Women and the Law (HSC SSCE Legal Studies): Revision Notes

Women and the Law

Introduction

Throughout history, women have fought for recognition and equal treatment in society. For centuries, men have dominated political power and wealth in most societies, leading to laws and policies that systematically favoured men. Although gender should not determine a person's worth or opportunities, women have faced discrimination across many areas, particularly in the workplace where they have been denied equal opportunities.

In Australia, both federal and state governments have developed substantial bodies of legislation and policy to protect women's rights. This comprehensive framework represents decades of advocacy and reform aimed at addressing historical inequalities.

Historical roles and attitudes

Women's position in society

For many centuries, deeply entrenched attitudes portrayed women as fundamentally different from and inferior to men. These attitudes were reflected in laws and policies across many countries, including Western societies. Under this worldview, women were expected to have only brief periods of paid employment, if any, before marriage. Once married, they were expected to fulfil what was considered their natural destiny: the role of homemaker.

During this period, men held virtually all positions of power and owned nearly all property. As a result, women occupied a position of subservience and powerlessness in society. Their working lives centred on domestic duties including child-rearing, food preparation, sewing, and various household tasks.

Biological and social factors

Biology played a significant role in shaping women's restricted position. Without access to reliable and safe contraception, most women spent much of their adult lives bearing and raising children. This biological reality meant they remained at home, financially dependent on their male partners.

Impact of the World Wars

Throughout the last $120$ years, certain periods saw more prominent challenges to women's restricted roles. The two World Wars represented crucial turning points, as necessity forced women to take on non-traditional roles due to the shortage of men on the home front.

This realisation prompted important questions: Why were many employment areas denied to them? More importantly, why did they not receive equal pay for equal work?

The Australian Women's Charter (1943)

In $1943$, an Australian Women's Conference for Victory in War and Victory in Peace convened in Sydney. Participants developed a comprehensive programme of reforms for the government to incorporate into post-war Australia. This document, known as the Australian Women's Charter, contained $23$ objectives including:

• Establishment of a national network of childcare centres
• Equal pay for women
• Other workplace and social reforms

Post-war period and the feminist movement

For many women, the war's end meant making room for returning soldiers, forcing them to resume their domestic roles as wives, mothers, and homemakers. However, the experience of wartime employment had planted seeds of change.

The 1960s and 1970s marked the next major period when women challenged their secondary status to men. The feminist movement of this era tackled various forms of discrimination, including:

• Workplace discrimination
• Liquor licensing laws in some states that prohibited women from being served in public bars
• Legal inequalities in marriage and property rights

In $1975$, the United Nations proclaimed International Women's Year to promote issues affecting women globally. This international recognition helped legitimise women's rights campaigns in Australia and worldwide.

Progress and challenges for women

Education, training and workforce participation

Historical barriers to education

A person's social status is heavily influenced by their access to skilled employment, which in turn depends on education and training. Historically, women seeking to enter professions faced numerous barriers, some of which persist today.

The formal education available to most young girls in earlier periods was typically brief and assumed their future would be as homemakers. In the 19th century, there seemed no compelling reason for young women to complete secondary education, much less attend university.

Women's Legal Status Act 1918

The Women's Legal Status Act 1918 (NSW) represented a breakthrough, opening the pathway for recognition of women's right to enter professions. Many women who had successfully completed their degrees could finally practise professionally. Some of these women were even elected to parliament in the $1920$s, marking another significant advancement.

Current education participation

The participation rate of young women in education has increased significantly over the past $30$ years. Between $2001$ and $2012$, female education participation among $15$-$24$ year-olds increased from $56.0\%$ to $61.9\%$, compared to males rising from $56.1\%$ to $59.7\%$.

Regarding school retention, the apparent retention rate from Year $7/8$ to Year $12$ shows females consistently outperforming males. In $2012$, $84.3\%$ of females completed to Year $12$ compared to $74.6\%$ of males.

Women enrolled in higher education comprised 53% of total enrolments in $2012$. However, significant gender disparities persist in certain areas.

Workforce participation patterns

Women have made substantial gains in labour force participation over the past $30$ years. Participation rates rose from $43.5\%$ to $65.2\%$ between the early $1980$s and $2012$. However, this progress reveals important nuances.

Across Australia, women still constitute the majority of part-time and casual workers. These employment categories often lack:

• Job security
• Parental leave entitlements
• Holiday pay
• Other benefits available to full-time employees

Social security

Historical development

In the early 20th century, providing welfare payments to unemployed people or those struggling to earn income was not considered a federal government responsibility. This changed during the Great Depression in the early $1930$s, when it became clear that people could become unemployed through circumstances beyond their control.

Current social security provisions

Today, unemployment benefits are available to women and men equally. Additional payments exist to support women in particular circumstances:

Family support payments:

• Family allowance payments to assist with child-rearing costs
• Rental assistance for low-income families in private rental accommodation

Carer payments: All people with caring responsibilities—for example, for a family member with a disability—can receive Carer Payment benefits. These recognise that caring responsibilities affect the ability to earn income. The majority of carers are women.

Parenting payments: Most recipients of parenting payments are women. A person, regardless of marital status, can qualify for these payments if they have primary responsibility for one or more young children and meet certain income tests. The Child Support Agency provides additional financial assistance to separated parents caring for their children.

Financial impacts of family breakdown

The poverty line is defined as the minimum level of income needed to meet basic necessities. Below this threshold, a household is defined as poor. The poverty line varies across different countries based on local economic conditions.

Women from non-English-speaking backgrounds

Migrant women throughout Australia face the same barriers as other women, but these problems are compounded by language barriers, especially in the workplace. There is a high concentration of migrant women in blue-collar jobs, which typically do not offer flexible working hours.

Workplace challenges

Migrant women generally have less confidence in negotiating job-sharing or part-time work arrangements with employers. Additionally, they are often less able to afford working only part-time, creating a difficult economic situation.

Home-based work

Many migrant women perform home-based work. While this offers flexible hours and eliminates childcare costs, evidence suggests that many women work long hours in poor conditions and receive extremely low pay on a piecework basis (payment per item produced rather than per hour).

Employment and qualifications recognition

Migrant women have an unemployment rate higher than Australian-born people. For those from non-English-speaking backgrounds, unemployment is even higher than for migrants fluent in English.

Even migrant women with high educational qualifications usually cannot work in Australia without undertaking expensive bridging courses, often in addition to recognised language courses. As a result, many highly qualified women must accept jobs paying far less than positions they would have held in their countries of origin, because their qualifications are not recognised in Australia.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women

Historical impact of colonisation

The impact of colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women was devastating. Beyond disease and massacre, it is generally accepted that many young girls and women were victims of sexual assaults by members of the non-Indigenous community.

Current health disparities

Today, compared to non-Indigenous women, Indigenous women fall behind on virtually all indicators of health and wellbeing:

Employment and education

The labour force participation rate for Indigenous women is significantly lower than non-Indigenous women. With respect to educational indicators, Indigenous women fare significantly worse than non-Indigenous women across:

• Retention rates to Years $11$ and $12$
• Post-school qualifications
• Tertiary qualifications

While slight improvements have occurred in some areas, many government attempts to overcome these entrenched disadvantages have failed to achieve substantial progress.

Remember!