Category: Workforce Discrimination

IOC: Males No Longer Required to Reduce Testosterone to Compete in Women’s Sports – Women Are Human

On November 16, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued new guidelines, which it said followed a two-year consultation with over 250 athletes and concerned stakeholders.
“IOC Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations” determined there should be no presumption that male athletes seeking to participate in women’s sports have an automatic advantage over female competitors.
While 2015 IOC guidelines recommended male athletes maintain testosterone blood levels at 10 nmol/L or below for at least 12 months before they were eligible to compete in women’s sports, the new framework discards the requirement, concluding that athletes should not be pressured to undergo medically unnecessary procedures or treatment or be forced to undergo invasive physical exams to determine their sex.
The IOC’s new framework flies in the face of recent professional research.

Source: IOC: Males No Longer Required to Reduce Testosterone to Compete in Women’s Sports – Women Are Human

Competing with confidence: Why we need to bring women’s sport uniforms into the 21st century

While sexism is a pervasive issue when it comes to women’s clothing, the chauvinism in sport is abundantly evident.

This display was highlighted recently when the International Handball Federation was called on to amend athlete uniform guidelines. Their rules stipulated that women beach handball players wear “bikini bottoms with a close fit and cut on an upward angle toward the top of the leg” explicitly noting that “the side width” be a maximum of 10 centimetres.

Following a protest from Norway’s national team, months of pressure and an online petition, the governing federation finally agreed to modify their uniform protocols.

In highlighting the sexist norms baked into women’s sport uniforms, researchers Sarah Zipp and Sasha Sutherland noted that uniform designs are less likely to be centred around performance, and more likely to cater to the “male gaze.”

This has the unfortunate effect of unjustly prioritizing the esthetic appeal of women over their athletic talent. This superficial approach completely neglects the multiplicity of body types and cultural nuances. It’s also completely arbitrary.

Ernst & Young found that 94 per cent of women executives reported playing sports — which means girls who play sport are more likely to become women who lead.

Let’s let women and girls dress for the role they want to play in women’s sport. And when stale uniform policies get in the way, don’t be afraid to take a page out of Team Norway’s book: speak up and say enough is enough.

Source: Competing with confidence: Why we need to bring women’s sport uniforms into the 21st century

Women missing from key areas of reporting according to new media report

Women’s Leadership Institute Australia released their latest Women for Media report, examining the role of female voices in the media.

The report divides the collected data into two separate sections.

The first, titled Big Picture, explores a sample of more than 57,000 online news articles published in May this year across outlets including The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Australian and The Australian Financial Review to determine the number of women quoted, compared to men.

The results found that men’s voices continue to dominate — ‘she said’ appeared in 32 percent of the quotes in all the articles, while ‘he said’ made up 68 percent of the quotes.

The second section, titled ‘Top Billing’ looked at roughly 4000 articles appearing on either the first page of print publications or on the main section of the publication’s home page to determine the gender of the authors of the articles.

The data shows that men had the first (or only) byline in 65 percent of stories compared to women, who had 35 percent.

\Source: Women missing from key areas of reporting according to new media report

Where Are the Women? Breaking International Law’s Glass Ceiling | IntLawGrrls

Just a few days ago, we received the happy news that Australian law professor Hilary Charlesworth has been elected as a judge to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Almost in parallel, at the same time, the University of Chicago Law Review published an essay by Fred Shapiro, containing the list of most cited legal scholars of all time. The top 25 such scholars are all men. In other words, despite the seeming prominence of some of our notable female colleagues, not a single one of them has amassed a sufficiently high number of citations to be included on this list.

Six years ago, a group of human rights lawyers launched the GQUAL Campaign in order to raise awareness about the absence of women in international justice as well as to promote solutions which would contribute toward inclusion of women.

First, the Report includes crucial information about the under-representation of women at various UN bodies and mechanisms.

Second, the Report makes it clear that several of its goals would be best achieved through the informal and formal work of professional networks, which can reach women from under-represented backgrounds and adopt a proactive advocacy agenda.

Third, the Report makes clear that it is necessary to explicitly include gender parity or balance as a criterion in the selection and nomination procedures, and that it is therefore crucial to obtain personal and institutional commitments and pledges toward this goal. Fourth, the Report underscores the need for women to break the glass ceiling as a right to gender equality and non-discrimination.

And, fifth, the Report recognizes that the fundamental problem regarding women’s under-representation at international institutions is the lack of appropriate domestic nomination processes, which, coupled with the lack of institutional mechanisms to remedy the issue at the international level, lead toward a perpetual absence of gender parity.

Once international law’s ceiling is hopefully broken, not only will women occupy a respectable number of positions at prominent institutions, but in addition female scholars will be cited equally as their male counterparts. Let’s hope that, in the near future, Judge Charlesworth is in mostly female company at the ICJ and that the list of top-cited legal scholars includes the names of our distinguished female colleagues.

Source: Where Are the Women? Breaking International Law’s Glass Ceiling | IntLawGrrls

Teacher Used All Students’ Last Names to Avoid Trans Names, Pronouns; Loses Religious Discrimination Suit – Women Are Human

US — Brownsburg, Indiana. A public high school teacher referred to all students by their last names to circumvent a school policy requiring staff to use the preferred names and pronouns of transgender-identifying students. The teacher resigned under pressure, and filed a lawsuit alleging religious discrimination and compelled speech “forcing a teacher to take a side on this very highly controversial topic.” A district court recently ruled in favor of the high school.
Mr Kluge’s accused school administrators of infringing on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by religious discrimination based on failure to accommodate, retaliation and hostile work environment. His First Amendment allegations involved retaliation, content and viewpoint discrimination, compelled speech and violations of his rights to the free exercise of religion and to be free from unconstitutional conditions. He alleged Fourteenth Amendment infringement on his rights to due process and equal protection. Additionally, he said school administrators violated Indiana state law intentional infliction of emotional distress, fraud and violating the rights of conscience and free exercise of religion.
The court found that school administrators’ behavior was reasonable, and Mr Kluge would not meet his burden of proof for allegations of hostile work environment or emotional harm.

Source: Teacher Used All Students’ Last Names to Avoid Trans Names, Pronouns; Loses Religious Discrimination Suit – Women Are Human

Activision settles $18m workplace discrimination case – BBC News

Gaming giant Activision Blizzard has settled a sexual harassment case brought by a US federal employment watchdog for $18m (£13.2m).

The company – which makes massively popular games such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Overwatch – said the agreement was “part of its effort to have the most welcoming, inclusive workplace”.

However, the EEOC legal case is only one of several Activision Blizzard is facing over allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination.

[S]ome of Activision’s investors filed legal cases against the firm in August for allegedly concealing the damaging allegations from shareholders.

Source: Activision settles $18m workplace discrimination case – BBC News

Australia has ranked last in an international gender pay gap study — here are 3 ways to do better

Australia was one of the pioneers when it came to legislating for equal pay in 1969 and 1972, and then with gender equality reporting since 1986.

Introduced in 2012, the Workplace Gender Equality Act requires employers to report data by gender on remuneration, workforce composition and the recruitment, promotions and resignations of their employees. This data goes to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.

Although Australia’s legislation has generated a world-leading dataset on workplace gender equality, our research found that data collection and monitoring alone are not enough to drive widespread change.

Australia falls behind on aspects of transparency and accountability for corrective action.

Source: Australia has ranked last in an international gender pay gap study — here are 3 ways to do better

Lorraine Finlay’s appointment as human rights commissioner is a gobsmacking choice | Rebecca Huntley | The Guardian

The Murdoch University lecturer’s appointment was ‘blink and you would have missed it’ news

Source: Lorraine Finlay’s appointment as human rights commissioner is a gobsmacking choice | Rebecca Huntley | The Guardian

Grace Tame calls Morrison government’s pick as human rights commissioner a ‘grave mistake’ | Australian politics | The Guardian

Sexual assault survivor and Australian of the Year Grace Tame says the Morrison government has made a “grave mistake” in appointing a new human rights commissioner who has expressed concern about affirmative consent laws.

Senior figures have expressed unease that Finlay was appointed by the Coalition without the position first being advertised, and that could jeopardise the AHRC’s “A status” with the United Nations.

Tame’s criticism came during a Women’s Safety Summit convened by the Morrison government. She argued the “grave mistake” of the Finlay appointment exemplified “a fundamental lack of understanding at that top-level” about the issues being canvassed at the two-day summit.

Tame declared the appointment reflected “a proven track record with this government with its inability to understand these issues – its inability to address the fundamental issue of women’s safety [even] within parliament itself.”

Source: Grace Tame calls Morrison government’s pick as human rights commissioner a ‘grave mistake’ | Australian politics | The Guardian

Only one woman was appointed to lead an ASX 300 company in past year

The latest CEW Census shows that progress is so slow, you can barely see it at all. Of 23 appointments, one went to a woman.

Source: Only one woman was appointed to lead an ASX 300 company in past year