Friday 22 November 2019
Friday 11 October 2019
Thursday 3 October 2019
Protest against abnormal delay in declaration of DA.
Normally, DA is declared in September. Bonus is declared well ahead of pooja holidays. But this time, till today no orders are issued. AIDTOA protests against this abnormal delay. Programme of action will be decided if Govt. refuses to declare DA & Bonus.
Monday 26 August 2019
Wednesday 21 August 2019
Thursday 1 August 2019
Friday 26 July 2019
Monday 1 July 2019
Tuesday 21 May 2019
Wednesday 15 May 2019
Monday 13 May 2019
Tuesday 16 April 2019
Friday 12 April 2019
Minimum Pay/Fitment Formula & National Pension Scheme (NPS)-Letter
We have written a letter, on behalf of CCGGOO, to the leaders of all Political Parties discussing two pressing issues (namely, Minimum Pay/Fitment Formula determined after 7th Central Pay Commission and the National Pension Scheme or NPS), affecting more than One Crore Central and State Government employees (including PSU, Local and Autonomous Bodies) for their kind perusal and with the request to kindly impress upon the next Central Government to address the issues. The letter has already been submitted to the leaders of most of the major National and Regional Political Parties and the Text is given below.
We, on behalf of the Confederation of Central
Government Gazetted Officers’ Organizations (CCGGOO), are writing this letter
at the time, when the entire country is going through the process of General
Election to Lok Sabha, 2019. Naturally all issues, considered as relevant by
the people of India, are being discussed and debated.
CCGGOO, the umbrella organization for all Central
Government Group B Gazetted and Group A promotee officers’ Service
Associations, cutting across the Departments, is specifically concerned about
the issues pertaining to the Central Government employees. Among many such
issues, we believe that the following two issues are bothering the Central Government
employees including Gazetted Group B and Promotee Group A Officers most and
therefore, need a little elaboration.
A. 7th Central Pay
Commission; Fitment factor and Minimum Pay: You are aware that Central Pay Commission (CPC)
is the mechanism of reviewing the pay, allowances and other general service
conditions of all Central Government employees irrespective of the grades
(including all uniformed officers and personnel of defence forces and paramilitary
forces like CRPF, CISF, BSF etc.) in a regular periodicity of 10 years. The 7th
CPC's recommendations were implemented w.e.f. 01.01.2016. The basic focus of
any CPC report is the determination of Minimum
Pay and the Fitment Factor, as that is the basis of the pay structure for
all cadres under consideration.
7th CPC failed to appreciate the proposed
minimum pay and the fitment factor proposed by the entire Central Government
Workforce before the CPC (Rs. 26,000/- applying the fitment factor of 3.7),
along with the detailed workings on the basis of the International Labour
Organization's approved formula (commonly known as Dr. Wallace Aykroyd Formula
which was relied upon by consecutive CPCs). The 7th CPC worked out
the minimum pay as Rs. 18,000/- applying the fitment factor of 2.57, relying
upon some unscientific criteria.
Despite repeated representations by the Central
Government employees and service associations including Confederation of
Central Government Gazetted Officers Organisations, discussions with the
authorities and the assurances given, the fitment factor remains unchanged and
the minimum pay is being kept at Rs. 18,000/- only. This decision has not only
dashed the hopes of lakhs of Central Government employees, but also has disappointed crores of State
Government employees, employees of the Central & State PSUs, Local Bodies
and Autonomous Bodies, even the employees of Private Sectors, as the minimum
pay of the Central Government employees is always the reference point for the others.
It will be agreed that a satisfied workforce of Central and State Governments
is always of prime importance, as they are the key for implementation of all
Government Policies. Denial of the
proposed Minimum Pay and the Fitment Factor has literally left more than one
crore families across the country disappointed and disgruntled.
B. National Pension Scheme
(NPS): You will appreciate
that a pension scheme, consistent with available resources, should enable a
pensioner to live a decent, poverty free, dignified post retirement life,
consistent with the standards enabled by the wages paid to him while in service.
Pension is not a gratis granted by an employer at his discretion. Pension is
not an ex-gratia payment. Indeed it is a payment for the past service rendered,
akin to deferred wages. It is a social welfare measure for rendering
socio-economic justice to those, who in the heyday of their life ceaselessly
toil for the employer on an assurance that in their old age they would not be
left in the lurch. Pensioners’ form a class by themselves and this class is not
divisible for purposes of entitlements and payment of pension to those who
retire ‘before’ and those who retire ‘after’ a certain date.
The introduction of ‘New Contributory Pension Scheme’ or NPS for those
who joined Central Civil Services on or after 01-01-2004 has negated the
element of assurances with no guarantee of any minimum pension or any
commitment to pay pension by Government. By introducing New Pension Scheme, two classes of pensioners have been
created by the Government as pensioners who had joined service prior to 01-01-2004
and those who joined service on or after 01-01-2004. Those, who joined service
in the Central Government prior to 01-01-2004 and retired, are now getting
minimum pension of Rs.9000 plus DR per month.
But those who joined service after 01-01-2004 have no such assurance of
a minimum pension, as they will be at the mercy of the "Market". The
quantum of pension being received now by such NPS retirees is only confirming
such apprehension.
The above issues
have been forwarded from all corners of the staff side to the Central
Government seeking to scrap the NPS and
bring back the old pension scheme (OPS). The chorus are getting louder, as
almost all the State Governments have adopted the NPS, sooner or later,
exposing or like to be exposing over a Crore families of this country to
uncertainties of the "Market", which they obviously don’t deserve
after rendering decades of distinguished service.
Our request:
Despite your
extremely busy schedule during this election season, we request you to kindly ponder
over the above issues and to appreciate the gravity of the situation. We
solicit your indulgence in impressing upon the new Central Government, to be formed
after the General Elections, 2019 to address these two prime concerns of more
than one crore Central and State Government employees (including PSU, Local and
Autonomous Bodies) and their family members.
Tuesday 9 April 2019
Thursday 4 April 2019
Tuesday 2 April 2019
Friday 29 March 2019
AIDTOA requests that the following charter of demands be included in the election manifestoes of the political parties.
1.
|
Take immediate concrete measures to
control sky rocketing prices of essential commodities; ban speculative trade
in essential commodities; expand and strengthen public distribution system;
no compulsory linkage of Aadhaar to avail services of PDS.
|
2.
|
Check unemployment through policies
encouraging labour intensive establishments; link financial assistance to
employers with employment generation; fill up all vacant posts in government
departments; lift the ban on recruitment and 3 per cent annual surrender of
government posts.
|
3.
|
Check outsourcing and
contractorisation of jobs of permanent and perennial nature.
|
4.
|
Strictly implement
equal wage and benefits to contract workers doing the same job as permanent
workers, as per Supreme Court judgment.
|
5.
|
Strict implementation
of equal pay for equal work for men and women as per Indian constitution.
|
6.
|
Fix national minimum wage as per the
recommendations of 15th Indian Labour Conference and Supreme Court judgment
in the Raptakos & Brett case.
|
7.
|
Assure minimum pension of Rs 6000 per
month and indexed pension to all.
|
8.
|
Recognise workers employed in different
government schemes, including anganwadi workers and helpers, ASHAs and others
employed in the National Health Mission, midday meal workers, para teachers,
teaching and non teaching staff of National Child Labour Projects, etc as
workers and pay minimum wages, social security benefits including pension etc
to all of them.
|
9.
|
Immediately revoke ‘Fixed Term
Employment’ which is in violation of the spirit of ILO Recommendation 204
which India has ratified.
|
10.
|
Stop disinvestment of public sector
undertakings.
|
11.
|
Revoke the decision to
privatise railways, defence, port and dock, banks, insurance, coal etc.
Immediately revoke decision allowing commercial mining of coal mines.
|
12.
|
Immediately resolve the issues of the
central government employees related to the recommendations of the 7th Pay
Commission.
|
13.
|
Scrap NPS and restore the Old Pension
Scheme.
|
14.
|
Stop anti-worker and pro-employer
amendments to the labour
laws. Ensure strict implementation of the
existing labour laws.
|
15.
|
Implement paid maternity leave of 26
weeks, maternity benefit and crèche
facilities for women workers.
|
16.
|
Strict implementation of the Prevention
of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act.
|
17.
|
Ratify ILO Conventions 87 and 98 on
freedom of association and right to collective bargaining along with the ILO
Convention 189 on domestic workers.
|
18.
|
Strengthen bipartism and tripartism; no
decision should be taken on any issue related to labour without consensus
through discussion with trade unions/Associations.
|
19.
|
Cut the subsidies given to the corporates.
|
20.
|
Minimum support price as per the
recommendations of
Swaminathan Commission recommendations;
strengthen public procurement system.
|
21.
|
Loan waiver to farmers.
|
22.
|
Comprehensive legislation covering social
security and working conditions for
agricultural workers.
|
23.
|
200 days of work under MGNREGA. Enact
similar legislation to cover urban areas. Fix minimum wages not less than minimum
wages of the state.
|
24.
|
Ensure effective implementation of
Article 51 A of the constitution that calls upon all citizens to
promote harmony, spirit of common brotherhood, diversities and to transcend
religious, linguistic, regional and sectional culture and to denounce
policies derogatory to the dignity of women.
|
25.
|
Enact legislation to protect couples
opting for inter caste marriages.
|
26.
|
Ensure strict punishment for all guilty
of rape and other cases of violence
against women.
|
27.
|
Strict implementation of the SC/ST
Prevention of Atrocities Act.
|
28.
|
Ensure filling up of all posts reserved
for OBC, SC /STs.
|
29.
|
Free education to all children up to
Class XII along with technical education.
|
30.
|
Free health care for all. Strengthen
health infrastructure. Increase government expenditure on health to 5 per
cent of GDP.
|
31.
|
Right to work as fundamental right by
amending the constitution.
|
The country has adequate resources to meet
the above demands. The neoliberal agenda being aggressively pursued by the
Governments has aggravated concentration of wealth in a few hands at the expense
of the workers and peasants who created the wealth of the country. It has
widened disparities to vulgar heights. The struggle against the neoliberal
policies should continue whichever government came to power after the
elections, if it indulged in pursuing the same policies.
The governments are totally insensitive to
the genuine demands of workers, employees & officers. They sought to
further perpetrate the attacks on the working class and all sections of toiling
masses to facilitate amassing of wealth by a few corporates and business
houses. Whichever government comes to power should know that the working class
will not tolerate continuation of the neoliberal regime any more and pro-people
and pro-worker policies should be implemented.
Let’s continue the fight for alternative
policies.
Thursday 28 March 2019
Monday 25 March 2019
AIDTOA demands for comprehensive review of DRTC and regularisation of TO 'D' post immediately.
DRTC Cadre review can be considered by Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance only after regularisation of TO 'D' post.
In February 2018 itself Dept. of Expenditure stated that the Administrative Ministry has to first settle the introduction of Technical Officer 'D' without their approval. Inspite of best efforts of AIDTOA parallelly with the help of CCGGOO, till now the issue was not settled.
AIDTOA demanded that as an immediate relief to the DRTC personnel, MACP benefits should be extended to all the eligible Technical Officers w.e.f 01.01.2006. DHRD officials informed that the case for MACP for entire DRTC cadre is under consideration of MOD (Fin) and it was being pursued on priority.
AIDTOA requested that Variable Increments at enhanced rates should be given w.e.f 01.01.2016 along with arrears.
DRDO Hq officials said that the case has been turned down by Ministry of Finance. On persuasion, they have assured that it will be taken up again.
Wednesday 20 March 2019
Request to include demands in Election Manifestos :Recognised Political Parties Participating in 17th Lok Sabha General Election
All
Recognised Political Parties, National/ State Level are requested to include the
demands/ issues of Defence Civilian Employees in their manifestos of 17th Lok
Sabha General Election.
The issues are as under
1. Self Reliance in Defence Preparedness through State Owned Defence Industries viz Ordnance Factories, DRDO, Army Workshops, Ordnance Depots, Supply Depots, DGQA etc.
As you are well aware with the issue, State Owned Defence Industries are facing serious challenges/ threats these days. It is prime responsibility of Govt to safeguard the existence of these industries in interest of the Nation and take steps so that it may flourish and provide job opportunities to citizen of India. But of late Govt made various decisions regarding these establishments led to total destruction of these industries.
Burning
Issues/ Challenges of Industries
1. Categorization of more than 275 products being manufactured in the Ordnance Factories as “Non-Core”.
2. Transfer of technology developed by DRDO to Private Sectors depriving
Ordnance Factories & DPSUs.
3. Large scale outsourcing of work of more than 1.5 lakh Civilian Posts depriving Young generation with Permanent Job.
4. Induction of 100% FDI in Defence Sector.
5. Privatization of Defence Industries by adopting various models like GOCO etc.
6. Denial of Job to trained Trade Apprentices.
7. Closure of various defence establishments like Ordnance Depots, Military Farms, Army Postal Establishments etc.
8. Inclusion of Third Party Inspection at the cost of DGQA/ DGAQA etc.
Our
Proposal that is to be included:
“To
achieve self reliance in defence expand, develop and strengthen the state owned
Defence Industry and to ensure full capacity utilization of these Industries.”
2. National Pension System
Govt
introduced a contributory pension system under National pension system for all
Central Govt employees recruited on or after 01.01.2004 and deprived them of
very elementary benefits of old age social security by denying CCS (Pension)
Rules, 1972 to them. The employees have been opposing this pension system since
its introduction because it lacks the following essential benefits.
1. No guarantee of any Minimum Pension under this scheme.
2. No safeguard from Price rise in absence of element of Dearness Allowance.
3. Absence of additional Pension on attaining the age of 80 Years/ 85 Years/ 90 Years/ 95 Years/ 100 Years.
4. No safeguard to Missing employees.
5. Absence of Compulsory Retirement Pension, Compassionate Pension etc.
Both Legislative Body and Executive Body are responsible for well functioning of Administration. Both get their dues from Consolidated Fund of India. It is discriminatory that Executive Body has been deprived of its old age security especially lower rung employees would suffer the most.
Our Proposal to be included:
National Pension System will be scrapped and CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972 will be implemented for all Central Govt Employees.
3. Appointment on Compassionate Grounds
The appointment on compassionate ground is an exception to the equality clause under Article 14. If an employee dies while in service then according to rule framed by the Central Government or the State Government, appointment to one of the dependants shall not be considered violation of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution because this exception has been provided through various rules only to mitigate the hardships of deceased employee family suffering from scarcity of very trivial things of daily life due to the death of sole bread winner of the family and sudden misery faced by the members of the family of such employee who serves the Central Government or the State Government.
A lot of Employees working under MoD are dealing with hazardous and risky operations. Because they are exposed to various hazardous chemical and other materials, they are developing various illness sometimes led to their deaths.
Proposal to be included:
One time relaxation would be provided to offer appointment on compassionate grounds to all the applicants waiting for years in MoD.
5% ceiling would be removed and 100% appointment would be made on compassionate ground.
Employees who die/ incapacitate in accident while performing their official duties, Compassionate appointment would be made straight away without any delay.
Sunday 17 March 2019
Friday 15 March 2019
Monday 4 March 2019
AIDTOA & CCGGOO rededicate themselves to the cause of safety, health and protection of environment.
On the eve of National Safety Day, AIDTOA & Confederation of Central Govt. Gazetted Officers' Organisations wishes you and your family a Safe and Healthy year.
AIDTOA & CCGGOO rededicate themselves to the cause of safety, health and protection of environment.
Hearty fraternal wishes for a happy, cheerful and dynamic International Women’s Day 2019.
Type of
ship : A small
mini-ship.
Location
: High seas, in
the South Pacific Ocean.
Between
Lyttelton (New Zealand) and Falkland Islands (Argentina)
Climate
: Rough
weather, stormy winds, extremely cold climate.
Ocean
waves of 7 metres height. Wind speed of 60 knots (i.e.112 km/s – speed of Rajdhani express)
Nearest
port : 5000 kms away,
on both sides, at least 20 days to reach.
Crew : Only
six members on the mini ship.
Friends, this is not a
story of fiction. And we are not talking about a voyage of Magellan, about whom
we studied in history text books, as the first person who sailed around the
world. We are talking about 6 women, who sailed around the world, in a small
ship, from Sep 2017 to May 2018. Braving storms on high seas in treacherous
oceans. The total strength of crew is 6, and all 6 are women. Vartika Joshi,
Pratibha Jamwal, Aishwarya Boddapati, P Swathi, S Vijaya Devi, Payal Gupta.
These 6 women sailed on INSV Tarini and circumnavigated the world in 9 months.
Let me repeat, only 6 crew members on the ship, all 6 are women.
This display of nerves
of steel, steely resolve, resolute determination, determined steadfastedness –
these are attributes that each and every woman is born with. Except that these
qualities are not recognized. Even by herself.
As the famous story
goes, an eagle’s egg was placed with hen’s eggs and hatched. Eagle baby grew up
with hens, thinking that it is a hen. When it sees an eagle flying high, it
thinks –if God blesses, I will be born as an eagle in next birth.
A woman is conditioned
to think that she does not have the bouquet of abilities that she is born with.
Stereotypes are created, projecting women as weak, meek, fragile, dependent,
and delicate. In households, peer groups, societies, films, advertisements,
mass media, and every facet of life that women encounter - as a budding girl, a
teenager, a young lady and a woman. It gives immense satisfaction when women
break these stereotypes, and emerge as courageous, path breaking icons.
There is no shortage
of such path breaking icons. On Jan 4 2019, when Arunima Sinha climbed Mount
Vinson in dead-chilly Antarctica, she covered all the highest peaks in all
seven continents. She is an amputee, lost her leg when she was pushed from
running train while she fought robbers. She was also the 1st female
amputee in the world to scale Mount Everest.
Justice Indu Malhotra
became the 1st woman judge to be elevated as a Judge to Supreme
Court directly from the Bar. For the 1st time, we have three
women Judges in the Supreme Court. Flight Lieutenant Avani Chaturvedi became
the 1st Indian woman pilot to fly solo in a MiG-21 Bison
fighter jet. Manika Batra led India to gold in Table Tennis in the 2018
Commonwealth games, defeating Singapore, which never lost in Commonwealth games
since table tennis was introduced in 2002. She was featured on cover of July
2018 Femina.
Indra Nooyi became 1st independent female director of International Cricket Council (ICC). Debjani Ghosh became 1st woman President of NASSCOM, organisation which champions the $ 167 billion Indian IT services industry. Anny Divya from Vijayawada became world’s youngest woman commander to fly a Boeing 777. Himadas, daughter of a farmer from Assam, became 1st Indian sprinter to win a gold medal at an international track event. She is India’s 1st ever youth ambassador of UNICEF. Jayshree Ullal, CEO & President of Arista Networks, is one of just 72 self made women billionaires globally. For the 1st time, an all women contingent of Assam Rifles, oldest paramilitary force in the country, walked down Rajpath on Republic Day 2019, led by Major Khusboo Kanwar, daughter of a bus conductor in Rajasthan.
Indra Nooyi became 1st independent female director of International Cricket Council (ICC). Debjani Ghosh became 1st woman President of NASSCOM, organisation which champions the $ 167 billion Indian IT services industry. Anny Divya from Vijayawada became world’s youngest woman commander to fly a Boeing 777. Himadas, daughter of a farmer from Assam, became 1st Indian sprinter to win a gold medal at an international track event. She is India’s 1st ever youth ambassador of UNICEF. Jayshree Ullal, CEO & President of Arista Networks, is one of just 72 self made women billionaires globally. For the 1st time, an all women contingent of Assam Rifles, oldest paramilitary force in the country, walked down Rajpath on Republic Day 2019, led by Major Khusboo Kanwar, daughter of a bus conductor in Rajasthan.
We need to recount,
applaud and celebrate these icons, who broke the stereotypes, and proved that
women can excel in any given field. Many of them came from middle class and
poor livelihoods. But today, they are rich trailblazers to a generation of
young eager women trying to explore their potential, trying to make a mark in
the world, in their individual fields.
It is this trail that
is the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day, as given by UN
Women: THINK EQUAL, BUILD SMART, INNOVATE FOR CHANGE.
The motto of THINK
EQUAL is what churned the organised working women movements around the world.
Historically, women are not paid equal pay to equal work. Even today, in the
words of Chidi King, Director of the Equality Department of the International
Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the main international trade union
organization representing the interests of working people worldwide, and a
member of UN Women and ILO’s Equal Pay Champions initiative, women across the
world still get paid 23 per cent less than men. From ages, women kept waging
struggles against such discrimination, but these struggles were routinely
ignored or crushed. The exploitation did not weigh them down, it made them
think, made them organised. One of the first sparks flew at Massachusetts in
1834.
Women workers at
Lowell Cotton Mills in Massachusetts worked for 14 hrs per day. The working
conditions were filthy, there was no ventilation, they worked in confinement,
noise, and the air was filled with lint. The wages were 1/3rd as compared to
men. When these wages were also cut, they felt enough is enough; they organized
and went on strike. Women in several other mills joined them. Management
crushed the strike within a week, but it stood out as the first organised women
workers’ movement in history.
In 1836, when
management of the same Lowell Textile Mills announced a rent hike to be paid by
textile workers living in company boarding houses, the female textile workers
formed Lowell Factory Girls Association and organised a strike. This went on
weeks, and eventually, Board of Directors withdrew the rate hike.
In 1845, the workers
started Lowell Female Labour Reform association, which was the first working
women’s association. It was started with 12 operatives, but membership grew to
500 in 6 months, and continued to expand rapidly. The association was run
completely by women, held their own meetings, set up branches in other mill
towns. They ran huge petition campaigns and political action, asking the Massachusetts
state legislature to cap working hours in mills at 10 hours. In 1847, New
Hampshire became the 1st state to pass a 10 hour working day. This was the
first success for organized working women in any part of the world. This
success fuelled organized women movements throughout the world’s working class.
Today, we remember that struggle with a sense of pride and honour.
The
first National Women’s Day was held in New York in 1909 to commemorate the 1908
garments workers strike. On 8th March 1908, 15000 women garment workers marched
through Union Square to demand economic and political rights. The three month
strike against Triangle Shirtwaist and other mills became hugely successful.
This success was celebrated throughout Europe and Soviet. Clara Zeitkin, a
German socialist proposed designating a day as ‘International Women’s Day’ at
International Socialist Congress in Copenhagen in 1910. From 1911, we are
observing International Women’s Day. From 1975, UNO began celebrating
International Women’s Day on March 8th.
Friends,
it is because of such glorious struggles in all parts of world that we could
secure statutory framework that protect from discrimination against women.
The Convention
concerning Equal Remuneration for Men and Women Workers for Work of Equal
Value, or Equal Remuneration Convention was framed by the ILO in 1951. The
Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW),
was adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly. It is often described as an
international bill of rights for women. India is a signatory to both.
Movements of working
women have also ensured that statutory safeguards were included in Maternity
Benefit Act 1961, Factories Act 1948, Equal Remuneration Act 1976, Sexual
Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act,
2013 etc. None of these acts were made by way of compassion, but were a result
of prolonged struggle of the working women.
After struggling
through restricted opportunities in education and employment, having to work 24
x 365 as a mother, wife, sister, daughter, having to run to office after
attending to household chores and run back from office to attend house chores
again, balancing multiple roles, the least a woman expects is respect in
workplace. If she is subjected to sexual harassment, there is nothing more
cruel than that. But it is everybody’s knowledge that women are subject to
sexual harassment of varying degrees, in varying forms, and they are expected
to comply or be silent. It is only in 2013 that the latest Act against sexual
harassment at workplace was passed. It was not passed out of voluntary
compassion, but as a result of protracted legal struggle resulting in Supreme
Court issuing guidelines in the Visakha case. We should keep this in mind that
nothing could be achieved unless we organize and wage struggles. We should
realize that, though the working women’s movement has achieved significant
results, there is a significant lot more to be achieved.
As
working women, as much as we are concerned about our working conditions, we are
as much concerned about our girl children and fellow women in society, and
obstacles they face in their journey to emancipation. The obstacles to equal
emancipation are many. If we look at some trends, among students who stopped
studies after primary education, 70% are females. Most of the girls are not
facilitated to study till higher education. If family size increases, schooling
will be provided to boys, girls are compelled to drop out. These conditions
result in lack of education, which leads to lack of opportunities. If such
obstacles to education are removed, evidence shows that women excel
exceedingly. In a report published by American Enterprise Institute (AEI), for
a ninth time in a row, women earned more doctoral degrees (Ph.Ds) awarded at US
Universities in 2017, than men. Though this is a matter of satisfaction to show
that women will excel given a chance, yet a detailed analysis shows the effect
of stereotypes: the ratio of Ph.Ds between men and women is 75 : 25 in Maths
and Computer Science, 76 : 24 in Engineering. The ratio is 39 : 61 in social
and behavioural sciences, 31 : 69 in education, 30 : 70 in health sciences. In
the technology areas of maths, engineering, computer science, women Ph.Ds are
very less. In health sciences too, we have more women in dental, physiotherapy,
gynaecology, obstetrics etc. In niche and high visible areas women are
conspicuous by their absence. Women are not into specialities like cardiology,
oncology, orthopaedic surgery. Remember when you have heard about a female
cardiologist who did an angioplasty or a bypass surgery? In areas regarded are
technologically superior, even today, women do not find encouragement to enter,
mainly because of stereotyping. Women have a long way to go, to unshackle these
stereotypes that women are suitable for such and such jobs only. Women need to
think that they are eagles, and fly high. We are confident that we will realize
and release the eagle in us.
Women not only have to
THINK EQUAL, they need to BUILD SMART. This aspect of BUILD SMART is more
critical in these times of revolutionary changes in technology. We need to see
more and more women talking enthusiastically about Internet of Things, Crypto
currency, Block chain, Data Mining, Cyber Security, Cloud Computing, Machine
Learning -the future of employment is in sectors like these. These new
technologies are called ‘disruptors’. They disrupt the way we work. The skills,
the technologies, the methods, that we are using in our workplace are suddenly
becoming defunct. We see boys flocking to computer institutes to learn these
skills. Unless girls focus on BUILD SMART i.e., building such skills smartly,
there will be a huge gender gap in employment. Men will be doing all
technologically suave jobs which pay more, and women will be relegated to less
paying non-tech jobs. In this context, the UN Women motto of THINK
EQUAL, BUILD SMART AND INNOVATE FOR CHANGE is compellingly
relevant.
Today is the day to
think about the road travelled and about the road to be travelled. Working
women’s movement made spectacular advances, we are proud of it. At the same
time, we are also vigilant about the challenges. We are conscious of the frame
work to achieve that :
a. Maintain a gender parity mindset (question any lack of women’s participation, identify alternatives that are more inclusive, nominate women for opportunities, always include and support women, think 50/50 as goal),
b.
Challenge stereotypes and bias (question assumptions about women, challenge
statements that limit women, always use inclusive language, work to remove
barriers to women’s progress, buy from retailers who position women in positive
ways),
c.
Forge positive visibility of women (identify ways to make women more visible,
extend opportunities to women first, assume women want opportunities until
declined, select women as spoke-persons and leaders, support visible women),
d.
Influence others’ beliefs/actions (supportively call-out inappropriate behaviour,
campaign for equality in meaningful ways, lead by example via inclusive
actions, be a role model for equality, actively contribute to change the status
quo) and;
e.
Celebrate women’s achievements (believe achievement comes in many forms, value
women’s individual and collective success, ensure credit is given for women’s
contributions, celebrate women role models and their journeys, support awards
showcasing women’s success).
Courtesy:bonepalliusha@gmail.com,
Chairperson of the Women’s Committee of Confederation of
Central Government Employees
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