Category: Workforce Discrimination

Beauty pageants gave Maddy May confidence, but then an ugly world revealed itself – ABC News

At a 2018 Sydney pageant . . ., travelling entrants were put up at the pageant sponsor’s private accommodation. There were cameras hidden in rooms without women’s consent . . .

Darwin-based photographer Jed Hansen, who was photographing the event and also staying at the accommodation, found the cameras.

He says he noticed “odd” wiring in his own and then other rooms. He traced the wires to locate six “ultra-wide angle” domed cameras hidden “strategically in furniture pieces”, and in locations including a chandelier and a light fixture.

At another 2019 competition in China, May “found out that all the girls that had actually won had gone into private rooms with the sponsors and taken their clothes off and had parties with them”.

She says some of the women shared with her that “things had happened, and that’s why they had won”.

“You’re working crazy hours in ridiculous conditions … you need to present and look like a doll from 5am till 2am and keep that perfect look the entire time,” she says.

“Every single tiny little thing that you do is being judged, watched, pulled apart and criticised.”

May says being referred to on stage by number, not name,  “felt dehumanising”. She says she felt that pageant owners “basically own you”.

Source: Beauty pageants gave Maddy May confidence, but then an ugly world revealed itself – ABC News

Australian women are largely doing the same jobs they’ve always had, latest data shows

Many occupations in Australia are more heavily gendered than they were 35 years ago.

In 1986-87, 37% of hours worked by women were in female-dominated jobs. By 2021-22, it was was almost 44%.

Some jobs have moved from being male-dominated to being more balanced; especially in managerial and professional occupations.

In 2021-22, 53% of hours worked by accountants were done by females, up from 16% in 1986-87. Solicitors, human resources professionals and economists, to name just a few, have seen similar changes.

It’s also the case that there have been few cases of female-dominated jobs becoming more balanced in the past 35 years. Phsyiotherapists and aged and disabled carers are the only exceptions.

Source: Australian women are largely doing the same jobs they’ve always had, latest data shows

How Algorithms May Contribute to Female Erasure | Women Are Human

On October 25, 2022, the Senate of Canada passed the second reading of Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act, moving one step closer towards female erasure and setting a dangerous precedence for both domestic and foreign legislation.
Canada’s Bill C-11 Discriminates Against Women in Three Different Ways: Lack of explicit inclusion, algorithmic biases, and industry imbalances
[W]hile claiming inclusivity for “all Canadians,” this bill has omitted both “women” and “sex(es)”, which will undoubtedly have dire future consequences on the rights, livelihoods, health, and well-being of generations of women and girls in Canada as it perpetuates female erasure.
The proposed algorithmic regulations of the Online Streaming Act could be considerably more harmful to women than by merely neglecting our priorities.
Given the omission of both “sex(es)” and women from the list of designated equity-seeking groups, and the inherent biases in algorithmic codes designed and driven by a male-dominated industry, the policies outlined in Bill C-11 constitute institutionalized sex-based discrimination against women, thus enabling the Government of Canada to further imbed inequality against the success and well-being of Canadian women. We, the females, are being erased from language and the law though policies enacted by a cabinet that dares to call themselves a “feminist government”.

Source: How Algorithms May Contribute to Female Erasure | Women Are Human

Sexual harassment deemed outside a legal regulator’s scope – Lawyers Weekly

Only a small proportion of organisations take disciplinary action against sexual harassment and bullying in the workplace because they are still thought to be outside the remit of a legal regulator, according to a regulatory body for the legal profession.

It found that of the respondents, 70 per cent have the authority to address sexual harassment — but only 58 per cent had taken disciplinary action in relation to sexual harassment, while 47 per cent had taken disciplinary action for bullying.

Ms McLeay said the lawyers surveyed by the VLSB+C in 2019 said they didn’t report being sexually harassed due to fear of not being believed, a desire to avoid confrontation with the harasser, concerns that a complaint could derail their career, and an expectation that the complaints process would be embarrassing or complicated.

The survey also revealed that 90 per cent of perpetrators are male, 66 per cent are aged over 40, and 72 per cent are in a more senior role than the person they harass.

“From this, it’s clear another major barrier is the power imbalance that often exists in cases of sexual harassment,” Ms McLeay said.

In 2021, the VLSB+C launched an online tool for lawyers to anonymously report instances of sexual harassment.

The tool — which can be accessed through the VLSB+C website — allows victims and witnesses of sexual harassment in the Victorian legal profession to share the details of the misconduct and have their reports reviewed by a specially trained sexual harassment complaints team.

Source: Sexual harassment deemed outside a legal regulator’s scope – Lawyers Weekly

Female leaders aren’t trusted, says ANU study – Lawyers Weekly

According to research by the Australia National University (ANU), female leaders aren’t trusted by their colleagues.

Lead research author Dr Eun Young Song commented on the negative impact this can have: “It’s great to help women move up the ladder, but this study shows even when they do succeed, women aren’t likely to be trusted by the people around them.

“We found [that] despite the fact these women are often in supervisory roles, and are well connected, their high status doesn’t benefit them.”

“Efforts to achieve gender equality should be paired with a society-wide push to break down these gender-status beliefs,” said Dr Song.

“Without this, promoting more women to more senior positions won’t solve the problem — and may even exacerbate it. We need to move beyond simply telling individual women to improve their communication skills.”

 

Source: Female leaders aren’t trusted, says ANU study – Lawyers Weekly

Qantas doubles down on sexual harassment defence | The Oz

Two senior female Qantas pilots this week publicly raised allegations of sexism and harassment – and one has filed a claim against the airline – while working in the cockpit raising the alarm on gender inequality amongst airline staff.

A review of Qantas cabin crew and pilots was conducted by former Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick in 2019, finding more than one quarter of female pilots reported experiences of sexual harassment over the previous 12 months.

Davida Forshaw, who is currently employed by Qantas but is on medical leave, last week filed a sexual harassment suit in the federal court against the airline. In the filing, revealed by The Oz, Forshaw claimed she received a poor performance report after she rejected sexual advances from an airline captain, was instructed to get coffee for her male counterparts while participating in an engineering briefing, and was told she “would do a lot better” if she dyed her hair blonde and wore a push up bra.

The Flight Attendants’ Association of Australia has called for Australia’s major airlines to implement gender quotas for pilots, as “more women up the front would have a positive benefit for cabin crew” and help squash the “trolley dolly” stereotype amongst cabin crew.

Across Qantas Group, 7 per cent of pilots are females. and at QantasLink, the airline’s regional arm, 13.2 per cent of pilots are women.

Source: Qantas doubles down on sexual harassment defence | The Oz

Kate Eastman on the ‘great opportunity’ for equitable briefing – Lawyers Weekly

Despite women now outnumbering male judges on the High Court, the Law Council’s equitable briefing targets are yet to be met.

However, that’s something that barrister and chair of the Law Council of Australia’s equal opportunity committee, Kate Eastman AM SC, is hopeful will change moving forward.

Delivering a keynote at a recent Westpac equitable briefing event, Ms Eastman said that the recent appointment of Justice Jagot to the High Court was a very “significant milestone for the legal profession” and representative of a modern legal profession.

“This should not be surprising because, for at least 25 years, women have outnumbered men in law school. And women now constitute almost two-thirds of law graduates. So, the numbers on the High Court reflect what we’re seeing in terms of law graduates,” she said.

“Women also make up 60 per cent or higher of newly admitted solicitors. And if we look at solicitors from early entry right here, up to 14 years, then women are at least two-thirds of all women solicitors and overall, more than half 53.5 per cent.”

However, in 2021, across Australia, there were 6,371 barristers, of which 1,700 were women, constituting 26 per cent of the bar. In NSW, there were 600 women barristers practising in NSW — a number that doesn’t even make up 25 per cent of the whole of the bar, according to Ms Eastman. Additionally, 4 per cent of the bar were women barristers over the age of 60. Almost a third of the bar were men over 60. Almost half of the bar were men over 50.

“Women were very rarely in a speaking role in the High Court, particularly as junior counsel, and if they were, it was usually because they were there on a pro bono brief. But then, when I went and looked at NSW, I was really surprised that 33 per cent of matters in the Court of Criminal Appeals had women appearing.”

However, comparing it to the Court of Appeal, the numbers were as low as 2 per cent — which Ms Eastman said meant that there was a “good case to say” that female barristers were still not being briefed equitably.

Source: Kate Eastman on the ‘great opportunity’ for equitable briefing – Lawyers Weekly

Lack of legal protection for flexible work arrangements – Law Society Journal

In Australia, there is currently no legal course of action available to employees if an employer refuses their request for flexible work.

The lack of legal protection has become particularly apparent since the pandemic transformed our attitudes towards working from home and working flexibly. Since 2020, many employees have continued to work from home or opt for a hybrid approach, with some days spent in the office and some days working from home.

In 2009, the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) established a right under section 65 to request flexible work arrangements. However, this is merely a right to make a request, not a right to challenge the result. To be eligible to make a request under the act the employee must have completed 12 months of continuous service with the employer.

Employers can reject a request if they have reasonable business grounds to do so. In deciding if there are reasonable business grounds, the employer will consider cost, capacity, practicality, efficiency, and productivity.

If an employer fails to provide a written response to the request within 21 days, an employee can take them to court to obtain one. However, doing so is costly. If the employer provides a written response rejecting the request, there is no legal right to challenge the result.

Source: Lack of legal protection for flexible work arrangements – Law Society Journal

Federal government to extend paid parental leave to six months

The federal government will boost paid parental leave for families by an additional six weeks, taking it to a total of six months.

Source: Federal government to extend paid parental leave to six months