Qn 4. Explain how you would ensure gender main streaming/equality in the records and archives center?

Gender equality, also known as sexual equality, is the state of equal ease of access to resources
and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making;
and the state of valuing different behaviors, aspirations and needs equally, regardless of gender.

Gender equality, equality between men and women, entails the concept that all human beings,
both men and women, are free to develop their personal abilities and make choices without the
limitations set by stereotypes, rigid gender roles and prejudices. Gender equality means that the
different behavior, aspirations and needs of women and men are considered, valued and favored
equally. It does not mean that women and men have to become the same, but that their rights,
responsibilities and opportunities will not depend on whether they are born male or female.
Gender equity means fairness of treatment for women and men, according to their respective
needs. This may include equal treatment or treatment that is different but which is considered
equivalent in terms of rights, benefits, obligations and opportunities.

The following are some of the ways I may ensure gender main streaming/equality in the records
and archives center.

Get women into power, a proven way to overcome many systemic barriers to a woman’s
success can be increased by women participation in different organizational posts like in human
resource, CEO among others just as the men at the archival center. If the number of women
holding seats in an archival institution is equal to that of men, then woman’s voice and her
ability to become a leader in her community is empowered.

Employees working together regardless the sex, alarmingly gender gaps in organizations have
widened at higher levels of gender no matter the schooling. This is a reverse of the global trend
towards greater parity. To address this gap, my efforts can be put at assigning all employees with
different activities (involve the people, women in this case) like project, research among others.
women know best what their challenges are in education and it is imperative to involve them in
my discussions to address the gap.

Setting up sexual harassment monitoring unit, to raise awareness throughout the archival
institution to ensure that incoming employees and the already hired employees know about sexist
acts and sexual violence and the penalties for the offenders like losing their jobs and getting
imprisoned, with the help of the unit gender balance can be maintained in an archival institution.

Gender-Neutral Language When Appropriate, I can also alter the language within an address
session of employees to help expand worker’s perspectives beyond gender stereotypes, for
example, in assignments I can challenge worker’s expectations by including a female in every
project or any other activity at the archival institution. also, when referring to the group as a
whole, I can avoid using gendered terms like ‘guys,’ which may make female workers feel
excluded. Instead, I can reach for gender-neutral pronouns like ‘everyone.

Use Project-Based researching, I can also be intentional about integrating a mix of men and
women within small group projects. The work can be purely academic, with the lessons on
gender equity indirect and implicit. By working together, women and men can if supported well
better understand the nuance of individual behaviors rather than stereotyping ‘women’ and
‘men.’ Projects can also be created to explore concepts in and around gender and cultural equity,
or to do work in select spaces and communities to nurture the growth of healthy human
interdependence.

Explaining the Context, If I hear employees using phrases like ‘you work like a woman’ or
‘man up,’ it’s important to point out the social implications of these statements rather than
simply admonishing the use of that kind of phrasing. The struggle for and history of gender
equity parallels similar struggles and histories for race and religious equity. Understanding how
individuals and groups become marginalized through the most basic of cultural tools like
language can, depending on the level of employees, this is more important than having ‘clear
rules’ to simply ‘protect employees’ from bias.

Get Feedback from Colleagues and employees, I can consider getting feedback from
colleagues on any differences they may notice that I don’t. Further, I can consider getting similar
feedback from the employees themselves using an anonymous comment box.
Considering questions such as:

Do you notice any differences in how I treat men and women?

What do I need to know about you, in terms of gender, to talk to you well?

Have I made you feel good or bad in regards to your gender at any point?

Imbibe Gender Equality and Respect as core values, Mutual respect for all irrespective of
their sex, caste, socio-economic status, religion, region and educational status. These are core
values which start getting ingrained in employs minds from the start. Hence, it is important to
imbibe mutual and unconditional respect, equality and opportunity amongst all to lay a strong
foundation for a gender-equal archival institution.

Engaging with male employees, like we all must share responsibility and commitment towards
gender equality, not only women and girls. It also should not focus only on women and girls.
Engaging with men is equally important and helps in creating an enabling environment for an
equitable institution.

Removing the gender pay gap (and be transparent about it), The gender pay gap can only
continue if a culture of secrecy is encouraged within a company. A new culture of transparency
needs to be introduced which challenges a company to investigate the pay gap between women
and men and stops asking candidates what they were paid for their last job. Instead, each position
should have a pay bracket that outlines the salary for that role. Buffer, the social media
management platform is an excellent example of a company that has embraced transparency
across the entire organization. Since 2013, they have shared their salary details for each member
of staff and provided a salary calculator to allow anyone to quickly calculate what they could
earn at Buffer and see the compensation for each role. While going to these lengths is not ideal
for most companies, the pay brackets for each position should be outlined to eliminate any bias.

Re-evaluating job specifications for the senior management team, In the case of archival
institutions not hiring women for senior level roles, they should identify what barriers they have
constructed which has led to fewer job applications from women. That doesn’t mean the
requirements for the position need to be changed, but asking if 15 years of management
experience is required when ten years may do is a positive step towards opening the role up to
more people. Companies should also consider whether including other types of experience that
broadens the pool of applications is equally beneficial to the position.

Making work/life balance a priority for your employees, While research has shown that the
gender pay gap is narrowing for young workers, it is widening among working mothers as they
are effectively suffering a pay penalty for taking time off. One of the most significant hurdles
that currently prevent women from reaching the top of their career is the lack of available
childcare support. Companies should consider helping to pay for child and elder care and ensure
they don’t oversell how family friendly they are to job candidates if such options are not already
in place as this can lead to frustration and early exits from the company. To relieve working
mothers, parental leave for fathers should also be promoted as this will not only allow mothers to
invest more time into their careers, but research has shown that fathers want to be and should be
more actively involved in childcare duties.

Make mentors available to everyone, The availability of an experienced mentor to help guide
you through the different channels you’ll face throughout your career is invaluable, and it should
be an opportunity that is open to everyone. Mentors should expect to be questioned on how to
ask for pay rises within a company and advice on how to tackle any issues relating to inequality.

Although it may be tempting to resolve gender inequality within an institution by focusing only
on women, gender inclusiveness needs to focus on both men and women as initiatives involving
only part of the workforce will likely have reduced results. Institutions with mentor programs
also shouldn’t insist on same-sex matches though as in companies with few senior-level women,
they’re already spread too thin to have the time to dedicate to mentoring other staff. Sheryl
Sandberg, COO of Facebook, warned of a backlash some time ago. This lack of interest in
mentoring female colleagues “undoubtedly will decrease the opportunities women have at
work… The last thing women need right now is even more isolation. Men vastly outnumber
women as managers and senior leaders, so when they avoid, ice out, or exclude women, we pay
the price,”

Harassment needs to be identified and immediately stopped, At some point in their career,
one in four women has been subjected to harassment at work. Management has a responsibility
to ensure they step in early to both identify and stop harassment, but unfortunately, in many
companies, cases of it happening are often ignored. If there are any signs of harassment taking
place within your workplace – no matter how big or small – you need to stamp it out
immediately and ensure a proper process is implemented to prevent such cases from happening
again. Such activity being overlooked is a clear indication that more profound gender inequality
is happening within the organization, so you have the responsibility to take ownership of the
problem.

In a conclusion, most of these trends are can do for every archival institution or every group of
employees, and they are worth considering in attempt to curb gender biases within an institution.
Gender disparity is only one facet of a much larger issue of equity within an institution

However, by making efforts to break down traditional gender roles in the classroom, i can better
prepare employees to seek knowledge and participate more fully in group projects and other
opportunities in many fields, regardless of their gender.