14th April, 2015
By Femi Bamisile
It is lamentable however that the law did limit its applicability to certain organizations. A critical look at the statute, particularly the definition section thereof shows that the word employer is defined to specifically exclude employers of fewer than six persons, as well as social clubs, fraternal, charitable, educational and religious organizations and corporations. Further, the word employee is defined to exclude domestic servants and individuals employed by their parents, spouses and children.
The bold step taken by New York in enacting law against discrimination in employment was soon followed by the State of New Jersey. Massachusetts and Connecticut followed suit in 1946 and 1947 respectively.
Perhaps it will be helpful to briefly examine the British experience before focusing on how the issue of discrimination in workplaces manifest in the Nigeria socio-economic milieu. It has been noted that immigration into Great Britain is not simply a recent phenomenon. Irish, Jewish, Afro-Caribbean, Indian and Asian people have in their numbers migrated to and settled in Britain. Commenting on the background to the migration of various minority ethnic groups to Britain, Jones, T stated that:
“A number of factors led to the migration of people to Britain from its former colonies…. Perhaps the most important was the contrast in terms of economic well being between Britain and many of the countries it had canonized. People were attracted by the prospect of a higher standard of living, and more developed education and health systems. Because of specific labour shortages affecting jobs then considered undesirable in some of the main conurbations, the early immigrants had very good prospects of finding work”
The migrants soon found that their life chances were adversely constrained by widespread racial discrimination. Jones remarked that “they tended to be in the more poorly paid jobs which the indigenous population did not want and had to live in cheap, low quality housing”
It has become apparent at this point that the issues of discrimination and group inequality can never be understood in isolation from the particular society in which it is alleged to be occurring. It is notable that historically in America, the minority black people were excluded from economic and political power, but today, after a long winding process of visible policy and attitudinal changes engendered by anti racist laws, America has its first Afro-American president in the person of Barack Obama. In South Africa, the white minorities under the notorious satanic Apartheid Regime dominated the political and economic terrains of the society for many tortuous years, having the black majority with menial jobs to do and slums to dwell. But the experience has changed today such that the black majorities have for some good number of years now held political powers.
It is apposite to examine the Nigerian experience on this burning issue of equality and non-discrimination in the work places. The observation of Simisola O. Akintola (then a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria, on women under the Nigerian law captures the inequality and discrimination issue faced by the female gender in the Nigerian society. She posits that “it is far from unusual to encounter the attitude, both on the part of individuals and of the legal system, that the rightful place of the female is in the home, bringing up children, and for that purpose, a lesser degree of education is required than will be necessary for her brothers; neither will she require independent earning power because her father and later on, her husband, will provide for her in economic terms. Consequently with such view, the law does not have to grant her equal or identical right with her male peers”.
In a paper delivered by Professor Jadesola Akande in May, 1998, she lamented the grievous issue of apartheid against the female gender, particularly in view of the kinds of economic and domestic activities in which the female folk are engaged in African societies. She stated that “traditionally, African women are supposed to take care of cooking, cleaning the house, bearing and raising children, including the chief responsibility for finding food for them as well as assisting with ploughing and hoeing, planting, weeding, fertilizing, harvesting, transporting, and marketing produce. They spend hours per day in fetching water and firewood and still manage to produce 80% of the food and supplement or entirely provide family income by working in the informal sectors as traders and producers.” The learned author’s disgust is better expressed when she stated that “despite the strong work ethic, in many societies they are not supposed to own land, control money or disobey or divorce their husband, at the risk of physical chastisement, social ostracism and even community sanctions”.
Even in modern times, the present situation of women is characterized by lack of education and training, particularly at higher level and in science and technology lack of access to modern technology, excessive work burdens, and lack of work-related skills among others. It is equally noted that women acting as trailblazers in occupying positions or entering the hallowed portals previously banned to women, find that in such situations, they have to work thrice as hard and be twice as qualified as most men to be able to rise above such negative environment and the sometimes spiteful and deliberate lack of support services.
From the foregoing, it is safe to argue that the workplace in Nigeria and indeed Africa, still remains skewed in favour of the able male folk. The workplace, by and large, still remains disproportionately managed and controlled in manners showing discrimination and inequality against women, children, the disabled and persons living with HIV/AIDS. In more recent times, the aging are also being discriminated against despite the advantage of maturity, experience and skill in their favour. The preference of modern employers are people within the age bracket of 25 t o 35 years.
…to be continued