The private sector has an important contribution to make towards the achievement of gender equality. The increased participation of women in the labour market and economy in general is a positive, for developing a strong and broad skills base for the economy. The challenge is to ensure this leads to women's economic empowerment and does not further exacerbate inequalities between women and men. The guidelines proposed in this document have been developed through an analysis of internationally accepted definitions of gender equality and gender mainstreaming:

• Gender equality entails that the underlying causes of discrimination are systematically identified and removed in order to give women and men equal opportunities in every sphere of life. However, we must remember that same treatment does not always lead to equal results. Therefore sometimes there may be need to treat women and men differently, to achieve sameness in results.

• Gender mainstreaming involves the incorporation of gender considerations into all policies, programmes and practices so that at every stage, an analysis is made of the effects for women and men. There is no area of work, which is gender-neutral.

These guidelines have been drawn based on principles, values, and obligations contained in: The South African Constitution, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, the Charter for Effective Equality, the Reconstruction and Development Programme, the Employment Equity Act and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.

1. Serve as a tool and framework for enhancing gender equality in the private sector, particularly in the work-place.
2. Enable business to integrate gender into key organisational practices
3. Stimulate reflection, provide some direction and to drive action.

The key goal of GenderLink is:

• To provide business leadership and management a framework for mainstreaming gender equality.

Some of the target groups who will find this tool useful are:

• Business leaders and policy makers,
• Employment equity and affirmative action specialists
• Managers, especially Human Resource Managers
• Organisational Development specialists.

These guidelines are not meant to be prescriptive neither should they be perceived as a definitive checklist. Rather, managers and organisational leadership can adapt and integrate the guidelines into their own vision, business goals and circumstances. As organisations explore these basic guidelines they should become more adept and competent in gender mainstreaming.

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2. Structure of GenderLink

This framework is structured in the following way:

• Part A describes the key steps that need to be taken in formulating a gender policy.

• Part B provides guidance on aligning human resource policies (recruitment, selection, remuneration, training, and promotion practices) to the objectives of gender equality.
• Part C contains guidelines relating to sexual harassment.

• Part D highlights guidelines in terms of external relations

• Part E addresses how to communicate the gender policy, monitoring and evaluation guidelines.

Women and men organise their lives differently according to their gendered roles. Their participation in decision making processes, access to justice or the legal system and economic resources is not equitable. The manner in which gender relations are defined in the workplace often mirrors the division of labour in the home, where roles are based on gender stereotypes. Thus for example, women tend to be well-represented in positions that are synonymous with motherhood, caring and "nimble fingers". These have limited advancement prospects and lower benefits. Men on the other hand are over-represented in positions that command significant decision-making power, higher salary scales and prospects for advancement. In working towards transformation of gender relations, the rights and responsibilities of women and men at all levels need to be redefined. The formulation of a gender policy is an indication of an organisation’s commitment to this transformation process. A gender policy also promotes a generic understanding of the principles within the entire organisation, and facilitates the continuous monitoring of the policy.

Everybody goes into business for different reasons, and each company has its own business objectives. What all private businesses have in common is that they want to make a profit, and they want to be the best in their field. That being the case, taking gender issues seriously makes good business sense because:

• Women make up over 50% of the South African population. Thus they make up a sizeable percentage of your customers. You may not see them in the car showroom or the computer warehouse. But they certainly make decisions on what is to be bought.
• Women's economic power as consumer is growing. If women are your customers you must strive to keep them happy and meet their needs.
• You enhance your market advantage by catering to and meeting the needs of all your customers in an equitable manner. The woman who gets bad treatment in your business - simply because she is a woman, will certainly tell her friends about it!
• South Africa has now become part of the global business village. Women are now in leadership internationally. If you are not used to dealing with women in senior positions or still have antiquated ideas about the role of women, then you will certainly have problems dealing with high powered women internationally. Imagine yourself assuming that one of the women in a delegation from New Zealand is just there to pour the tea, and she turns out to be the President of the company.
• Women also make up a sizeable percentage of the work-force. Discrimination against female employees is against the law. It also has negative consequences to your brand and company image.
• If you treat your employees well, word gets round. You become the employer of choice.
• It costs money to lose female employees, having trained them and invested in them. Women often leave companies where conditions are bad, they are discriminated against or they are sexually harassed.
• It also costs money to do damage control in the aftermath of sexual harassment or discrimination suits.
• Once your company's image is dented, it will take a long time and money to get back on track.
• Bad practices can divide a workplace into little camps thereby disrupting productivity and working relationships.
• It can never be said enough: a happy work-force is a productive work-force. Unhappy women workers affect the balance sheet.
• If employers thought more about the needs of female workers it would enhance productivity, for example child- care.

Investing in gender equality is therefore not simply about following the law. It is good for your business. It makes you competitive.

• Every organisation or business enterprise is unique.
• Every policy must suit a specific organisational culture and structure.
• Re-look at your business objectives and align gender policies with those objectives.
• Identify where decision-making power is located, and how change can be implemented successfully.
• Get the support of those that matter, particularly that of the Chief Executive, senior management and labour representatives.
• Build enough support within to support the change. Identify a champion who will help in this process. It is about managing change.

• Have clear reasons as to why you want to introduce a gender policy.
• Are the other policies you currently have not sufficient?
• What are you really aiming at?
• How will this dove-tail with your business objectives?

A stand- alone policy or mainstreaming?

There is a lot of debate whether gender policies should be mainstreamed/ integrated into other policies, or whether there should be a stand alone gender policy. There is no simple answer to this. There are both strengths and weaknesses to each strategy.

• Serves as an educational tool

• Shows a clear commitment and will.

• Clear reference framework for concerted work on gender.

• More scope for challenging existing policies and practices by setting new agenda.

• Gender issues will not be lost in a plethora of policies.

The negatives

• Isolation, as policy may be seen as an optional extra rather than integral part of the business plan.
• Marginalisation by other "more important" policies.
• May miss out on other areas that need to be impacted on.
• Rejection by some if seen to be unrelated to other business objectives.
• May mean that individual persons would be saddled with responsibility of implementing and monitoring rather than diffusing throughout the company.

The positives

• Gender issues get integrated throughout the company and in all processes.

• Implementation and monitoring becomes the responsibility of everyone/every department.

• Shows clear commitment to integrate gender in all aspects of business.

The negatives

• May end up with an "everywhere but nowhere", situation, i.e. in a situation where there is not much awareness and commitment to gender issues, "everyone" may claim to be doing something when in fact nothing is being done.
• If not enough care is taken, gender may be side-lined by other agendas under the pretext of "integration", e.g. gender issues getting lost within affirmative action.
• The ability to challenge the status quo may be limited in order to fit in with the existing, "mainstream". In other words there will be a greater tendency to go with the current situation rather than setting new agendas.

Generally a policy should have:

• A clear analysis of the issue/s, i.e. why you want to have a policy at all.
• Statement of principle/mission statement.
• Specific objectives, written as desired out-comes/what you want to achieve. Objectives must always be: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-Bound, (SMART).
• Implementation strategies
• Roles and responsibilities.
• Monitoring and evaluation mechanisms and workable time frames.

Remember!

• The clearer the objectives are articulated the easier it will be to sell the policy.
• The clearer the strategies and specific activities the better it will be to track progress.
• Do not use jargon. It alienates people and it will not help you implement.
• There must be specific persons designated to carry out specific tasks. These can then be held accountable come evaluation time. Do not leave it to, "good-will".
• Try not to load all responsibilities on the Human Resources department, diffuse throughout the organisation.
• Always align whatever you do with the overall business objectives and plan. If necessary review the business objectives to take account of new agendas.

Discrimination in; recruitment, remuneration, inflexible working conditions, as well as insufficient services such as child care continue to restrict employment and advancement opportunities for women. Negative attitudes also stand in the way of women's advancement. Discrimination manifests itself differently across the spectrum of organisational practices. Very often, gender discrimination, (as distinct from sex discrimination), can be very hard to pick out. This is because it is very subtle, it is based on beliefs and practices that have been there for centuries and regarded as "normal". Thus gender policies must be crafted very carefully challenging aspects that many might take for granted and or that may not appear so obvious.

The following areas of human resource or people development practice should be addressed:

Before going into the specifics there is need to plan and project what your human resource requirements are currently and what they will be in the future. Key questions are:

• Where does the company want to be in five (or more), years time?
• What are the human resource needs now?
• What will be our needs in future?
• What are the key competencies required?
• Can these be built internally through training or do we need to recruit?

This kind of planning will help clearly define the major skills and competencies that you will require. It helps eliminate discriminatory tendencies because you will simply focus on the requirements for the jobs rather than other extraneous factors.

Person specification:

• Include gender awareness in all job specifications.
• If your company intends to employ more women, blacks etc. say so explicitly and encourage them to apply. It is not always sufficient to say that your are "an equal opportunities employer".
• Specifications that will discourage certain groups from applying are not acceptable.
• Include gender competence as a requirement in job specifications. This will enable you to recruit people who have no problems coping with diversity and women's advancement.
• Job titles and specifications that enhance gender stereotypes are not acceptable, e.g. Girl Friday, sales girl.
• Subjective and sexist language or requirements discourage women, for example, "out-going, fun-loving female wanted". Such a specification would automatically discourage some married women with children".

• In order to encourage them apply, include those areas where women have generally greater expertise. In the same vein avoid emphasising those areas where men have tended to predominate.

• Use media that is accessible to women, black women in particular, for example, radio, community radio, magazines or newspapers that are popular among the particular group.
• Encourage women to apply through appropriately worded advertising.
• Reach out to relevant women’s groups, networks, and systems to widen recruitment possibilities.

• All questions must focus on what is required for the job.
• Comparable questions must be posed to female and male incumbents.
• Ensure that gender aware and gender competent persons sit on the selection panel.
• Have some female candidates in every interview, even if the women may not meet all requirements on paper.
• Use gender awareness as criteria for selection, particularly for senior management - if you are serious about gender mainstreaming in your company.

• Subjective and sexist criteria is not acceptable, for example; marital status, dress, physical attributes. These often have no relation to the job.
• If you are using psychometric tests, ensure that these are not racially, culturally or gender biased.

• There must be equal pay for equal work.
• There must be equal pay for work of equal value. For example male messengers tend to get paid more than female office cleaners. This is not acceptable.
• Women are income earners in their own right. So paying women so called "pin money", or lower wages on the basis that they do not really need it because their husbands will earn more, is not only discriminatory it is against the law.
• Jobs must be graded in terms of their content and value, not in terms of which sex does them.
• Women are entitled to benefits in their own right, for example a married woman can choose to be on her own medical aid, not on her husband’s and she can put him on her medical aid as her spouse if she wishes.
• Performance management and appraisal must be equitable and not subtly discriminate against women.
• Job descriptions must reflect the full complexity of the job.
• Job evaluations processes and methodologies must be fair and equitable. Subjective criteria and considerations must be eliminated.
• Use evaluation criteria which reasonably reflects the range of skills in the entire work-force.
• Recognise and reward certain responsibilities and skills that women have and bring to the job. There is a tendency for example to under-value women's co-ordination role value "supervision" - because it is done by males.
• The scoring system in job evaluations must also value the skills and demands in jobs done by women.
• Recognise and reward skills that an employee gains through work, life, and informal training. Because the majority of (black), women have not had the same access to formal training as men, there is need to look at other skills that women bring to the work-place.
• Vague language, ambiguous or subjective evaluative criteria must be eliminated.
• Have an objective way of assessing skills for example competency based assessment, rather than relying on the length of service or the "reputation", of a person.
• Acknowledge and reward women's hard work and level of responsibility particularly in what are seen as typically female jobs or in lowly paid jobs.
• Measuring levels of responsibility only in terms of supervision may obscure the amount of work involved in jobs women do. For instance, secretaries tend not to supervise anyone, yet they perform a very wide range of tasks.
• Performance evaluation should not penalise women for trying balance their social and professional responsibilities. For example judging a woman who can not work over-time less "committed" than her male colleague.

• Promotion must be based on a valid set of clearly articulated criteria.
• Recognise women's disproportionate family responsibilities and do not use these as an excuse to down-grade them.
• You can have a deliberate policy to promote certain groups e.g. Black women to particular posts. Spell out this policy and the reasons for it.
• Where the above happens this should be accompanied by training, counselling and mentoring to avoid "tokenism".

• Increase training expenditure on women in organisational levels where they are under-represented.
• Deliberately train women for jobs that have traditionally been men’s preserve, e.g. technical fields.

• Increase expenditure on basic literacy training.
• Implement gender sensitivity and awareness workshops for all in the organisation from the shop floor to senior management.
• Ensure that training times, facilities, and opportunities are appropriate and friendly to women’s participation. For example organising a three-week training away from the place where women with young families live would be a way of discouraging them from participating!

• Where possible have child and dependent care facilities.
• Ensure enough leave and benefit provisions for women and men to balance family and professional responsibilities, e.g. paid maternity/paternity leave.
• Provisions that enable both women and men to fulfil their social responsibilities must not be touted as "women friendly", but as family friendly.
• Do not just comply with the minimum legal requirements, do what would be most beneficial to all workers and would make you attract and retain the best employees.
• Do not penalise women for trying to balance professional and social responsibilities, e.g. not promoting a woman whose child is ill or has a disability.

• Everyday working practices must not exclude anyone or make them uncomfortable. For example: long working hours, and holding meetings in drinking places.
• Do not make assumptions about what women "should do", e.g. pouring out the tea at meetings, or taking minutes.
• Do not make assumptions about what women can’t do, e.g. going on over-seas trips.
• Eliminate sexist practices and cultures, for example dress codes that make women appear like sex objects, or hiring female strippers to perform at a company retreat.

There are many misconceptions about what affirmative action is and what it entails. It is therefore necessary to point out the following:

• Simply put, it is about levelling the playing field, to enable those who have been disadvantaged to come in and participate.
• It is about honestly confronting the fact that some of the privileges and powers certain groups have currently were never based on merit or any objective criteria, but simply on race and sex.
• Affirmative action is not the same as a quota system.
• It is not about tokenism or simply promoting just anyone without skills or qualifications.
• It is not the same as preferential treatment.
• Affirmative action is about supporting competency, and opening up spaces for the previously excluded.
• Collect data on the current situation and what needs to be addressed. For example; how many women are in top management? How many are black?
• Having a clear picture of the situation at the beginning will enable you to monitor the impact of your affirmative action policy.
• Set specific priorities and targets in respect of women, black women in particular.
• Monitor implementation of the policy. Address obstacles.
• Monitor women’s participation in decision making processes and address gender based problems.
• Affirmative action policies must go beyond increasing numbers, to enhancing qualitative participation.

• Avoid tokenism.

All human beings have the right to be treated with dignity and respect. Sexual harassment is a manifestation of the power relations existent in society, between women and men. It is rife in the workplace, because the majority in positions of power and authority are men.

Some of these men abuse their positions of power culminating in sexual harassment.

Sexual harassment is one of the biggest problems affecting women’s entry, retention, productivity and advancement in the work-place. It is therefore not only in the women’s interests but in the company’s as well, to have a sexual harassment policy and redress system.

• The definition of sexual harassment must be clear and understandable to all employees.
• Structure a reporting channel which is friendly to complainants. Insisting that all cases must come through the normal hierarchy might be problematic since it is often in this channel that the harassment comes from in the first place.
• Investigation and disciplinary procedures should be effected in a short time frame. Dragging cases further traumatises complainants.
• Set and effect strong penalties. This will send a message to both complainants and perpetrators that the company takes sexual harassment seriously.
• Provide counselling where possible. If not provide possibility for complainants to take time off to get counselling, as well as some financial support.
• Conduct awareness raising programmes to sensitise both women and men at all levels of the company.
• Provide possibility for women to report cases anonymously e.g. "suggestion boxes".

No company can afford to let gender equality simply end at its own door-step. It is also important for a company to reflect its seriousness on gender through its external services, relations and the image that it projects. Women are key consumers, customers, or clients, and companies need to review how they develop relations with them. Some issues to consider in formulating policy are:

• Maintain good customer relations with both male and female customers.
• Women are customers in their own right. They must be treated as such. Unless the female client asks you to, do not bring her husband or partner into her dealings with you.
• Front line staff should be trained to treat all clients with the same standards.
• Marketing and advertising briefs to agencies must make it clear that women are to be represented positively.
• To promote women’s advancement, a company can have a definitive policy on procuring services from female owned businesses.
• Corporate social investment activities can also include job creation, education, early learning activities that focus on skills upliftment among certain groups of women.

A policy is as good as the people who are meant to use it. Therefore a lot of effort must be put into communicating the policy at all levels so that it is implemented. In addition, the effectiveness of a policy must be monitored and evaluated. Doing this regularly will help you assess the appropriateness, and adequacy of a policy, and if need be, you can make changes.

• Build an information base on gender issues so that all people can have access. Gender is a relatively new discipline and there is still need for companies to learn what it means not only to be gender sensitive but to be gender competent.
• Produce information in a way that is appropriate and accessible to all. For example written pamphlets may not be useful to those who can not read.
• Facilitate training and gender awareness sessions. Gender may be built into programmes like diversity training.
• Linking with leadership and management training will make gender training more effective as staff and management will see its necessity rather than as an "optional extra".
• Allocate sufficient time and resources to communicate and educate about gender. It takes more than one communication session to gain understanding and application to day to day activity.
• Draw links between gender and race. In the South African context this will enhance the message.
• Designate specific persons to monitor. These must have a high level of authority so that they can be heard and taken seriously at all levels of the organisation. Consider establishing a diversity Board/Committee that has line management representation (male and female) charged with monitoring and reporting to the company executive team.
• Set time frames for reporting and comprehensive formats in which the reports should be done.
• Have both qualitative and quantitative indicators for assessing change and effectiveness.
• Involve all key stakeholders in monitoring and evaluation processes, particularly the women themselves. This will foster ownership of the policy and its impact.
• Involve your external partners in monitoring and evaluation and ensure that they understand your policy and the outcome you are seeking to achieve.