Discrimination in the Workplace: Where is the Law Now Pointing?

Abstract

In my last annual report to the Victorian Parliament I made the following statement:

Sex discrimination remains the most widespread, persistent, and 'normal' form of unequal opportunity in this community.

Even after a decade in which women's issues have been politically acknowledged, anti-discrimination laws enacted, and affirmative action programs begun, the social reality for Victorian women has not changed dramatically.

They continue to earn on average only two-thirds of their male counterparts' wages; (they) are concentrated in the lower ranks of most enterprises, where opportunities for decision-making responsibility are not offered; they are likely to be rated less favourably both as credit risks and as prospective tenants; and provision for their income maintenance in old age is far less adequate than for men. In general, women continue to confront social, industrial, and even legislative barriers whose practical effect is to marginalise them.