Blog by Elena Kerr, SI Edinburgh (SIGBI)
SI CSW70 Delegate
Today I attended this empowering event discussing what justice means at the workplace. The panellists discussed topics such as women’s experiences at the workplace, changes, industrial segregation, and action points for improvement and inclusion. The panel included the expert speakers Gillian Unsworth, Tamara Thermitus, Zarin Hainsworth, Alison Marshall, and Mary Darling. The speakers discussed access and exclusion as an important part of the conversation.
Women are often expected to take on caring responsibilities at home, which can result in part-time work or taking time off from work. Gillian raised the concept of sandwich caring, when women have caring responsibilities with children, and as they grow older, their parents may need assistance, and thereby women are often expected to take on another caring responsibility. In this conversation, Mary connected the unity of humanity to the spirituality of justice, where culture matters, to create opportunities for empowering voices. Alison added to this point that we must remember human rights in the workspace and the humanity of workers, which creates a common reference point with fairness in the process.
Ageism is another issue for justice in the workspace for women, as older women experience ageism and lack of respect in the workplace, which can impact employment status. There is also a lack of support from co-workers, for instance when going through menopause.
In the discussion on justice and human rights, Tamara raised the question of who is the judge of the law, and how do they understand the relevant issue? This is important in the conversation, as the way the judge understands the law will affect the way in which laws are upheld.
This was overall an important event that raised relevant questions and discussions around justice for women in the workplace. It is also important to take away the action plans mentioned by Gillian — that the UK Government is pursuing a legal obligation for companies to publish statistics such as the gender pay gap. This will consist of a selection of 18 suggested topics, with a mandatory two being publicised.
