Gender Inequality at Work: A Literature Review
- September 28, 2019
- Posted by: RSIS
- Categories: IJRISS, Social Science
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume III, Issue IX, September 2019 | ISSN 2454–6186
Gender Inequality at Work: A Literature Review
Dr Hemamalie Gunatilaka
Department of Business Administration, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka
Abstract: – Gender inequality at work is the focus of this article. Accordingly, it attempts to highlight the conceptual frameworks on gender inequality at work and present the practical applicability of these theories with the use of garment industry in Sri Lanka as an example. Women in the garment industry in Sri Lanka account for three fourth of the workforce in the industry and patriarchy plays a vital role within the social structure of the country. Buddhist philosophy highlights that a person becomes who s/he is with what s/he does, but not with what s/he has or who s/he is in the society. In contrast, Sri Lanka being a Buddhist country people’s position is still determined by who they are. Capitalist patriarchy, gender regimes, gendered organisations, creating subjectivities and resistance and agency are used as the conceptual frameworks to understand gender inequality at work. The literature on Sri Lankan women in the garment industry produce important evidence regarding women’s subordination, identities, agency, resistance etc. Most significantly patriarchy plays a vital role in creating gender subordination and government intervention facilitate the subordination of women employed in garment factories in Sri Lanka.
Key Words:- Gender Inequality, Garment Industry, Subordination of women, Patriarchy
I. INTRODUCTION
The main focus of the article is to present the conceptual frameworks found in literature in relation to gender inequality at work and to relate the theories to practice by using Sri Lankan garment industry as an example. Thus the broader frameworks on gender inequality will be discussed first. This will be followed by literature relating to the experiences of gender inequality by the employees in the Sri Lankan garment industry to highlight the applicability of the theories in a practical context. The garment industry is selected as a case study because: women employees’ account for 73% of the workforce in the garment industry (Savchenko and Acevedo, 2012); second, to understand the degree of subordination experienced by women and their awareness of being subordinated.
