The first Wednesday of each month, the Working Group on Gender Equality of the Latin American and Caribbean Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions, convenes a meeting to socialize each of the axes that make up the Gender Equality and Non-Discrimination Policy of the Organization, such as Organizational Culture.
This is a key component for the success of any institution, such as Supreme Audit Institutions, since it is a system of symbols, values, attitudes, habits and norms that exist in an organization that permeate all its activity and generate a sense of identity among those who work there. Organizational culture thus fulfills two fundamental functions: the first is internal integration, which means that the members of the organization can develop a collective identity and knowledge of the way in which they can work together as a team and with principles in favor of of the institutions. . The second is internal adaptation, that is, the way in which the organization achieves its goals and establishes relationships with other external institutions.
Organizational culture is not immune to gender roles and stereotypes. These can influence the organizational culture and make a difference in the attitude of the institution and its members in different scenarios, compromising both institutional and individual staff performance and generating discriminatory practices that limit the professional career of people, especially women. and other underrepresented groups, such as people with disabilities or indigenous people, hindering the opening and acceptance of the different expressions of diversity in a workplace, generating discriminatory practices that nullify the contributions of diversity in the organization.
Another element that must be considered in the consolidation of a more equitable organizational culture is the reconciliation of work life with personal and family life. In our country, according to the National Survey on the Use of Time (ENUT) of the INEGI, women dedicate, on average, 59.5 hours a week to work, of which, they dedicate 37.9 hours to paid work and another 39.7 hours to unpaid work at home. On average, women work 6.2 hours more a week than men, that is, they work a double, even triple shift. Let us remember the classic work of Simone de Boudoir, the Second Sex, which by the way on French TV can be seen a wonderful documentary about the author, partner of Jean Paul Sartre, one of the most renowned existentialists, as well as characters like Luis Buñuel.
This is common throughout Latin America, since, according to IDB data, women contribute 73% of their time to unpaid work in the home, while men contribute 27%.
This distribution of responsibilities combined with the different gender roles and stereotypes limit the development of women within institutions, hindering their access to management or leadership positions; Therefore, the GTG has recommended promoting the review of SAI regulations that encourage the integration of women and other underrepresented groups in all positions and ensure parity and representation in the SAI staff in general.
This translates into an obstacle to harmonize the participation of women in economic and labor life and to face this situation, however, in institutions such as the ASF of Mexico, the work of women in decision-making is increasingly relevant. decisions.
On the other hand, adopting equality policies makes it possible to generate fairer and more equitable work environments, and with this, favor better accountability.
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