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The Playground Revealed

Speech by Susan Halliday, Sex Discrimination Commissioner to the Association of Women Educators National Conference, Queensland, 3 October 1998

"I believe there is a pressing need to educate our children about their human rights and responsibilities"

As Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner, I am chartered by Government under the Commonwealth Sex Discrimination Act 1984 to prevent and eliminate discrimination on the basis of gender, marital status, pregnancy and potential pregnancy. The Sex Discrimination Act also prohibits dismissal on the basis of family responsibilities, sexual harassment and victimisation.

The Sex Discrimination Act is my legislative ‘backbone’ – it is unlawful to discriminate in most areas of public life including employment, education, in the provision of goods, services and facilities, accommodation and housing and in the administration of Commonwealth laws and programs.

The Sex Discrimination Act defines sex discrimination as unfair treatment on the basis of sex, pregnancy, marital status or family responsibilities. One of the most common forms of sex discrimination is sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is defined by the Act as any unwelcome behaviour of a sexual nature which is offensive or intimidating.

Unfair treatment on the basis of sex does not have to be directly discriminatory to amount to a breach of the Act. Indirect sex discrimination is also unlawful under the Sex Discrimination Act. Indirect sex discrimination occurs when a requirement that is the same for everyone impacts unfairly on women. In order to prevent further unfair treatment for complaining, the Sex Discrimination Act provides criminal sanctions for victimisation.

It is my utmost priority to raise community awareness around sex discrimination, sexual harassment, gender vilification and victimisation, and in turn reduce the rate at which they occur.

Contemplating ways to tackle the significant level of discrimination still evident across the Australian community, I personally believe broader public education as pivotal to progress.

As a former secondary school teacher and TAFE and university lecturer I recognise the enormous ground that can be covered with young people through education. By choice I am currently doing a lot of work with students and educators, as well as targeting the avenues of popular press consumed by young people.

I have also embarked on a wide-ranging educative program including regular public presentations plus formal and informal discussions with enterprises of all sizes, employer groups, unions, non-government organisations, schools and government agencies. This activity stretches across city and regional areas.

I have set myself a goal to communicate with as many people as I possibly can, utilising all avenues available to me – everyone benefits when people are well versed in individual and workplace human rights and responsibilities.

My three personal strategies are:

It’s easy to assume that all people respect and value others the way we ourselves do. But they don’t! My extensive private sector career, the formal complaints I receive in my role as Commissioner and the newspapers constantly remind me that there are those in our community who lack an understanding of the basic first principles of equality and human rights. There are some disturbing cases of discrimination and harassment occurring on a far too frequent basis; many of the victims are young women in part-time work while still attending school.

It is fair to say that I have spoken with hundreds of people in the five months I have been in the role and over this period of time I have identified two misconceptions I find troublesome.

Firstly, THE EQUALITY MISCONCEPTION

There seems to be a belief held by some people in the community, including young people, that there is no need to continue to strive for equality, that it is a goal we have now achieved. I disagree.

The complaints that cross my desk are the reality: they are raw, blatant and at times revolting. They are not isolated incidents. And statistics from varying sources indicate a far wider existence of both overt and covert gender discrimination and sexual harassment than those that cross my desk. The State based EEO Commissions have similar stories to tell, as do unions and enterprises themselves. The reality is that we have to rely on people as individuals to do the right thing – and to educate others. But despite laws, written policies, union beliefs, common sense and ethics, many people continue to discriminate, harass, vilify and victimise on the basis of gender. Offending parties include politicians, employers, employees, union members and delegates, educators, public servants or providers of goods and services, many of whom the community looks towards as role models.

The second troublesome misconception is THE GENERATIONAL MISCONCEPTION.

Some people confidently assure me that it is the ‘older generation’ who lack an understanding of human rights, and that in 20 years time everyone will enjoy discrimination-free and harassment-free lives, be they at school or in the workplace. This of course is nothing short of propaganda. There is a significant lack of tolerance, understanding and sensitivity that is not generational. People of all ages, including young people, lack an understanding of human rights, many do not value or respect difference, some have a limited understanding of what equality means and little appreciation for "special measures".

I visit schools around the country, I spend time in playgrounds and I am a parent. I have first hand experience of the language and behaviour that causes harm. Intolerance exists and continues to breed amongst people of all ages, across all socio-economic groups, amidst different religions and cultures – it is entrenched within our society.

Real change relies on altering the individual mindsets of those with the power to impact on others, be they politicians, educators, journalists, unions, employers or parents. After all, we are now entering the 21st Century and we have had legislative frameworks for over 20 years: strengthening the law has not in the past, nor will it in the future bring about the total change we need and desire.

While it starts in the playground – my experiences demonstrate the intent, behaviour and language of those who aim to humiliate, harass and vilify does not alter much on the journey through secondary school, tertiary education and into the workplace. Children stalk – adults stalk. Children sexually harass using email, as do adults. Children and adults misconstrue the meaning of ‘no’ when it suits them. Children and adults have a tendency to overlook the need to rely on fact and instead rely on hearsay or, indulge in fantasy.

We can all think of everyday phrases common to daily language that vilify and degrade. Some are more pernicious than others: "he’s like an old woman", "he’s playing like a girl" – "wussy gay boy", "who wears the trousers?", "he’s so effeminate", "she’s a cow". These are just a handful I’ve collected from the playground.

While children and adults do not consciously dissect the meaning behind such phrases, when you look at each phrase a little more closely they all have something in common – they denigrate aspects of femaleness or alternative sexuality. One of the greatest insults for a male child is to be called "gay" (ie. effeminate, of, or aligned with, the lesser gender) – and for a girl, it’s to be called a "dog" (ie. there is no lesser gender so the alignment has to be with an animal). More than ‘just words’, these phrases are an expression of society’s lack of regard for the female gender, or for men who are considered to be ‘acting like women’, (whether or not the men in question are gay, looking after their family responsibilities or lacking the macho characteristics and desired image of the ‘true’ heterosexual man).

Phrases such as these flow from the mouths of men, women and children. They are also prevalent in the media’s dialogue whether it be in what we read, hear, or watch on television.

This type of speech represents an entrenched form of vilification on the basis of gender. Generally speaking, to vilify is to lower a person in worth or value, something many people, often with public profiles or influence do unthinkingly, or at times in a most calculated, detailed way in an attempt to obliterate their competition.

Continued usage of these terms consolidates and affirms the unspoken views and perspectives held by many in our community. As long as we fail to explicitly challenge such usage, the unspoken views and perspectives will continue to be the currency of future generations.

My experiences as a mother lead me to be concerned about the language of young Australians. A significant number of parents with children of primary school age relate stories about playground language that demeans children on the basis of gender. Anecdotal evidence suggests devaluing a child on the basis of gender is a strategic playground tool often modelled successfully by the most powerful of playground bullies both at primary and secondary levels to devalue the boy by calling him a ‘girl’, or to devalue a girl using adjectives such as ‘dumb’, ‘fat’, ‘idiotic’ and ‘stupid’, then label her a ‘dog’.

The habit of devaluing a person on the basis of gender thrives from a very young age. What about the boy, all of 5 years old, who when taken to the medical centre tells his mother that the woman doctor can’t possibly be a doctor – "she must be a nurse". Trivial perhaps? A level of concern is merely an over-reaction? We need to ask ourselves why this stereotype is a part of this five year old’s mindset? And how entrenched and destructive would the related values and beliefs be by the time this child enters the workforce, making decisions on stereotypical assumptions.

Well you may think it an over-reaction, but the little boy now has a female doctor, a female dentist, a female chiropractor, and a female vet to look after his best mate – his female dog. You see he is my son.

I argue that what happens in the playground has a significant impact on adult behaviour. In the workforce, years of stereotyping girls and boys, results in the jobs women are "allowed" to do being different. There is evidence that managers of both sexes value different attributes in men and women. For example, intelligence, dynamism, energy and assertiveness are rated as important among male workers, whereas thoroughness, organisation, dependability and honesty are most highly valued in the case of female workers. These differences reinforce gender stereotypes, where, for example, assertiveness and at times being aggressive, is viewed as appropriate behaviour for men, but tact is considered more important for women.

Plus at an organisational level, women and men are often presumed to have different predispositions and occupational interests. This impacts on decisions made by management and supervisors, resulting in women and men being assigned different jobs, with women generally being offered the less prestigious tasks, with lower rewards and fewer opportunities for advancement, although this is not always obvious at the point in time at which it happens. Organisations then use, often subconsciously, the contrasting patterns of jobs held by women and men to reinforce the belief that differences between them are inherent. Such thinking leaves the way open for cases of direct and indirect discrimination to be argued publicly in court.

In the wider community I consider cases of what I term ‘subterranean’ discrimination are on the increase. By ‘subterranean’ I mean more complex, subtle, indirect and covert forms of discrimination. On the surface treatment may appear to be equal, but in reality there is disproportionate negative impact, and it is usually suffered by women.

If discrimination exists we can not claim to have equality. Furthermore I believe equality is a meaningless term unless it is grounded in economic equality. I work with many young women and I encourage them to think about the need to become viable independent economic units. I tell them quite specifically that economic independence above all other things, positions them to make their own decisions, and allows them to avoid being "owned" or "reliant" on others, whether they are single, partnered or bringing up children. Unfortunately, I then have to tell these young women (Year 9 and upwards) that the average weekly earnings of full-time female workers is 80% of their male equivalents.

A different picture emerges when part-time, casual and junior positions are taken into account with average female earnings only 66% of male earnings. And that this figure has changed little over the last 15 years.

Consider the following:

As you can see, there is much work to be done.

Over 90% of complaints received under the Sex Discrimination Act last year related to employment. This is a consistent statistic. Of these approximately 48% of complaints are derived from businesses with less than 100 employees.

The latest ABS statistics show that 77,200 people between the ages of 15 and 19 are employed on a part-time basis.

Many of these young people working part-time are still at school, which I applaud. I have first hand knowledge of how important and highly valued such experience is, but these young people, like others at work, may be sexually harassed and doing work that has been allocated on the basis of gender, resulting in short- and longer-term pay inequities.

Sexual harassment complaints accounted for 60% of complaints received in the Sydney office under the Sex Discrimination Act last year, pregnancy and family responsibilities accounted for 15% and direct sex discrimination 21%. Complaints on the grounds of marital status accounted for 4% of all complaints.

Workplace culture still allows, and at times fosters, sexual harassment and victimisation. If the workplace is defined by men, women are often disadvantaged. To be male is normal; to be a woman is to be different. This means women are often defined by their sexuality and there is little understanding that women many have difficulty in dealing with workplace issues as an equal in such an environment. In extreme cases, a workplace may become so permeated by this perspective of women as "others" defined by their sexuality, that it becomes positively hostile to women. This was well summed up in an article in the Age on 22 August 1998 discussing the culture of futures dealers:

To some, the testosterone-charged banted inside the dealing room may be reminiscent of the goanna oil and hyped-up language of a football change room. But to others, the boy’s club, which works on adrenalin and predatory instincts to generate millions of dollars, might have more in common with the dark side of military culture. Behind the stress and danger lie the free-fire zones of demeaning harassment and intimidation.

It is imperative that young people are aware of their rights and responsibilities at school and in the workplace. There are many young people who qualify as both perpetrators and victims under the Sex Discrimination Act.

While there has been much discussion over recent years about whether or not Australia is a tolerant nation, one thing on which we should all agree is that you can never take tolerance and acceptance for granted.

Educating children about the need for tolerance and acceptance, the importance of understanding our human rights and responsibilities, the benefits of valuing difference, the need to move beyond stereotyping, learning to treat people as individuals and the existence of different levels of sensitivity within the community, is vital. We must do more, utilising all avenues at our disposal, teaching our children that all people deserve respect in our democratic free society.

I strongly believe there is need to place greater emphasis on the development and usage of early intervention strategies, especially in the areas of gender discrimination and gender vilification. Gender vilification, distinct from racial, religious and homosexual vilification, is an accepted norm from a very young age.I am not, however, advocating the introduction of gender vilification laws – I am aiming for an increased understanding of the issue and its resultant harm.

Consider the following:

Although these findings probably come as no surprise to educators, they are nevertheless disturbing.

We also have research that demonstrates that some teachers call their male students ‘young men’ and their female peers ‘girls’: the gender equivalent of a young man surely is a young woman?

As parents and teachers we have a responsibility to keep our personal bias in check, and scrutinize how we explain the every day happenings being questioned and analysed and absorbed by our children.

Further, we need to encourage students to question social norms such as the expectation that boys should be ‘in control’, and that it is okay for them to be aggressive; "boys will be boys" is something we still hear, just as we witness boys treating their girlfriends as possessions, and ignorant of the fact that they are overwhelmed with the competition of sexual activity, and related male power and dominance – "so, did you score last night?".

Society still values girls for their patience, generosity and the ability to comfort and take care of others. Many young girls I work with believe that their relationship is the most important thing in their lives, and that they are inferior to other girls, or even worthless, without a boyfriend.

Another insight from career mapping workshops I’ve conducted with addolescents, allows me to report that the boys are usually thinking and planning to retirement age, and the girls to about 35.

There is no doubt that societal attitudes play a large part in such conditioning and in turn allowing abuse of human rights to continue. Consider the following:-

Young people are under extreme pressure. In many ways they face greater challenges and more change than any other age group in society. They need to be encouraged to value themselves and others.

We need to encourage discussion amongst students about stereotypes, we need to get them to think about ways in which they relate to others and, of equal importance, to think about the way they view themselves and their place in the world as competent individuals with relevant views and productive home and community roles.

Many say our young people are the future – when in fact our young people are here now and should be treated accordingly!

Parents and educators I speak to are anxious to make a difference to the gender-bound society in which we live. It is critical we all work together to ensure a future that allows our children to be valued equally and to contribute to their full potential.

I am encouraged by the innovative programs that are being developed by Australian schools to educate young people about their human rights and responsibilities.

Many schools have implemented gender equity programs in an attempt to address discriminatory behaviour amongst students. I noted earlier this year that a WA school, in conjunction with Legal Aid, designed a domestic violence program in which students hear from police liaison officers for gay, lesbian and ethnic affairs, as well as youth workers, discussing the problems facing teenagers.

Exposure to non-traditional, often taboo issues, is a very positive step forward. Young people (and older people) have to be told what is illegal and what constitutes acceptable or appropriate behaviour, what the expected standard or community norm is, and what discrimination, harassment, vilification and victimisation mean – I appeal to you to help me spread the word. We can not afford to assume people are well versed in these areas.

I acknowledge that sometimes when we talk about human rights and responsibilities the real meaning is lost amidst the legal jargon and political rhetoric. Basically we need to communicate to our youth that human rights belong to all of us. That we, young and old, are the minders of this precious entitlement, that benefits us all. People’s lives, their struggles, and in many cases their efforts to simply survive can not be taken for granted.

A review of the literature in the report Working with Adolescents to Prevent Domestic Violence found that "the construction of gender is central to an understanding of violence and its prevention; while pre-adolescent years are pivotal in learning violent and aggressive responses, adolescence is an opportune time to re-configure such responses, when the patterns in intimate relationships are not yet well established".

The grounding we provide can better prepare young people to participate in the broader community and the workforce; it will be of life-long value to them as individuals, contributing to a cohesive, sound standard of living.

We need to educate our community that all people have the right to enjoy life, and that human rights exist as a safeguard to human integrity, freedom and equality.

As educators we have an important role to play and we can make a difference.

Respect for others needs to start in the playground.

Pregnancy

Teenage pregnancy is a downward trend. In 1985, 14,600 were mothers (5.9% of total mothers) ten years later in 1995 12,600 were mothers (4.9% of total mothers).

In 1996, in the under 20 yr old age group, there were 12,600 confinements. Breakdown:

ANU study of 1,247 cases nationwide (PHD student Ann Evans) Oct,1998.

"They treat you like you’re trash and it’s just not true. I went to nursing mothers. I got involved in support groups, I breast feed my kids, I did everything that 30 year old mothers do".

Pregnancy and Work

Susan Halliday, the Sex Discrimination Commissioner of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, has been asked by the Attorney-General to inquire into and report on the issue of pregnancy and work.

The inquiry, to be conducted by the Commissioner and the Sex Discrimination Unit, will look at the way in which pregnancy is experienced in the workplace, by both employees and employers.

It will examine the legal rights and responsibilities of both employees and employers in relation to pregnancy in the workplace, with the aim of producing guidelines to help employees and employers in understanding those rights and responsibilities.

The inquiry will focus not only on the issues surrounding employees who are actually pregnant, but also the issues surrounding female employees who have the potential or are perceived as having the potential to become pregnant.

The reference relates to all types of employees, including part-time and casual workers. It covers recruitment and the actual employment of pregnant or potentially pregnancy employees. It does not cover the period after pregnancy although it will consider discussions and negotiations that take place during the pregnancy relating to the management of the role during maternity leave.

The inquiry will also look at the adequacy of, and any changes that need to be made to, relevant federal anti-discrimination laws, or to policies relating to pregnant or potentially pregnant employees.

Issues Paper

The Commission will publish an issues paper in November which will set out the aims and methods of the inquiry and the issues to be examined. The purpose of the paper is to provide information about the inquiry and to call for submissions from interested parties, providing them with an opportunity to comment.

Consultations

Following the receipt of submissions on the issues paper the Sex Discrimination Unit will conduct consultations, including in regional and metropolitan areas in several states. Consultations will encompass: various employers; employees, particularly pregnant and potentially pregnant employees; human resource practitioners; employer organisations; unions; women’s and community organisations; medical professionals; academics; federal, state and territory government authorities, including anti-discrimination and equal opportunity commissions; and legal practitioners.

General Submissions

As well as specific information obtained through consultations and responses to the issues paper, the Sex Discrimination Unit also welcomes any submissions based on personal experiences, whether positive or negative.

Research

Research will also be undertaken into various issues that arise in the course of the inquiry, including the current status of the law, relevant national and international research and practices, the necessity for law reform, and other matters relating to pregnancy and work.

The Report

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission is required to report to the Attorney-General by the end of May 1999. The report will contain an analysis of findings, including any law reform proposals that become evident throughout the inquiry.

Guidelines

The Guidelines will be designed to assist employers, employees and other interested parties to understand their rights and responsibilities in relation to pregnancy and potential pregnancy in the workplace. They will contain practical guidance on those provisions of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) which apply to discrimination, harassment and victimisation on these grounds.

Last updated 1 December 2001