Sunteți pe pagina 1din 10

Major Essay Essay question number 2 Clare Lemke Student number: 2201 9561 Unit: ATS1366 Introduction to Sociology

II Tutor: Sian Supski Tutorial day/time: Thursday at 2pm Word count:1772 Due date: 26th Sep 2011 Date submitted: 25th September 2011 (hard copy submitted on 22nd Sept)

Despite recent optimism, gender inequality persists in Australian society. Evaluate the extent of gender inequality in Australia, citing examples from within politics, the law, workforce, the household and education. How might this inequality be explained?

Over recent decades Australia has experienced considerable movements towards gender equality on a social and legal level. Although gender equality is a fundamental human right according to the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, gender inequality is still part of Australian society and embedded within attitudes and stereotypes. Today, gender discrimination has shifted from visible, blatant and socially unacceptable behaviour to an endemic less visible form which is arguably much hard to remove from within areas of society such as the workforce, media and sporting field as it involves a transformation of attitudes and long held assumptions that have led to unequal treatment and discrepancies between men and women.

Giddens (2010, p135) discusses how gender inequality is regarded as one of the most enduring forms of social inequality. Social theorist Simone de Beauvoir (1972) cited in Giddens (2010) argues that gender inequality ultimately leads to a society which regards male experience as the norm and is structured accordingly. This makes women appear as a second sex, an other compared to male normality, legitimising the dependence of women on men and presenting a severe obstacle to movement towards equal rights (Giddens, 2010, p135).

The Australian Human Rights Commission provides that gender equality is the key goal of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 which aims to eliminate gender discrimination on the basis of sex, marital status or pregnancy and with respect to dismissals and family responsibility, eliminate sexual harassment at work, educational

institutions and in the provision of goods, services and accommodation, and aims to promote greater equality between men and women in all aspects of the Australian community. On 24th May 2011, Parliament passed the Sex and Age Discrimination Legislation Amendment Act 2011 which amends the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 in order to provide greater protections for men and women against discrimination and sexual harassment. Greater protection extended to breastfeeding mothers, women with family responsibilities and greater protection for students and workers from sexual harassment (Human Rights Commission, 2011).

Snell (1979, p1) argues that the womens movement has always been ambivalent about the value of legislation in bring about real change. Although women have campaigned vigorously for legislation to improve womens economic, political and domestic position in society, women also have found that once laws have been passed they are unsatisfactory and that the inequalities they were intended to remove still remainwomen have begun to question the effectiveness of legislation as a weapon in their continuing struggle for equality (Snell, 1979, p1).

Womens participation in paid work began to increase significantly during the 1960s, not necessarily as a result of a concession to womens demands but instead a direct response to the needs of labour power in private enterprise and public service. Further, women were pushed into paid work due to growing family requirements for two incomes in order to afford housing (Greig & Lewins, 2003). Higher levels of workforce participation by women challenged the poverty of dependence through increasing the possibility of financial independence from men and raised questions surrounding the extent of male participation in domestic responsibilities (Greig &

Lewins, 2003, p205). However, Ridgeway (1997) argues that the gender hierarchy and male dominance in power, status and authority has still continue despite structural changes such as industrialisation, the movement of production out of the household, womens movement into the labour force after World War II and womens entry into male dominated occupations. Socialist feminists suggest that the early development of sex-segregated workforce helped to reinstate male domination and female subordination in the workforce. Women working in low paid, low status jobs in turn promotes the economic and psychological dependence of women on men, necessitates entrance into marriage and locks women into their subordinate domestic roles in the home (Abramovitz, 1996, p29).

However, despite greater participation of women in the workforce, the renewed vigour of the womens movement and legislative change, many Australian women still experience employment disadvantages. A disproportionate number of women occupy jobs in the secondary labour markets rather than the primary labour market, womens work on average continues to be less well-paid, less prestigious, associated with poorer conditions, less secure and less varied. In Australia women working fulltime today earn 16% less than men. Further, women have significantly less money in their superannuation fund as womens unpaid work is not properly valued by society, women often leave the paid workforce to care for children, parents or grandchildren, women often struggle to become financially independent particularly after a divorce, women are often employed in casual and part time workforce and historical exclusion of women from superannuation schemes remain in place (Human Rights Commission, 2011, p5).

Ball (2010, p1), a lawyer at the Human Rights Law Resource Centre, reporting on equality in the work place argues that that laws are the key to ending gender discrimination on boards. Ball discusses the recent approval by the French National Assembly of a bill requiring listed companies to ensure women full 50% of board positions by 2015. In Australia, women only had 8.3% of board director positions of ASX200 companies and chain just 2% of boards which Ball argues is a gross underrepresentation of women in leadership positions. Ball (2010, p2) goes on to argue that the gender pay gap, unequal distribution of unpaid caring work, sexual harassment, inadequate parental leave arrangements and pervasive gender stereotypes all impede womens full and equal participation in the workforcethe Government regulates to promote workplace safety and consumer protectiongender equality is a worthy goal and deserves the same commitment.

Elisabeth Broderick, the Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner, has developed the Gender Equality Blueprint 2010, which reconises that while it appears that women have equal opportunities as men in Australian society today, great inequalities continue to prevail. The Gender Equality Blueprint 2010 sets out recommendations in five priority areas. These recommendations include initiatives to balance paid work and family responsibilities (improving the Paid Parental Leave Scheme, making flexible work an accepted pay of the Australian workplace culture), ensuring women have economic security (pushing for pay equality), promoting women in leadership, preventing violence and sexual harassment against women in the workplace and strengthening gender equality laws. The Commission also argues that gender equality will not occur simply because we have anti discrimination laws in place It requires a commitment from all people in Australia women and men to counter

the attitudes and assumptions that lead to discrimination and unequal outcomes (Broderick, 2010, p13)

Despite the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Commonwealth) being in place gender discrimination remains a reality in Australia. There are general assumptions, attitudes and gender stereotypes towards men and women that are deeply embedded within Australian society. There is considerable hostility towards Muslim women who adhere to the Islamic cultural requirement of wearing a burqa in Australia, resulting in Muslim Australian women feeling marginalized and isolated. The push towards the banning of the burqa in Australia has opened the door to the racist element in Australian society, whereby some people think they have free rein to vilify, abuse and even physically assault women who wear the veil (Neighbour, 2010, p1).

The irony of the issue is that many Australians believe that the banning of the burqa oppresses women and creates inequality in society, however many Muslim women emphatically reject these claims that face-covering garments symbolise the oppression of women. A Muslim mother and a seventh generation Australian, Ms Jamal ud-Din, expressed contrary to popular opinion, to me the face veil has everything to do with feminismI feel empowered by the knowledge tat I am in control of displaying by beauty to whom I could and the fact that I can move freely throughout society without being subjected to the eyes of every Tom, Dick and Harry (Neighbour, 2010, p1).

Further, the over reporting and over representation of male violence in the media is arguably a form of gender discrimination against men as it inevitable paints a negative image of young males in Australian society, creating heightened fear and

apprehension towards young males. However, sex offences are distinguished from other serious crimes in that sex offenders are nearly always male and victims are overwhelming female. This gendered crime type can be explained by the feminist theory, which regards sexual violence as an extension and exaggeration of patriarchal societies in favour of male dominance and female submissiveness to men. This ideology of the male holding the position of power, influence and superiority subsequently leads to the notion that males have sexual entitlements over females (Meloy, 2009). Meloy (2009) argues that this patriarchal belief that men are superior to women has a violent impact upon women in society who as a result may be subjected to emotional, physical and sexual abuse by males.

The sporting field is an area of society where today women are given considerable more opportunity than they were historically. Traditionally, leisure pursuits for women were indoor and revolved around the household duties and the caring for children. There was the view that women should only participate in activities that would develop their domestic skills and prepare them for marriage (Cooper, 2008). Over time calisthenics, swimming, tennis, cycling and netball emerged as sports regarded appropriate for women.

Marxist, post-modernist, Frederic Jameson, believes that the effects of latecapitalism and globalisation has further weakened old power structures, in their ability to order people's lives. Sport is no different, in that it is big business, globally controlled and consumed, and aggressively marketed (Jameson, 1984, p82). The positive achievements made towards gender equality in sport are still constrained by gender discrimination in sport dueled by continuing stereotypes of womens physical

abilities and social roles. The value placed on womens sport is often lower as a consequence of unequal wages and prizes compared to what males receive. In 2007, Wimbledon, US Open, French Open and Australian Open tennis grand slams introduced equal prize money for women. This was a significant step forward for women in the sporting field. However, it has been argued that equal prize money in tennis is a token gesture as the status of the womens event does not match the mens due to a difference in the number of sets played and mens matches receiving broadcasting priority (Trollope, 2007).

Despite gender equality being at the forefront of policy and legislation reform in Australia in areas such as the workforce and sport, there are still elements of gender stereotypes and gender based discrimination in society, which reinforces gender inequalities within our country. Gender discrimination in Australia is not as blatant and as visible as it was historically, however gender inequality is still apparent on a less visible level due to unchanging attitudes and stereotypes which reinforce male superiority and dominance over women.

REFERENCES

Sex Discrimination Act 1984

Sex and Age Discrimination Legislation Amendment Act 2011

Abramovitz, M. (1996) Regulating the lives of women: social welfare policy from colonial times to the present. Cambridge: South End Press.

Ball, R (2010), Equality in the workforce would be good for us all. So let's make it happen, The Sydney Morning Herald, 29 January, p 4, date of access: 18 September 2011.

Broderick , E (2010) Gender Equality Blueprint 2010, Australian Human Rights Commission.

Cooper, B (2010). Negotiating The Boundary: The Challenge to Hegemonism in Australian Sport. History, 1(1), p 61.

Giddens, A. (2010) Sociology: Introductory Reading. 3rd ed. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Greig A, Lewins R. (2003) Inequality in Australia. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press

Human Rights Commission, 2011, http://www.humanrights.gov.au/about/legislation/index.html#sda. Date accessed: 18 Sept 2011

Jameson, F. (1984) Postmodernism or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. New Left Review, 146(2), p 82.

Meloy, M. (2009) Sex offences and the men who commit them. Boston: Northeastern University Press.

Neighbour, S 2010, Muslim women protest against push to ban burka in Australia, The Australian, 20 September, p 4, date of access: 18 September 2011

Ridgeway, C. (1997) Interaction and the Conservation of Gender Inequality: Considering Employment. American Sociological Review, 62 (2), p 218

Snell, M. (1979) The Equal Pay Sex Discrimination Acts: their impact in the workplace. Palgrave Macmillan Journals, 2 (1), p 1

Trollope, M (2007) Equal prize money in tennis does not spell gender equality, http://www.fanatix.com/equal-prize-money-tennis-does/, date accessed: 18 September 2011

10

S-ar putea să vă placă și