Women throughout Australian work history have continually been restrained due to their sex (D. Miles 2002). This was due to multiple reasons spanning from caring for the family to blatant discrimination against females (M. Leahy 2011). Over the past twenty years this glass ceiling has diminished (M. Leahy 2011). A glass ceiling is an unacknowledged barrier to advancement in a profession, especially affecting women and members of a minority (Oxford Dictionaries 2014). Australia is an extremely sound country economically and socially, providing a brilliant platform for females to engage in anything they wish to pursue. This essay will display an opinion that does not believe there is a glass ceiling hanging over females within Australian work practices. This paper will refer to issues that relate to equality, power, fairness and universalisation. These issues will help support and justify why the glass ceiling upon females in Australian work practices has been eliminated.
Power has changed dramatically throughout a female’s life over the past twenty years, not just in Australia but also throughout the world. Power can be defined as the ability or capacity to do something or act in a particular way (Oxford Dictionaries 2014). As the roles of females have changed to a heavier focus on education that will result in a career, whereas females used to forced to immediately marry once finishing school and then start a family. Although the change in female roles took a massive turn once WWII began, as females were required to take up men’s roles at work, such jobs as working in banks, factories and workshops (E. Tyler May 1988). In hindsight, this period has provided females with a proper stepping-stone for the rise of female power throug...
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8. Oxford Dictionaries. 2014. “Glass Ceiling”. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/glass-ceiling?q=glass+ceiling
9. Oxford Dictionaries. 2014. “Deontology”. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/deontology?q=Deontology
10. Phillips, Robert. 1997. “Stake Holder Theory and A Principle of fairness”. Business Ethics Quarterly 7.1.
11. Tyler May, Elaine. 1988. “How did World War II Change Women’s Employment Possibilities. http://kcts9.org/sites/default/files/unit5_readings_womenandworkafterwwii.pdf 12. United Nations Population Fund. 2008. “Gender Equality Empowering Women”.
13. http://www.unfpa.org/gender/empowerment.htm
14. Zhao, Yilang. 2011. “Contemporary Working Capital Practices in Australia. School of Economics, Finance and Marketing. RMIT University.
Thornton, Margaret. "Feminism And The Changing State: The Case Of Sex Discrimination." Australian Feminist Studies 21.50 (2006): 151-172. Academic Search Complete. Web. 19 May
Strachan, G., 2013. Still working for the man? Women's employment experiences in Australia since 1950. [Online]
Despite legislation for equal opportunities, sexism is still evident in the workplace. Women have made great advancements in the workforce and have become an integral part of the labor market. They have greater access to higher education and as a result, greater access to traditionally male dominated professions such as law. While statistics show that women are equal to men in terms of their numbers in the law profession, it is clear however, that they have not yet achieved equality in all other areas of their employment. Discrimination in the form of gender, sex and sexual harassment continues to be a problem in today’s society.
The Australian Human Rights Commission (2011:p1) states that “Gender equality is a principal that lies at the heart of a fair and productive society”. If gender equality is the heart of a fair and productive society than the laws and regulations in place must be the key in maintaining a fair and productive society. If regulations and laws are not frequently discussed, debated and reviewed than issues such as sex discrimination in particular can be sufficiently dealt with or ignored. The Carter v Linuki Pty t/as Aussie & Anor [2005] NSWADTAP 40 (22 August 2005) will be used to demonstrate the regulations surrounding sexual discrimination. In this paper a thoroughly investigation into the recent changes in laws and regulations encompassing sexual discrimination will be conducted in relation to the case provided. By using the elements of the case the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) (SDA) will be applied to the facts presented in order to explain the regulation surrounding this issue. Since the case involves a work related situation where the employee was discriminated on the basis of gender the SDA will be used. A Brief description on the impact of exclusion will be provided to demonstrate the causal link between exclusion and gender discrimination. Firstly, the case’s elements will now be analysed.
Unfortunately, even today, women are still trying to prove themselves equal to men in many ways. The “glass ceiling” is perhaps one of the most familiar and evocative metaphors to surface from the 20th century. This expression has been used widely in the popular media as well as in official government reports. The image suggest that although it may be the case now that women are able to get through the front door professional hierarchies, at some point they hit an invisible barrier that blocks any further upward movement. “Below this barrier, women are able to get promoted; beyond this barrier, they are not”. Such a situation can be considered a limiting case for a more general phenomenon: situations in which the disadvantages women face relative to men strengthen as they move up executive hierarches. “Traditional approaches to recruitment, organization and job design, performance management and promotions are often designed in ways that are more suited to men than to women. This is what creates the glass ceiling”. Beyond the limit of job titles, the glass ceiling also creates a pay difference between men and women performing the same work requirements.
In the 1920s, women struggled to develop a work identity that would give them professional status and preserve their femininity (Walkowitz, 1051). They wanted to be eligible for an executive position, but at the same time they also wanted to be Women finally began working outside the home, but not yet at the level, status, and rank they deserved. They deserved
During the World War II era, the outlook on the role of women in Australian society revolutionised. As a majority of men were at war, Australian women were encouraged to rise above and beyond their stereotypical ‘housewife’ status. They were required to take on the tasks that were once considered predominantly male roles, and also allowed the opportunity to join the armed services as well as enlist in the Women’s Land Army. Many women who doubted their abilities played their part by entering voluntary work. Women had the privilege of contributing in Australian society in many ways that they had never been able before. Thus, it is manifest that the role of women in Australian society had drastically changed.
According to the article “It’s a Man’s World”, many fields are still male-dominated even though women have slowly started entering them. Historically women have been time and again been denied to enter certain occupations based on gender. Women still face many of the same challenges addressed in working in a male-dominated career. Earning the respect of their male colleagues, obtaining the same promotions and balancing work and home life appear to remain at the forefront of issues still in need of being addressed.
That young women in Australia today are freer than both their mothers and grandmothers were and that inequality is solved. However, while responsibility for the domestic sphere is no longer “widely understood as imposed on women” (Baker 2012, 341), the mark of a successful woman is the ability to balance both domestic duties with a successful work life. The efforts against feminine essentialism and liberation from the domestic sphere undertaken by first and second wave feminists have been sidelined. Thought to have been fulfilled, this domestic essentialism interrogated by Fuss (1989) and Ortner (1996) have appeared in the expectation for women to be successful both the public and the private sphere. Young women must demonstrate that they are making good of the opportunities afforded to them. The compromise for occupying a space in the labour market is that women “must retain a visible fragility, and [display] the kind of conventional feminine vulnerability that will ensure she remains desirable to men” (McRobbie 2009, 79). Here, conventional femininity can be exchanged for essential femininity, as many women still believe it to be their responsibility to manage and maintain the domestic sphere (Walters and Whitehouse 2012, 1118). Despite feminist challenges, this essentialist belief has continued in subtler ways. Through research done by Walters and Whitehouse, it is
The concept of gender in relation to the division of labor in the workplace, and in relation to issues of power and control is an unfortunate, groundless stereotype. Suzanne Tallichet notes that the gendered division of workplace labor is rooted in flawed ideology of innate sex differences in traits and abilities, and operates through various control mechanisms. (Tallichet 1995: 698) These control mechanisms are primarily exercised by men over women and serve to exaggerate differences between the sexes, especially surrounding women’s presumed incapability for doing male identified work.
For many decades, women have faced inequalities in the workforce. At one point, they were not allowed to work at all. Although women's rights have improved and are now able to work alongside men, they are still treated unfairly. According to the 2012 U.S. Census, women’s earnings were “76.5 percent of men’s” (1). In 2012, men, on average, earned $47,398 and women earned only $35,791. This is when comparing employees where both gender spend the same amount of time working. Not only do women encounter unfairness in work pay, they also face a “glass ceiling” on a promotional basis. This glass ceiling is a “promotion barrier that prevents woman’s upward ability” (2). For example, if a woman is able to enter a job traditionally for men, she will still not receive the same pay or experience the same increase in occupational ability. Gender typing plays a huge role in the workplace. It is the idea that women tend to hold jobs that are low paid with low status. Women are not highly considered in leadership positions because of social construction of gender. Society has given women the role of “caretakers” and sensitive individuals. Therefore, women are not depicted as authoritative figures, which is apparent with the absence of women in leadership roles in companies. Furthermore, sex segregation leads to occupations with either the emphasis of women in a certain job or men in a certain job. In 2009, occupations with the highest proportion of women included “secretary, child care worker, hair dresser, cashier, bookkeeper, etc.” (3). Male workers typically held job positions as construction workers, truck drivers, taxi drivers, etc. (3). Sex segregation represents inequality because the gender composition for these jobs depends on what ...
Also, the majority of women have been able to secure employment from traditionally female occupations such as teaching compared to male-dominated careers like engineering. Moreover, democratic country like the United States of America has recognized gender inequality as a fundamental issue and espouse equal right between men and women in contributing to social, economic and cultural life. Despite this improvement, gender inequality persists as women are not represented and treated equally in the workplace (Michialidis, Morphitou, & Theophylatou, 2012). The increasing number of women in the workplace has not provided equal opportunity for career advancement for females due to the way women are treated in an organization and the society. Also, attaining an executive position seem impossible for women due to the glass ceiling effects which defines the invisible and artificial barrier created by attitudinal and organizational prejudices, which inhibit women from attaining top executive positions (Wirth
It will be one of the luckiest things in the world if people could just do what they love in their careers, and pursue their dreams without any fears or worries about how society and others judge them. However, women in this society do not obtain the same rights that men own; many inequalities hinder women to live and work. From this class, I learned a lot about gender affects work, and women and men’ roles can be very different in the work. In many industries, even though women get same education and professional degrees as men do, they are hired at lower rates than men are. Many women meet glass ceilings and find it is hard to attain the highest status in the profession, and this causes the society locks women out of higher level
During the 18th and 19th century, patriarchy has been responsible for designing women’s role in society. Throughout history, men have been deemed as superior while women have been regarded as inferior. Society has this ideology that women are the sole laborers of a household; they were not granted the same privileges as men. In addition, women have been negatively affected by stereotyping. Women have been portrayed on television as being submissive to men. The depiction of women on television portrays the implications of a societal view of women. From a man's perspective, an ideal woman is a housewife who does all the household duties herself. However, over the years, studies have shown that gender roles have slowly advanced. Women began to challenge the traditional gender roles, and they expect that men share employment as well as tending to the household and children. The traditional roles that women were expected to play is now an ideology of the past. There is a double standard set between men and women. Women have come a long way; women began to enter the work force in jobs that men held previously. They have also changed their appearance, attitude and how they are viewed by people. Therefore, women are not to be viewed as inferior. Consequently, women went from being submissive to being assertive, influential, and successful individuals.
It can be concluded that women are treated in terms of stereotyped impressions of being the lowest class and greater evidence can be found that there are large disparities between the women and the men 's class. It can be seen that women are more likely to play casual roles as they are most likely to take seasonal and part time work so that they can work according to their needs. They are hampered from progressing upward into the organizations as they face problems like lack of health insurance, sexual harassments, lower wage rates, gender biases and attitudes of negative behavior. However, this wouldn’t have hampered the participation of the women in the work force and they continue to increase their efforts which is highly evident in the occupational and job ratios of females in the industry.