Since last year, my company had been axing their staff. There was a first round of headcount reduction in October last year, a second round in December last year, a third round in February this year, a fourth round in September this year, and apparently, I heard there will be another round in November / December this year.
So far, I have been "saved". Apparently only those that are redundant (due to advanced technology) and those that are considered "overpaid" were retrenched. Since there is no one who can do my job (except my boss) and I am definitely not being "overpaid" for what I am doing, I consider myself lucky (or unlucky?) that I have not been given the pink slip.
However, our Human Resource Director has not been so lucky. All along, she had to do the dirty work of signing the retrenchment letters of those staff that had been axed. Needless to say, many people bear a grudge against her for breaking their rice bowls.
But it is not her fault. It was the management's decision to retrench those people. The Human Resource department does not have any say at all, they only had to do what was told. But the Human Resource Director, being the only female in an ExCo of men, is now asked to go.
Word got out that the men are not happy about a woman in authority. Wonder if that is true? If so, can this constitute sexual discrimination in the workplace? And now that she is gone, coincidentally one of the men will be taking over her department, making an all-male ExCo.
I do not know the entire situation, so I cannot fully comment or judge. But if this is indeed true, then it is sad to see that after a decade being in the twenty-first century and women being empowered for fifty years or so, this kind of thing still happens. Is there anything wrong with a woman being in authority?
This does not just happen at workplaces. Even in families, parents always tell their sons not to go for a woman who is too capable, saying that a woman should care for the family. I have already emphasised that a powerful and capable woman does not mean she is a bad wife and mother. Look at my mum. She is definitely a good wife and mother, yet a powerful, intelligent, capable and efficient worker too.
Because of her personality, it is hard for people to get along with her, no doubt, since she is considered a pushing, perfectionist "slave-driver" with very high expectations on everyone, but that does not make her less of a wife and mother. She contributed much more to this family than my dad ever had. She takes care of my paternal grandmother much better than my dad. She takes care and spends time with us more than my dad ever had. And she is a much more efficient worker than my dad ever is.
Yet even for someone like my mum, she has had her own fair share of struggles too. She had told me how in her early days, when she was promoted, there were men who were not happy about it as they felt it their due to be promoted over a woman. Hence she had to work doubly, triply, hard to prove her worth. And she was not even paid as much as a man in her same position.
Even now, women are paid just eighty-five percent of a man's pay in the same rank and position. Hence, if a man is earning lower than a woman, it means she is higher ranking than him, and he is not as educated as her. Which is why women, in general, will of course look for a man who is her equal and not someone below her.
But although a woman is able to accept a man below her (for instance, she has a Masters and he only has a mere degree), men, in general, are still not able to accept a woman who is higher than her, and earning more, being more capable at the workplace. Men still think they are the providers and hence women have to do their bidding and listen to them and not be better.
It is very hard to find a man who is not threatened by a woman's intelligence, education, rank, capability and success. Even if we manage to find such a man, parents will play a part, and from my experiences with local men, they tend to sway to their mother's words. Their mother can just make one comment about the girl they are seeing, and the girl will be dropped like a rock, even though the comment need not be necessarily negative.
Sometimes I really feel sad about things like these. In this time and age where women are expected to work and contribute to the household, yet men still expect women to give in and do their bidding, it is the men who have not moved with the times, not the women. If men are not able to face up that women are indeed getting more educated, intelligent and capable, then the government is indeed justified to feel concern about the growing number of singles and declining number of marriages.
Perhaps instead of giving baby bonus or encouraging singles to find partners and settle down, they can first change the mentality that it is alright to be with a high-powered woman, and that it will only benefit the man to find a woman better than him as she will be able to contribute more. Just like what our Minister Mentor's late wife had done, which is why he can become such a powerful figure, and not a mere ordinary person.
As the saying goes, "A successful man always has a woman behind". It is true! A successful man not only has a woman behind, but a very capable woman at that! Because if the woman is not capable, he will never be able to achieve success.
So it is up to the men whether they choose to be successful, or choose to continue living a mundane heartlander's life, with no progression and no improvement. Then I pity their children, who will suffer because their parents did not make the right choice in their way of life.
So far, I have been "saved". Apparently only those that are redundant (due to advanced technology) and those that are considered "overpaid" were retrenched. Since there is no one who can do my job (except my boss) and I am definitely not being "overpaid" for what I am doing, I consider myself lucky (or unlucky?) that I have not been given the pink slip.
However, our Human Resource Director has not been so lucky. All along, she had to do the dirty work of signing the retrenchment letters of those staff that had been axed. Needless to say, many people bear a grudge against her for breaking their rice bowls.
But it is not her fault. It was the management's decision to retrench those people. The Human Resource department does not have any say at all, they only had to do what was told. But the Human Resource Director, being the only female in an ExCo of men, is now asked to go.
Word got out that the men are not happy about a woman in authority. Wonder if that is true? If so, can this constitute sexual discrimination in the workplace? And now that she is gone, coincidentally one of the men will be taking over her department, making an all-male ExCo.
I do not know the entire situation, so I cannot fully comment or judge. But if this is indeed true, then it is sad to see that after a decade being in the twenty-first century and women being empowered for fifty years or so, this kind of thing still happens. Is there anything wrong with a woman being in authority?
This does not just happen at workplaces. Even in families, parents always tell their sons not to go for a woman who is too capable, saying that a woman should care for the family. I have already emphasised that a powerful and capable woman does not mean she is a bad wife and mother. Look at my mum. She is definitely a good wife and mother, yet a powerful, intelligent, capable and efficient worker too.
Because of her personality, it is hard for people to get along with her, no doubt, since she is considered a pushing, perfectionist "slave-driver" with very high expectations on everyone, but that does not make her less of a wife and mother. She contributed much more to this family than my dad ever had. She takes care of my paternal grandmother much better than my dad. She takes care and spends time with us more than my dad ever had. And she is a much more efficient worker than my dad ever is.
Yet even for someone like my mum, she has had her own fair share of struggles too. She had told me how in her early days, when she was promoted, there were men who were not happy about it as they felt it their due to be promoted over a woman. Hence she had to work doubly, triply, hard to prove her worth. And she was not even paid as much as a man in her same position.
Even now, women are paid just eighty-five percent of a man's pay in the same rank and position. Hence, if a man is earning lower than a woman, it means she is higher ranking than him, and he is not as educated as her. Which is why women, in general, will of course look for a man who is her equal and not someone below her.
But although a woman is able to accept a man below her (for instance, she has a Masters and he only has a mere degree), men, in general, are still not able to accept a woman who is higher than her, and earning more, being more capable at the workplace. Men still think they are the providers and hence women have to do their bidding and listen to them and not be better.
It is very hard to find a man who is not threatened by a woman's intelligence, education, rank, capability and success. Even if we manage to find such a man, parents will play a part, and from my experiences with local men, they tend to sway to their mother's words. Their mother can just make one comment about the girl they are seeing, and the girl will be dropped like a rock, even though the comment need not be necessarily negative.
Sometimes I really feel sad about things like these. In this time and age where women are expected to work and contribute to the household, yet men still expect women to give in and do their bidding, it is the men who have not moved with the times, not the women. If men are not able to face up that women are indeed getting more educated, intelligent and capable, then the government is indeed justified to feel concern about the growing number of singles and declining number of marriages.
Perhaps instead of giving baby bonus or encouraging singles to find partners and settle down, they can first change the mentality that it is alright to be with a high-powered woman, and that it will only benefit the man to find a woman better than him as she will be able to contribute more. Just like what our Minister Mentor's late wife had done, which is why he can become such a powerful figure, and not a mere ordinary person.
As the saying goes, "A successful man always has a woman behind". It is true! A successful man not only has a woman behind, but a very capable woman at that! Because if the woman is not capable, he will never be able to achieve success.
So it is up to the men whether they choose to be successful, or choose to continue living a mundane heartlander's life, with no progression and no improvement. Then I pity their children, who will suffer because their parents did not make the right choice in their way of life.
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