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MotherInc Luncheon

Sex Discrimination

MotherInc
Luncheon

Speech delivered
by Commissioner Pru Goward, Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Sydney:
Regent Hotel, 20 November 2001.

  • Thank you for
    inviting me here today to talk to you.


  • Superwomen - unfair
    myth? No, it's an absolute reality. Juggling jobs, house work, organising
    kids, hobbies and hubbies, is a management team job where Superwoman
    does all the jobs. So there's no debate - the answer is yes. But the
    kryptonite we fear is our stress. It doesn't diminish our powers, but
    it diminishes our spirit, our sense of self. So long as the rights and
    choices of women, especially women as mothers, are not recognised, the
    Superwoman syndrome and the kryptonite of overload will persist.


  • As federal Sex
    Discrimination Commissioner with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity
    Commission a major part of my role is educating Australians about their
    rights and responsibilities under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984
    - which really means to educate the community about the need for women
    to enjoy equality of opportunity, freedom of choice and freedom from
    discrimination.


  • One constant
    theme is that any departure from this equality of choice demeans not
    only women but men and diminishes our whole community.


  • There is no doubt
    that in many ways, women have made progress towards achieving equality
    in the workplace. However, real problems remain to be addressed, with
    women earning significantly less than their male colleagues for no reason
    other than their sex, with sexual harassment still endemic and with
    discrimination on the basis of sex unacceptably common.


  • Yet, it is the
    integration of women's reproductive role and childcare responsibilities
    into their working lives that is increasingly the foundation for a great
    deal of the gender discrimination that occurs in Australian society
    today.


  • Of course, by
    reproducing, they are making a clear statement of their difference,
    and for many women who had participated in the workforce for years without
    suffering from visible discrimination, the discrimination they suffer
    as they enter their reproductive lives can come as something of a shock.
    Particularly when reproduction is something with such overwhelmingly
    and vital benefits for society as a whole- the continuation of the human
    race. Motherhood isn't a motherhood statement for nothing.


  • As Belinda Probert
    has recently noted, while there have been great advances in the way
    we as a society conceive women's role in the workforce, there has been
    little change in the expectations we have of motherhood. She says:





    The moral equation
    of "goodness" with "self-sacrifice" is one of the
    conventions of femininity. The ideology or culture of domesticity in
    this sense is alive and well in popular culture.
    [1]


  • Women's disproportionate
    share of family care reduces workforce participation, interrupts progression
    and affects training investment by women and employers.


  • It is sometimes
    argued that women choose lower paid positions for the non-financial
    trade-offs such as flexibility to allow for family responsibilities.
    And yes, it is true that many women who work part-time while raising
    a family are happy working less than full-time. [2]



  • However, I do
    not accept that women should be penalised because they continue to bear
    the greater responsibility for raising a family. And by penalised I
    mean spending the rest of their time in the workforce struggling to
    catch up, or are unable to take advantage of training or promotional
    opportunities because employers don't take their ambitions seriously,
    and, finally, never with enough money to make a decent contribution
    to superannuation.


  • No wonder so
    many women are putting off having children - they know they are immediately
    relegated to the bottom of the working class if they do, and may never
    return.


  • Issues of paid
    maternity leave, affordable and accessible childcare, access to flexible
    work arrangements and part time work and protection from discrimination
    faced by many women as a result of their family responsibilities are
    high on my agenda. I know also that they are of concern to all of you
    who see the advantage in developing work practices that are socially
    responsible and that recognise and accommodate the work/life challenges
    of all employees, men and women.


  • Today I would
    like to talk about an issue that has received a lot of press attention
    lately and is one that I'm sure would be of interest to most women across
    the socio-economic spectrum - paid maternity leave.


  • Australia at
    present does not have in place legislation that deals with the provision
    of universal paid parental or maternity leave at either the national
    or State or Territory level.


  • The Workplace
    Relations Act 1996
    provides for 52 weeks unpaid maternity leave
    for all workers and this is the extent of federal legislation in terms
    of maternity leave.


  • Commonwealth
    public servants are entitled, after twelve months continuous service,
    to twelve weeks maternity leave on full pay. [3]



    In some States and
    Territories a similar entitlement exists for public servants.


  • By contrast,
    women in the private sector are dependent either upon the policy of
    their particular employer or upon provisions made in their industrial
    awards or certified agreements.


  • In the developed
    world, only three countries do not currently implement some form of
    paid maternity leave: the USA, New Zealand and Australia.


  • Even then, New
    Zealand intends to legislate for the introduction of a Paid Parental
    Leave Scheme from 1 July 2002.


  • Australia's commitment
    to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
    Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is limited by a reservation, or
    exception, that the government has entered concerning paid maternity
    leave.


  • Data from the
    Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey [4]
    indicates that 59 per cent of public sector workplaces and 23 per cent
    of private sector workplaces offered paid maternity leave as at 1995.
    [5]


  • One of the first
    things I've done in my new job was to embark on an investigation into
    the issue of paid maternity leave and the options available for the
    implementation of an equitable and workable paid maternity leave scheme
    in Australia.


  • As part of this
    inquiry, I have conducted numerous consultations with peak employer
    associations, unions and other interested stakeholders to seek their
    views on the issue of paid maternity leave and how this country might
    best implement such a scheme.


  • At all times
    and in every public engagement I have made it clear that large sections
    of small business would be extremely vulnerable were there to be employer-funded
    maternity leave and in very competitive industries with tight profit
    margins, it might also be a problem. Those we have consulted have said
    repeatedly that this form of paid maternity leave could lead to employers
    not taking on young women- basically anyone between the ages of 18 and
    51 who looks like having a baby. The discrimination would be impossible
    to police. Sadly, this reservation, or concern, is scarcely ever reported.



  • An interim paper
    will be released before the end of the year. It will be forwarded to
    all participants in the consultations and other interested people and
    organisations to gain their feedback and I will also be conducting a
    survey, through the membership of the employer and union groups who
    took part in the consultations, in order to seek the views of employees
    on maternity leave and work and family issues.


  • A final report
    on my enquiry will be released in June 2002. I am pleased that employer
    and union groups and other individuals have been so cooperative in this
    process and hope that the release of this report will increase the impetus
    for Australia to implement a workable and equitable arrangement for
    parents, and that mostly means mothers, with both work and family commitments.


  • A broad range
    of policy objectives may be advanced in support of paid parental leave.
    The interim paper will assess various options for paid leave against
    these objectives. The objectives include the following.


  • Declining population
    growth: Australia's fertility rate is currently about 1.75, down from
    a peak of 3.6 in 1961. The replacement fertility rate is around 2.1.
    There is a view that the declining birth rate is the result of the financial
    and professional/social disadvantage encountered by families and the
    paper will need to examine to what extent paid maternity leave may alleviate
    the declining birth rate.


  • Health and social
    welfare: A large number of women are now in the paid workforce during
    their pregnancy and many return, at least part time, within twelve months
    of the birth of the child. The paper will consider the extent to which
    these are a social cost to be borne by the community, a private cost
    to be borne by the family and an industrial cost to be borne by the
    employer.


  • Human resource
    management: Employers increasingly play a role in supporting their employees
    to accommodate work and family responsibilities. Business case arguments
    show paid maternity leave can reduce attrition rates and encourage women
    to return to the workforce earlier. Human rights in this case make good
    business sense. With increasing numbers of women graduates (50% in many
    cases) employers can no longer ignore the requirements of half their
    potential recruits and still want to get the best.


  • Fairness for all
    employees: Estimates suggest about 30% of Australian women receive employer
    funded paid maternity leave, predominantly in the public sector and
    larger private organisations. Although overall paid maternity leave
    provisions in enterprise agreements have improved, there are limited
    instances of paid leave entitlements in agreements in industries such
    as retail, accommodation, cafes and restaurants where women predominate.
    Cost inhibits small and medium business from providing paid parental
    leave and this may in the longer term limit their ability to attract
    and retain skilled women employees.


  • Addressing systemic
    discrimination: Women bear children and because of societal expectations
    continue to bear the major responsibility for care of children. The
    economic impact of parental leave therefore falls disproportionately
    on women for family responsibilities that both men and women share.



  • What is becoming
    clear during the course of this research is that the business case,
    the employer of choice case and the equity case are all, for once, working
    together. This represents a certain maturity in the Australian labour
    market many might not have suspected and must be commended.


  • Whilst I think
    a transformation in our workplaces, based on the practical realities
    of people's lives are being slowly recognised by all stakeholders in
    the workplace, there still needs to be more of a focus on broad community
    education, constant stimulation of public debate, greater commercial
    enlightenment, intervention into the industrial system whenever and
    wherever possible and sound management of individual complaints from
    which much can be gained including legal precedents which challenge
    existing boundaries.


  • We need to get
    individual employers to recognise and value traditional women's skills,
    reward them fairly and encourage them to seek out and to eliminate discriminatory
    workplace practices and policies.


  • We also need
    women both individually and collectively to take action. To undervalue
    the work of women is to overvalue the work of men - to value each of
    us on our merits shouldn't be beyond the ambitious and competitive employer
    that wants the best for the national interest and the nation's workers.



  • My work is a
    piece of this jigsaw.


  • It is true that
    paid maternity leave is just one of a suite of measures that we must
    provide to ensure that parents are able to manage their work and family
    obligations; that women in particular are not disadvantaged by their
    greater role in family responsibilities and that men are able to take
    their place as equal partners at home as well as work.


  • It is only one
    measure - there remain other equally important challenges that we will
    need to address if work and family balance is to become a social and
    affordable reality.


  • Legislation and
    public policy are important in achieving this 'reality', but alone are
    insufficient. Australian society also has to want families, has to want
    balance, has to respect the right of women to economic independence
    and choice, has to treasure and pursue these as important goals. We
    can talk the talk and write the cheques, but we also have to want
    this to be the kind of place we live in. If we do not, then legislation
    and public policy will be ignored and subverted wherever possible. This
    is our real challenge.


1.
Belinda Probert "Grateful Slaves or Self -made Women: A matter of
choice or policy" Clare Burton Memorial Lecture 2001, p 10.

2.
Wolcott & H Glazer, Work and Family Life: Achieving Integration, AIFS
Melbourne, 1995.

3.
Maternity Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1973.

4.
AWIRS

5.
Morehead et al, 1997

 

Last
updated 1 December 2001