Reflective Writing for Sustaining Human Rights - MyAssignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theReflective Writing for Sustaining Human Rights. Answer: The phrase, human rights might have a broad definition, but when it is narrowed down to women rights, it takes a more specific direction. This reflective paper will dwell on the women rights. Let us first begin by understanding what women rights are. Women rights are those rights claimed by women, which aim to establish equality between men and women (George, 2015). Focusing on New Zealand, the efforts to fight for these rights are now evident. However, perfect situations are rare, the same case gender equality cannot be completely achieved at work places. Let's now reflect on how the women rights on employment have affected the society. In the earlier days, women used to face a lot of discrimination in the workplace, especially in matters related to opportunities and wages. hanks to New Zealand, the government on its gender equality policies as well as women who have tirelessly fought for women rights at the workplace the rate of gender inequality has greatly been reduced (Bonner, 2012). Moreover, gender discrimination is in itself unproductive at the workplace. Apart from undermining the female gender and paying them low wages, it makes the women lose touch with their work and hence the productivity of the organization is lowered since women are hampered from taking leadership roles in organizations. Therefore, they are not able to contribute their knowledge and skills (George, 2015). The most common types of gender discrimination that were previously being exercised included, wage gaps, sexual harassment, unequal opportunities and lack of involvement in decision-making. Despite the efforts and policies that aim to curb gender discrimination, there are still cases of gender discrimination that goes unnoticed. The main reason that such cases fail to be noticed is due to the reason that men are viewed superior to women (Hurley, 2012). However, there are occupations that men do not prefer to engage in, yet they are suitable for women. Such opportunities include caregivers. However, the society as a whole has viewed these preferences in occupations as being sexist. Another sector that has seen women get many employment opportunities is the hospitality industry. Moreover, the hospitality industry seems to acknowledge women rights as the employment of both genders seem to be equal as well as equal opportunities than any other industries in New Zealand (Kabasakal Arat, 2011). On the other hand, women should not complain too much as they also get some advantages that men do not, for instance, women are likely to get help or assistance on a particular issue as opposed to men. This can be viewed as a way of compensating for the inequalities in other areas of the work. Also, the ministry of social development has shown a kind gesture towards realizing the need for gender equality as it gives equal benefits most of which the bigger percentage that receives the benefit are women. Also, women are hardworking and likely to dominate areas that are male dominated due to their hard work (Kabasakal Arat, 2011). In New Zealand when we look at the unemployment rate, it is found that women are highly unemployed. The main reason behind this is the fact that men tend to get high qualifications in education thus having many opportunity openings than women. Another reason for the unemployment rate is that women mostly have other duties to take care such as house chores of which forces them to take part-time jobs (Lewis, 2015). Moreover, women have encircled themselves in a belief that they are only supposed to stay at home and worry about house chores while men go to work. This further jeopardizes the fight against gender discrimination. The fight for women rights to vote was spearheaded by Kate Shepherded in 1892. This saw New Zealand becoming the first country to grant women a right to vote. According to George, (2015), the New Zealand parliament policies and regulations did not give women the right to stand for parliament. This remained so until the first female, Elizabeth McCombs became the first female member of parliament in New Zealand (Paul, 2012). This also saw the rise in the number of women in parliament up to nine percent by 1981. Up until now, the New Zealand parliaments consist of thirty one percent women. During the colonial period, women in New Zealand did not have protection rights or privileges to work. Women served only as housewives and could only stay at home in most cases looking after the children and preparing food for their working husbands. Equal pay right was enacted in 1972, which stipulated that men and women who work at the same job level should as well be paid equally (Silliman, 2014). Another milestone that further promoted the rights for women is the 1985 act that granted parental leave to women who are in their final stages of pregnancy which is to extend until the child is three to six months old. This closely followed by paid parental leave in 2002, which allows mothers to earn while away from work looking after the child. Moreover, the law also considered men, in that, men could also ask for parental leave to go and look after the child for the remaining period, in the case that the mother had to go back to work (Sweetman, 2015). The New Zealand legislation on ge nder equality is now making women successful as they have allowed them to work as opposed to the previous law. Equal rights have been one of the most top priority of New Zealand government. Numerous improvements have been made to ensure women are given equal rights as men in the workplace. Equal pay for equal work, this approach advocates that regardless of which gender has accomplished the task, the value attributed to the task should be equally compensated whether it is a man or a woman did the job (Tinker, 2016). Executing equal pay for work of equal value principles is one of the interventions that have seen a reduction in undervaluation of women in male dominated work. The standard practice in New Zealand, consist of addressing the gender pay gap foe employees in relation to the median hourly rate. The New Zealand Government has advocated that women be provided with paid parental leave (PPL) after the birth of a child (Wollstonecraft, Williams, 2013). However, there is still a lack of consensus on the criteria to determine the duration of leave as well as the level of pay. Regardless of all that has been achieved there is still need for robust mechanisms, such as legislation, which are required to further drive the gender equity agenda so as to realize employment equity. This calls for commitment from the political broad as well as public consensus. This is to be accompanied by adjustments in providing the early-childhood education funding and ensure its availability in the rural areas where it is scarce. This is because parents in the rural areas are unable to access it as they work on non-standard hours hence no time to access this services. (Lewis, 2015). Conclusion Women rights has been an endless struggle in an effort to equality at work places as well as in the society. However gender equality has not yet been established. I have realized that in the modern society, women has gradually advanced to handle roles that were previously designated for men. This has also contributed to the economic development in a big way. The theme on women rights is important to me, as I come from the Chinese community where women are viewed as inferior to men. However, civilization that is taking place in my society, is slowly getting to realize that both genders are equal and as such they should be treated equally. References Bonner, M. (2012).Sustaining human rights(1st ed.). University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State Univ. Press. George, B. (2015).In pursuit of equal rights(1st ed.). [Washington]: The League. Hurley, J. (2012).Women's rights(1st ed.). San Diego, Calif.: Greenhaven Press. Kabasakal Arat, Z. (2011). Womens rights as human rights.UN Chronicle,45(3), 9-13. https://dx.doi.org/10.18356/d16204cd-en Lewis, H. (2015). Human Rights of Women: National and International Perspectives, and: Reconceiving Reality: Women and International Law (review).Human Rights Quarterly,17(3), 576-582. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/hrq.1995.0025 Paul, K. (2012). Women in the Front Line: Human Rights Violations against Women, an Amnesty International Report.Human Rights Quarterly,13(3), 432. https://dx.doi.org/10.2307/762632 Silliman, J. (2014).Undivided rights(1st ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: South End Press. Sweetman, C. (2015).Women and rights(1st ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxfam. Tinker, C. (2016). Human Rights for Women: The U. N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.Human Rights Quarterly,3(2), 32. https://dx.doi.org/10.2307/761855 Wollstonecraft, M., Williams, Z. (2013).A vindication of the rights of woman(1st ed.).