Keisha Shakespeare, Freelance Writer
IT IS 2005 and the world has made remarkable strides in advancing the welfare of women but the laws that govern the fairer sex's employment conditions are still archaic.
A look at the Women (Employment Of) Act, reveals that there is no law mandating female security guards to work at nights. This leaves this large and important segment of the workforce unprotected by the law.
Flair contacted the Ministry of Labour in an attempt to find out if any amendment has been made to the Act. But the Ministry official said there is no amendment and the Ministry has not been getting complaints from the security guards therefore there is no immediate need to amend the law.
The official also stated that the Ministry only deals with more pressing complaints such as vacation leave and we should remember this is not a perfect world. He further stated that the media likes big and elaborate stories but we should not open anything we cannot come out of.
WOMEN AND NIGHT WORK
According to the Women (Employment Of) Act, March 2, 1942.
No woman shall be employed in night work except where night work is:
A. For the purpose of completing work commenced by day and interrupted by some unforeseeable cause, which could not be prevented by reasonable cares.
B. Necessary to preserve raw materials, subject to the rapid deterioration, from certain loss.
C. Of a responsible position of management held by a woman, who is not ordinarily engaged in manual work,
D. Carried on in connection with the preparation, treatment, packing, transportation or shipment of fresh fruit,
E. That of nursing and of caring for the sick,
F. Carried on in a cinematograph or other theatre while such theatre is open to the public,
G. Carried on in connection with hotel or guest-house, or with a bar, restaurant or club, or
H. Carried on by a pharmacist registered under the Pharmacy Act.
The Act also states that total hours of employment (by day and night) that a woman who is permitted to be employed in night work under the provision of paragraphs (G and H) of subsection one, shall in no case exceed 10 hours in any 24.
The proprietor, owner or manager of any industrial undertaking in which any woman is employed in night work contrary to the provisions of this Act, shall be guilty of an offence against this Act, and shall be liable, on summary conviction by a Resident Magistrate, to a fine not exceeding $40.00, or on a second or subsequent conviction for any such offence, to such fine or to imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding six months.
In light of the above, one must wonder, do women know their rights and if the law does not protect them, who will?
