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For every decision we make we must ask if the decision will have different
consequences for men and women and if it perpetuates unequal gender relations.
Every decision we make must be just and derive from the basic value that all humans
are equal.
We must introduce and discuss methods in our work that increase gender equality
and strengthen the work for gender equality.
We must follow up and evaluate our activities and ensure that they are fair and equal.
GENDER AND ATTITUDE
It is one thing to understand gender equality intellectually and to have ideas about how
gender equality should work. It is another thing to take the fight for it into our everyday
lives. To take responsibility for the culture and attitudes we all have and to strive to change
these takes courage, respect and consciousness.
We can start with our own work. How does our portfolio group work? Is it organized to
suit both the men and women and how do we relate to each other and treat each other?
There are many ways of exercising power. The Norwegian gender professor Berith Aas has
presented five ways in which men – consciously or subconsciously - leverage their
power to subjugate women and women’s culture:
1.
Make invisible
: When one avoids listening or speaking to another person - by going
to the toilet, reading paper, or texting on the phone – that person is made invisible.
The person feels unimportant, humiliated and uninterested in engagement.
2.
Ridicule
: To make fun at other’s expense.
3.
Withhold information
: In this way you keep people ignorant. Decisions are made
elsewhere – on the golf course, the pub, the sauna - where not everyone is present.
4.
Double punish
: Whatever you do is wrong. This creates a feeling of being
inadequate.
5.
Impose guilt and shame
: The one who is subject to assault blames herself. When
the environment blames the victim, it is likely she will do so herself.
This is actually much more common than we think. Be observant in meetings and you will
recognize some of this behavior.
Read more in a report about the five techniques of domination: