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Special Issue on Gender (in)equalities in South Asia
Submission deadline: June 30, 2014

Guest Editors:
Professor Glenda Strachan Griffith University (g.strachan@griffith.edu.au)
Dr Pavithra Kailasapathy University of Colombo (pavithra.kailasapathy@gmail.com)
Dr Arosha Adikaram University of Colombo (agamwarige@gmail.com)

Overview
Gender (in)equalities in workplaces have emerged as a key concern in the contemporary world of work with concepts and practices such as diversity management, equal treatment, equal opportunity, human rights and human dignity having gained immense popularity and advocacy. Gender (in)equality has become a main item in the HRM agenda (Dickens, 1998) with HRM professionals, policy makers, and educators being very attentive and mindful to the diverse and complex issues related to gender (in)equality in organisations. While areas and issues of gender (in)equality have been in discussion to a great extent in the West, there is a critical need to bring this pressing subject to the forefront and provide space for broader discussion in the South Asian context (which is defined by SAJHRM as comprising of eight countries, namely, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Afghanistan). The aim of this special issue is to provide a platform for research examining gender (in)equalities in South Asia. Researchers and scholars can identify and examine common issues in South Asia as well as highlight country or society specific gender issues.

South Asian countries’ unique traditions, beliefs, work settings and organisational practices present diverse and distinctive gender issues. In addition, cultures in these countries, masculinity for example, play an important role. The incessant increase in women’s participation in the labour market, their upward progress in organisations, their move into non-traditional occupations and industries also pose interesting avenues for exploration. South Asia also has a large number of migrant workers, both women and men. There are issues related to workers in Free Trade Zones, dramatically highlighted by recent deaths of workers due to fires at Bangladesh garment factories and low wages. Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs) and call centers have become a popular trend changing traditional work norms and practices in many South Asian countries. These work settings and trends have created diverse gender issues that need deeper discussion and debate.

The special issue seeks to address relevant issues in this regard, such as,

• What are the impacts of these different trends on gender in organisations and other social settings?
• What are the gender issues that these trends give rise to?
• Is equal treatment practiced in organisations?
• Is equal employment opportunity provided?
• Does occupational segregation, ‘sticky floors’, the ‘glass ceiling’ and so on still exist?
• Does gender impact on leadership?
• How does culture impact on gender (in)equalities?
• How does the legislation system support/hinder gender (in)equality?
• What policy formulation and implementation challenges do gender issues pose to human resource manageme(HRM)? What are the likely strategies to address these challenges?


The papers selected for this special issue will be published in SAJHRM in 2015.

Potential research topics
To fulfil the purpose of the special issue the topics of potential contributions may include, but are not limited to the following subject areas:

• Equal employment opportunities
• Gender pay gap
• Gender/Sexual harassment
• Work-family conflict/balance
• ‘Glass ceiling’/‘glass cliff’/’sticky floors’
• Migrant labour
• Free trade zone workers
• Gender and leadership
• Gender (in)equality in employment law
• Gender in unorganised/informal sector
• Gender and organisational size and profile (such as ownership structure)
• Gender and Corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives
• Gender and HRM disciplines, such as HR planning, HR strategy, recruitment and selection, performance management, rewards management, career management, industrial/employment relations (IR/ER), occupational health & safety (OHS)


Research based on a single South Asian country or comparative/multi-country studies on South Asia (as defined in the aims and scope section of SAJHRM web site) are welcome.

Submissions:
Authors are invited to submit complete unpublished research papers that provide frameworks for understanding gender (in)equalities in South Asia. Research papers may employ a wide variety of methodologies and analyses including qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods approaches, or be conceptual in nature. Authors are also invited to submit interviews, essays/commentaries/case studies and book reviews on the subject.

For more information about the journal, please go to http://www.sagepub.in/journals/Journal202252

Please read through the author guidelines on this site before submitting your paper. Submissions to South Asian Journal of Human Resource Management are made through sajhrm@sagepub.in

Manuscripts should be between 6,000 to 9,000 words and follow the format specified in the submission guidelines. The word limit for interviews, case studies, commentaries and book reviews should be between 2,000 and 5,000 words. Papers submitted will be subject to double-blind peer review process to ensure that this special issue adheres to the journal’s quality standards.

Authors are encouraged to contact the guest editors to seek further clarifications at the email addresses provided at the top.

References:
Adikaram, A. S., Gunewardena, C., & Perera, T. (2011). Sexual harassment in the workplace: The effect of perpetrator attributes and recipient attributes. Sri Lankan Journal of Management, 16 (3 & 4), 63-88.

Desai, M., Majumdar, B., Chakraborty, T., & Ghosh, K. (2011). The second shift: Working women in India. Gender in Management: An International Journal, 26(6), 432-450. doi: 10.1108/17542411111164920

Dickens, L. (1998). What HRM means for gender equality. Human Resource Management Journal, 8(1), 23-40

Fernando, W. D. A., & Cohen, L. (2013). Exploring the interplay between Buddhism and career development: A study of highly skilled women workers in Sri Lanka. Work Employment & Society, 27(6), 1021-1038. doi:10.1177/0950017013481084

Fernando, W. D. A., & Cohen, L. (2011). Exploring the interplay between gender, organizational context and career. Career Development International, 16(6), 553-571. doi: 10.1108/13620431111178326

Gunawardana, S. (2012). Images of Empowerment? Gender, Class and Empowerment in the Sri Lankan Apparel Industry. The British Association for South Asian Studies Annual Conference, The School of Oriental and African Studies, London.

Hewamanne, S. (2011). Negotiating sexual meanings: global discourses, local practices, and Sri Lanka’s Free Trade Zone (FTZ) factory workers. Ethnography, 13 (3), 352-374.

Kailasapathy, P., & Metz, I. (2012). A study of negotiations of exchange relationships in family and at work in Sri Lanka. Journal of Social Issues, 68(4), 790-813.

Nath, V. (2011). Aesthetic and emotional labour through stigma: National identity management and racial abuse in offshored Indian call centres. Work, Employment & Society, 25(4), 709. doi:10.1177/0950017011419726

Wickramasinghe, M., & Jayalitaka, W. (2006). Beyond glass ceilings and brick walls: Gender at the workplace. Sri Lanka: International Labour Organisation.

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