
Issue No 26		13 August 1999

News

Sex Discrimination Head Warns Against Complacency

By Deirdre Mahoney

Despite the huge number of discrimination cases we see reaching a successful conclusion in the media, the Human Rights Commission's Susan Halliday often despairs.


	Betty Spears

The Sex Discrimination Cmr was speaking at the Independent Education Union's annual women's conference in Sydney in advance of the 25 August launch of her 350-page report into pregnancy discrimination in the workplace.

She said the "very sad" report proved that "the sort of things people thought were long gone" were still a concern, but said pregnancy complaints, which constitute 15% ("just the tip of the iceberg") of complaints she received were just the start.

One highly successful woman who worked for a $50 million company was denied her annual salary increase, despite a performance review that praised her work, her intelligence and her dedication. The problem? Her male colleagues found her "difficult" to get along with. The reason? She had dropped out of the footy-tipping competition!

When she told her boss she'd never been interested in sport, he urged her to read the sports results before going to work on Monday morning. "If she could comment on how well Shane Warne was bowling, her colleagues would feel more comfortable, and if she improved her efforts in that area, she may get the salary increase next year," Cmr Halliday told the conference. "Needless to say, she won her case."

Cmr Halliday warned "there are those amongst us who want to take us back to the 19th century, on the eve of the 21st century", citing letters she'd received saying the Sex Discrimination Unit was a "cancer", "rotting the fabric of society". These people were dangerous because they had the "mindset, power and influence" to affect what politicians thought.

She said many employers still had no idea about the provisions of the Federal Sex Discrimination Act, which have been in place for 15 years. One of these bans recruiting, or intending to recruit, on the basis of gender. This ban was obviously unknown to those writing ads calling for "bored housewives aged between 35 and 50", or women who wanted to add some sparkle to their lives by working for a "charming, always dashing and always gentlemanly" boss. One of these ads was written not by the boss, but by a newspaper editor!

She urged women at the conference to always be vigilant themselves and to help younger women realise the importance of protecting their working conditions and rights. She said while a study had shown that 70% of young women under 20 believed they would meet "Mr Right" and be supported, this would apply to only 8% of them. "The reality is most women will work, and it's discriminating against girls and leveraging them into poverty by not helping them realise this is so."

In the same week as NSW women celebrated the 30th anniversary of the first equal pay decision, Cmr Halliday reminded the women at the conference that 'we are still pioneers" and asked them, if they thought any differently, to ask why it was that male teachers in private schools got paid higher rates than female teachers. The pride and pleasure women had in thinking about what had been gained for the younger generation was tempered by the realisation that discrimination against them had not disappeared, just become more indirect and covert.

The pregnancy inquiry report will be available on the web on Wednesday, 25 August at www.hreoc.gov.au

Equal pay anniversary

Like Cmr Halliday's, the main message arising from a gathering at the State Library this week to celebrate the 30-year anniversary of the first equal pay decision was that, no matter how far we've come, we've got a long way to go.

The 1969 advocate for the ACTU, former PM Bob Hawke, could not attend but sent a message to the 140-strong crowd drawn from unions, Government, employers and other supporters stressing that "much still remains to be done to create an economy and a society where all vestiges of discrimination based on gender are eliminated."

Hawke said in his message that although the 1969 decision represented a "hard fought step forward" in wage justice for women, only 18% of female employees benefited from it, because part of the decision ruled that "equal pay should not be provided when the work in question is essentially or usually performed by females but is work upon which male employees may also be employed".

He said it was "one of the tragedies of that time" that then President of the Commission, Sir Richard Kirby, was told only a week before the case was due to begin that heart problems meant he could not sit on the bench. Hawke said he had always believed the outcome would have been "much better" had this not happened.

Still, he said, occasions like this served not only to "remind us of past battles, but to encourage all of you who are committed to winning that fight".

The man who helped win that fight for the workers of NSW, former Premier Neville Wran, told the crowd the arguments of pay cases 30 years ago would have people rolling on the floors of the Cmn these days. Wran, who represented the Federated Clerks Union in the state's first pay equity case in 1973, had his words echoed by MLC President Meredith Burgmann, who spoke of the equal pay fights heroines and villains.

Among the major villains she cited were many Coalition MPs who argued inane things like women should not be given equal pay because that meant they'd have to pay their own way on dates, or "Give them equal pay and next they'll want to be sitting in bars and having beers with you."

The crowd also heard from Betty Spears, who as deputy president of the Clerks Union dared Wran to take on the case. Spears was also head of the Labor Council's equal pay committee, and recalled the annual discussion on equal pay, when the men attending Labor Council meetings (excluding the officials) got up and headed for the pub. She took soapbox discussions on the issue to Belmore Park, for workers, and recalled gathering in the ladies' room at the ACTU congress in 1959 to plan the agenda as a surprise for the men who wanted to knock it off.

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Issue 26 contents

Republic: Looking Forward
With the Republic referendum threatening to run off the rails, supporters of an Australian Head of State need to reclaim the debate from the lawyers.

Interview: Chatting With Kate
Workers Onlineďż˝s first ever Net night was held in the Yap chatroom this week. Labor IT spokeswoman Kate Lundy stepped up to the plate to talk Politics in a Wired World.

Unions: Simply the Best!
A major international study has ranked Australian seafarers the world's best.

Technology: Unions Log In to Online Yap
A Conference on Unions and Information Technology for the Australasian Region will be held in Melbourne: November 15-17.

History: Edmund Who?
John Passant lifts the veil on Our first Prime Minister, a bloke called Barton.

International: Turkish Miners' Leader Murdered
Semsi Denizer, President of the Turkish miners' union Genel Maden-Is, was shot dead outside his home last Friday evening.

Labour Review: What's New at the Organising Centre
Read the latest issue of Labour Review, Labor Council's resource for students and activists.

Review: Working Class Boys
silverchair might have a new sound, but theyďż˝re part of a rich Australian music tradition.

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» Ceiling Dust a Deadly Cocktail

» Sex Discrimination Head Warns Against Complacency

» DIR Launches Indigenous Employment Unit

» "Big Drum Up" For East Timor

» Eric Lee Public Forum

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