Expanding the suite of measures of gender-based discrimination: gender differences in ablution facilities in South Africa

Renier Steyn

doi:10.4102/sajems.v15i2.212

Abstract

International treaties, national legislation and local by-laws all advocate the equal treatment of men and women, but claims of gender-based discrimination continue. Indicators of discrimination against women, including employment ratios and differences in income, show that there have been considerable gains in the recent past. These measures are, however, often biased. In this study a different, specific and concrete method of describing and detecting discrimination is presented, namely the difference in the number of ablution facilities provided for each gender group in public spaces. Ablution facilities at airports, train stations and shopping centres in four major South African cities (N=128) were inspected. Medium to large differences in the respective number of facilities were found (eta2 .05 to .13), with women receiving fewer service facilities than men. These results suggest that, despite progressive legislation and vigorous affirmative action in South Africa, local women are still being discriminated against on a very concrete, visible level. The effectiveness of the measurement tool is also discussed.

Highlights

Both the 1996 Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations, 1948) promote the principle that all people are equal and that all individuals should have equal access to the resources of their countries
2 Purpose and objectives of the research The purpose of this article is to introduce an alternative measure of gender bias, a measure based on tangible evidence, to be used in conjunction with other measures in order to provide a comprehensive picture of the extent of the progress relating to the elimination of gender-based discrimination
Reliability refers, inter alia, to the stability or consistency of the measure. This is the terminal aspect of the measure and is traditionally reported as the correlation between the scores collected at Time 1 and Time 2 (Rosnow & Rosenthal, 2008; Shaughnessy et al, 2009; Terre Blanche et al, 2006). When it comes to this study, would the data collected during 2010 correspond with the data that could be collected in 2012? Reliability refers to the level of consensus between raters on a specific dimension (Rosnow & Rosenthal, 2008)

Summary

Introduction

Both the 1996 Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations, 1948) promote the principle that all people are equal and that all individuals should have equal access to the resources of their countries. The Employment Equity Act in particular refers to the affirmation of women’s rights in light of previous discrimination (South Africa, 1998) This suggests that women were treated differently and reductively in the past and that this situation may be continuing today. Quite often the per capita income generated by women is used as an indicator of gender-based discrimination This method is, skewed as a measure of equality because some women may prefer to be, at least temporarily, unemployed or employed on a more flexible basis, for example by occupying part-time positions. This affects their employment numbers and the average income they earn (Cascio, 2010; Leopold & Harris, 2009)

Objectives

Results

Conclusion