Companies On Move Towards Work Equality
The Age
Thursday August 13, 1998
Private enterprise is making good progress in stamping out discrimination against women and boosting their job prospects, but some industries continue to resist change, according to a three-year study by the federal Affirmative Action Agency.
The agency, which surveys private companies employing more than 100 people (about 3000 companies), found the best-performing industries were finance, insurance and some areas of mining.
In 1996 only eight per cent of industries received the highest possible score from the agency, 63 per cent were ranked medium quality and 24 per cent received the lowest score.
The worst performing industries were retail, especially personal and household goods retailers, and food retailers.
The agency's score was based on whether companies were putting into place policies and practices aimed at reducing discrimination against women and improving their job opportunities.
The agency's director, Ms Catherine Harris, said the study, which for the first time compared three years of figures, showed a strong trend towards organisations improving equity in their workplaces.
Ms Harris said companies were not only developing policies but were backing these up with programs such as issuing formal job descriptions and ensuring more representation of women on selection panels.
``What the figures show us is what companies are actually doing, we're seeing huge improvements in policies and programs that companies are putting into place," she said.
``Companies are clearly seeing the link between the goals of affirmative action and their business goals, they're realising that with the knowledge era nearly upon us, their people are more important than their fixed assets."
Ms Harris said an important area of improvement was the increase in companies providing training to stamp out sexual harassment. Between 1994 and 1996 there was a 23 per cent increase in companies providing sexual harassment training.
Ms Harris said the most disappointing areas, where the least progress had been made, were pay equity, gender segregation and the treatment of part-time work.
The report noted Australia has the most gender segregated workforce of all OECD countries. It also found that only 19 per cent of companies listed closing the pay gap between men and women as one of their goals.
The report was critical of how little companies were doing to help employees balance work and home life. Ms Harris said between 15 and 20 per cent of companies surveyed did not provide permanent part-time work.
``The whole area of part-time work at the moment is in some ways a one-way ticket out of the workforce... a lot of people still treat part-time work as if it's just a whole group of women who want to go back to work to buy a fridge," she said.
Maternity leave was also a concern, with only 13 per cent of male-dominated industries and seven per cent of female-dominated industries providing paid maternity leave.
The study also noted that the proportion of organisations providing childcare or childcare assistance remained low.
The study found women occupied 10 per cent of the top management positions, 16 per cent of the second tier and 27 per cent of the third tier.
© 1998 The Age