Mercury Contamination Compact Fluorescent Lamps

Photo: Prasad

Abstract: CFLs are long glass tube filled with mercury vapour and argon or xenon. As CFLs contain toxic mercury, suppliers and manufacturers need to play a pivotal role in setting in place a safe disposal system.


Term Power

What is ...

No satisfactory equivalent exists for this Czech term yet it may be used to refer to social differences between women and men that are not innate but learned. They are not natural and immutable but change over time and differ within and between cultures.

A directive based on the precedence law of the European Court of Justice shifts the burden of proof from the side of the prosecution to that of the accused. In cases where one side believes that it has suffered injury as a result of a failure to observe the principle of equal treatment, and where a discrimination lawsuit exists, it is up to the accused to prove that this principle has not been breached.

A set of rules relating to gender relations which ascribe specific work and value, responsibility and obligations to women and men. These rules that disadvantage men and women in various fields of life, are applied and enforced in daily life. They are defined at all levels and are held by whole society, in institutions as part of the training, work education and other systems and at socialisation procedures.

The term defines traditional attitudes, assumptions and values that act as a barrier, for women and men in their professional promotion. A glass ceiling means preventing access to higher political, economic and academic positions, using formal and informal, hidden methods. The attempt to gain promotion to senior positions comes up against an invisible and difficult-to-define obstacle in the form of forces working against this ambition.

It is the analysis and assessment of policies, programmes and institutions based on whether they take into account the different impacts of their activities on women and men.

It is a kind budgeting which takes into account equality between men and women. It involves evaluating budgets from a gender perspective in order to achieve equality between men and women. This results in the fairer redistribution of finances on the principle of equal access to utilisation of financial resources that society has created to safeguard the needs both of women and men.

A method to eliminate inequality between sexes. It is based on the principle that all planning, and evaluation processes should include an assessment of the positive or negative impact of a decision on men and women (so-called gender analysis). If this finds that one sex will be negatively affected, the adoption of the decision must ensure that its harmful consequences are eliminated or minimised.

The right of any person or couple to freely and responsibly decide whether, how many and when they will have children, the right to information and the means to take such a decision.

Horizontal and vertical segregation is the concentration of women and men in specific sectors and jobs. Horizontal segregation is different financial valuations for specific employment and sectors, while vertical occupational segregation is concentration of women and men at different levels of employment.