SPEECOM speech

Thesis statement: Gender discrimination is still prevalent in the

Asian workplace setting, thus, laws and bills are implemented
in order to address this growing issue, both locally and
internationally.

Brief background

Discrimination, in general, has been a prevalent issue
throughout history. There are different types of discrimination
such as racial, age and gender. This is very much still a
problem in some parts of the world today such as the China,
Japan and the Philippines. Due to this, many laws were made
to protect the rights of employees from it.

According to Kaye (1982), the laws addressing
discrimination are made to prevent others from treating people
indifferently by grouping them into a common classification.
These laws would provide protection for both the employee
and employer.

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MAIN POINT: Factors

Media

Media is growing and since our generation is known as
the technological one, we are all exposed to ads, commercials,
and etc., which promote gender discrimination one way or
another. Since media is literally everywhere, we have grown
accustomed to the mentality that it is definitely okay to
portray men as the leaders and women as the underdogs,
because of how society has viewed them ever since.

Lack of social and economic power

Usually, it is believed that employment of women in the
society leads to key issues such as pregnancy and sexual
harassment in the workplace. The government, then, should
address the need of specific protection of womens rights in
the workplace.

Misallocation of workplace authorities

Based on the research conducted, there is a great
underrepresentation of women in authority in the workplace. A
result of which is that there is an unequal distribution of
authority between genders despite having the same work and
educational experience.

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MAIN POINT: Effects

Financial Aspect

Laws were made to address discrimination in the
workplace. One of which is the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Their
purpose for making this law is to protect the rights of
employees by basing their income on the job they have done
for the company (Badgett, 1995).

Sociological Aspect

Conflict in the workplace is unavoidable. Example of
which are disagreements on the part of wages, compensation,
benefit, and working hours given to an employee. It is
important to resolve disputes among workers since it would
affect not only the operations of the company but also the
interest of both the employer and employees.

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MAIN POINT: Laws and Bills

China

China is one of the most famous countries known for its
tradition kept up until now since they have great respect for
their ancestors. It has been known that the founding of the
Peoples Republic of China back in 1949 marked the
elimination of gender discrimination against women and
because of this, womens participation in the labor force has
risen greatly. Despite these, an amount of women are still
being discriminated for their gender, this includes
discriminatory hiring practice, the lack of social insurance
benefits, and various forms of harassment (Li, A. & Yang, S.,
2009).

There are various laws created for the legal protection
of gender equality at work in China, and this includes the
following: Constitutional Principle (1954), Regulation
Governing Labour Protection for Female Staff and Workers
(1988), Labor Law (1994), Law on the Protection of Womens
Rights and Interests (1992, revised 2005), Employment
Promotion Law (2008) and Employment Contract Law (2008).

Philippines

The Philippines comes hand in hand with Singapore
and Malaysia; these countries focuses domestic violence.

Based on research, particular ministries and
organizations do not encourage couples only living together; if
they are not married, they do not merit protection. Women, in
this case, face the risks of physical and psychological harm
and their rights are unprotected, deeming them irrelevant.
Filipina women, therefore, are deprived of their right to be
protected and right to be given employment opportunities
because of what society has dictated. Women are never
valued as individuals but only as daughters, mothers or wives.

Japan

Feminists in the Japanese setting demanded that
women received the same protection, given the instance that
they are part of an institutionalized patriarchy, meaning that
men are more favored upon compared to women.

According to Molony (2000), some Japanese terms
were even created so as to acknowledge the need for gender
equality under the law, and the following are examples: rights
(kenn), womens rights (joken), male-female equality (danjo
byodo), and male-female equal rights (danjo doken). Thus,
the Japanese community or at least those who support
womens rights, really wanted the issue of gender
discrimination to end.

United Nations

A charter for the United Nations was drafted by
delegates from fifty countries for the promotion of the following
aspects: peace and security for every country of the world,
friendly relations among the member countries, and human
freedom and rights.

There was a turning point in history, internationally
protecting the human rights of women in the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
by the United Nations wherein there was a change in the
human rights perspective and individuals began to explore
ways in which women could petition for ways to protect their
human rights.

Article 2 on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
of 1948 entitles all to the rights and freedoms set forth in this
Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race,
colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion,
national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Gender Discrimination International Laws

The Commission, which is part of the United Nations
basically, spearheads the international instruments such as:
Political Rights of Women (1952), Nationality of Married
Women (1957), and the Declaration on the Elimination of
Discrimination Against Women (1976). This Commission has
assisted agencies such as the International Labour
Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Educational
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in developing
programs to improve the condition of women.

The Convention on the Elimination of All forms of
Discrimination Against Women (the Womens Convention) is
legal form of addressing discrimination from a womans
perspective, thus requiring equal treatment between sexes
and if not, the need for a legal response.

Conclusion

But even though these countries aimed for promoting
womens rights most especially in the workplace setting, these
were not successful and there were different reactions to these.
There are still women who are oppressed, judged, and
discriminated thus, there is a need for better implementation of
said laws.