Women Issues In Australia

Issues faced my women

Women are a vital part of the economic development of Australia being on par with their male counterparts. However due to historical impacts of sexism and common misconceptions women face major issues and problems. Major issues relating to women include unequal pay, security, sexual harassment, lack of proper family support, deficient maternity leave and several others.

Sexual harassment is a major issue that women face in the workplace as many women fall victim to acts of sexual harassment in the workplace. This harassment manifests itself into several categories such as a demand or request of sexual favours for example having employers soliciting sexual favours from women employees in return for promotions, pay raises

Women working in the BPO sector (business processing outsourcing) have a high percentage of women falling victim crimes at the workplace, this is due to lack of security provided by the employer. Accounts of women being victims of rape and other forms of sexual abuse are quite common and can attribute to the lack of proper security.

These issues being faced by women in the workplace have proven to be detrimental to the individual and the organisations that employ them. These consequences include a reduced level of efficiency in the workplace, increased absenteeism, damage to image of the organisation in the market and lawsuits and the high legal fees that follow

It was opened for signature in 1979 and entered into force in 1981. The entire preamble of CEDAW acknowledges that the Charter of the United Nations and he Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirm that all human beings are born free and are equal in dignity and rights. This acknowledges the fact that nation states have the responsibility to ‘ensure that the equal rights of men and women to enjoy all economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights’. In domestic law there have been legislation passed that exist at both a state and federal level in Australia. Discrimination on the basis of someone’s gender may be considered 2 type of discrimination. Direct discrimination and indirect discrimination. Direct discrimination is a more blatant form of the latter where males are given special privilege over their female counterpart. With the entrance of the Sex Discrimination Act of 1984 (CTH) allowed for the elimination of discrimination on the basis of sex, marital status or pregnancy in areas such as education, facilities, services, accommodation, housing, insurance and superannuation. This bill takes into account sexual harassment as a form of discrimination in employment and education and outlaws this behaviour. This act was also used to promote