilities.

Ubuhle HR itself is no hypocrite, and believes in the equal advancement of both women and men in the workplace.

ALSO READ: Ubuhle HR is simplifying the ABC of BEE

The 100% female-owned company, Ubuhle HR is led by CEO Liza Gresse.

The company acknowledges the trials and tribulations which many women are faced with and as such, have developed a Leadership and Management Development Programme which is targeted at upskilling staff and promoting employment equity.

“We also have a Women Leadership Programme which consists of eight modules – this is devised to strengthen female leadership on a personal and professional level in both organisations and society.

“We encourage businesses to invest in the confidence and empowerment of human resources for a progressive future for all,” said Ubuhle HR CEO, Liza Gresse.

Download The North Coast Courier mobile app, now available free from the Apple iStore and on Google Play, for IOS and Android phones.