Women, Work and Industrial Relations in 2008

2009 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 331-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marian Baird ◽  
Sue Williamson
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equity ◽  
Maternity Leave ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Pay Equity ◽  
Employment Standards ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Right

The year 2008 was a busy one for matters relating to women, work and industrial relations. The Labor Government introduced the Fair Work Bill with a new bargaining stream for low paid workers and new National Employment Standards, which include the right to request flexible working arrangements and extended unpaid parental leave. A number of public inquires on issues pertaining to women and work were also initiated. In this first annual review of women, work and industrial relations we focus on three topics highlighted in 2008 — pay equity, working hours flexibility and paid maternity leave — and assess the implications of the proposed policy changes for women and gender equity.

Gender Equity: The Commission’s Legacy and the Challenge for Fair Work Australia

2011 ◽  
Vol 53 (5) ◽  
pp. 647-661 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meg Smith
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Gender Equity ◽  
Gender Relations ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Paid Work ◽  
Pay Equity ◽  
Equal Pay ◽  
Market Variables ◽  
Policy Shifts

Two labour-market variables, wages and hours, are used to review the gender relations record of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission and its predecessors. This review informs an assessment of what features of Commission practice and capacity should and can be replicated by Fair Work Australia. Arbitration has been most decisive for women in paid work when it has enjoyed national and industry distribution. Advances in equal pay and leave linked to reproduction are two relevant examples, although these advances have been confronted more recently by frailties in federal gender pay equity regulation and policy shifts to enterprise and individual bargaining. The findings suggest an agenda for Fair Work Australia, notwithstanding the possibilities and limitations posed by the Fair Work Act 2009 and the tendency for changes to the gender contract to be highly contested.

Women, Work and Industrial Relations in 2010

2011 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marian Baird ◽  
Sue Williamson
Keyword(s):  
Policy Development ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Pay Equity ◽  
Corporate Leadership ◽  
Women And Work ◽  
Workforce Policy ◽  
Paid Parental Leave

Interest in women and work issues continued throughout 2010, with attention turning to the implementation of policies and utilization of the Fair Work Act to improve the position of Australian women in the workforce. Policy development continued for paid parental leave, with the new scheme launched in October 2010 and payments commencing from 1 January 2011. Together with the Fair Work Act, a new policy base around work and family has been established. The year 2010 was also marked by a focus on matters relating to pay equity, sexual harassment and the lack of women in corporate leadership roles.

scholarly journals Lessons on Parental Leave: A Comparative Analysis of Parental Leave in South Africa and the United Kingdom

Obiter ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 787-805
Author(s):  
Asheelia Behari
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Maternity Leave ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Primary Role ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Participation Of Women ◽  
Labour Participation ◽  
The Right

Recent amendments to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997 have resulted in the introduction of parental leave. This provides employees with 10 consecutive days of time off from work to care for their newborn babies and may commence from the day of the birth. The right to parental leave has the additional benefit of impacting gendered social assumptions that place women in the primary role of caregiver and a secondary role as worker. With the rise in the labour participation of women, there has been an increase in the need for the involvement of men in the caregiving and upbringing of children in the home. Although parental leave applies to men and women, it has been enacted with the objective of encouraging working fathers to participate as caregivers and to share in the burden of care placed on new mothers to care for themselves and their newborn babies during maternity leave. This article considers the effects of parental leave as a recent addition to South African law by conducting a comparative analysis with the long-established parental leave models of the United Kingdom. These include the right to parental leave that is applicable to a parent who has parental responsibility for a child, and a right to shared parental leave, which allows the mother of the child to share her maternity leave with the other parent of the child. The parental leave rights of the United Kingdom have been developed to provide employees with choice and flexibility to accommodate their caregiving responsibilities, and may indicate a trajectory for the progression of the newly enacted right to parental leave in South Africa.

scholarly journals Women, work and industrial relations in Australia in 2018

2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 342-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Williamson ◽  
Meraiah Foley ◽  
Natalie Cartwright
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Family Policy ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Pay Equity ◽  
Work Family ◽  
Key Events ◽  
Gender Equality Policy

This year's annual review of women, work and industrial relations marks an important milestone. Nearly 10 years have elapsed since the introduction of the Fair Work Act 2009, which enshrined important new rights for the progression of gender equality. It is also 10 years since the Journal of Industrial Relations commenced this annual review. In addition to focusing on developments affecting women and work in 2018, this review provides a broad summary of key events over the past decade. We explore trends in women's workforce participation, union membership, economic security and pay equity, as well as major changes pertaining to work–family policy settings, workplace sexual harassment, and family and domestic violence leave. We conclude that although policy and employment frameworks have created a foundation on which to build gender equality, policy development has been sporadic and the context for women in Australian workplaces remains far from equal.

scholarly journals Women, work and industrial relations in Australia in 2020

2021 ◽  
pp. 002218562199640
Author(s):  
Meraiah Foley ◽  
Sue Williamson
Keyword(s):  
Women Workers ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Aged Care ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
Early Childhood Care ◽  
Childhood Care ◽  
Paid Parental Leave

The COVID-19 pandemic drove significant changes affecting women, work and industrial relations in Australia in 2020. This annual review explores the economic and social impact of the pandemic on women workers, and examines the gendered impact of key policy responses, including: the introduction of an historic temporary wage subsidy programme; the early release of superannuation funds; multiple economic stimulus measures, targeted mostly at male-dominated industries; and the provision of paid pandemic leave. This review also analyses major developments in early childhood care and education and aged care, and the longer-term implications of the massive natural experiment in working from home that occurred in 2020. Developments in paid parental leave and sexual harassment are also briefly discussed. We find that, although women workers were disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, policy responses to date have largely failed to acknowledge or repair the gendered impacts of the crisis.

scholarly journals International legal regulation of healthcare development in the OECD

2021 ◽  
Vol 136 (3) ◽  
pp. 35-51
Author(s):  
Sh.V. Tlepina
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Maternity Leave ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
International Labor Organization ◽  
International Labor ◽  
Important Means ◽  
And Shifts ◽  
The Right

The article examines the issue of international legal regulation of matters of strategic development of healthcare using the example of the OECD member states. The issues of the activities of the International Labor Organization through the implementation of conventions and recommendations are considered. ILO Conventions and Recommendations play an important role in the development of health care in the context of the pandemic. The outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is testing the national health systems, their resilience, preparedness, and speed of response to emergencies. The rapid spread of COVID-19 emphasizes the urgent need to strengthen the health system. Conditions particularly relevant during the pandemic include working hours, including the regulation and compensation of overtime, inconvenient working hours, and shifts; weekly rest; maternity leave; sick leave; social security. The right of workers (including migrant workers) to form trade unions is of great significance. The right to association is also one of the important means of labor regulation, as well as for medical workers. To ensure the efficiency of measures taken in response to the COVID-19 outbreak and its aftermath, there is needed an environment of trust through social dialogue and tripartism.

Article 33 CFR

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Lock
Keyword(s):  
Maternity Leave ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Professional Life ◽  
The Right

To reconcile family and professional life, everyone shall have the right to protection from dismissal for a reason connected with maternity and the right to paid maternity leave and to parental leave following the birth or adoption of a child.

6. Parental rights

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Jefferson
Keyword(s):  
Maternity Leave ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Sex Discrimination ◽  
Parental Rights ◽  
Essential Information ◽  
Sex Equality ◽  
Flexible Working ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Right ◽  
Staying At Home

Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses the law on parental rights. Topics covered include maternity leave, parental leave, time off for dependants, and right to request flexible working. The right to shared parental leave (SPL) is singled out for detailed treatment, partly because it is fairly new, and partly because, some would say, it exemplifies an old-fashioned approach to sex equality when caring for newborns. The option as to whether her partner can share in SPL is for the mother to decide; the mother may receive (by contract) enhanced maternity pay, but there is no enhanced SPL. The effect is to reinforce the mother’s staying at home because if she goes back to work, the family will lose most of the partner’s income because the rate of pay for SPL is low, around £145 a week. The latter point is arguably sex discrimination, and during the currency of this book the Employment Appeal Tribunal will decide this issue (at the time of writing employment tribunals are split).

5. The work–life balance legislation

2019 ◽  
pp. 366-429
Author(s):  
Ian Smith ◽  
Aaron Baker ◽  
Owen Warnock
Keyword(s):  
Parental Leave ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Flexible Working ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Right ◽  
Rest Breaks ◽  
Balance Problems

This chapter addresses a number of legislative regimes creating rights that affect the balance between work and life outside of work. Specifically, the discussion focuses on the controls over working hours and rest breaks and the right to paid annual leave in the Working Time Regulations; the law on maternity, adoption, paternity, shared parental and other parental leave; and the right to request flexible working arrangements. Although not all of these rights can claim work–life balance as their original policy driver, they have come to be seen as representing a loosely coherent programme for ensuring that the process of earning a living does not preclude any worker from enjoying other aspects of life, especially family life. The chapter considers, singly, each of these work–life rights, and the policies and legislation behind them and assesses whether the law delivers effective and useful rights. Gender inequality forms a central theme of the chapter, noting that many work–life balance problems flow from unequal gender norms in the home.

Women, Work and Industrial Relations in 2009

2010 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marian Baird ◽  
Sue Williamson
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Parental Leave ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Senior Management ◽  
Gender Justice ◽  
Pay Equity ◽  
Promote Gender Equality ◽  
Paid Parental Leave

The interplay between women’s work and family lives and public and business policies attracted considerable attention during 2009. In this review we focus on Australia’s new paid parental leave scheme, pay equity, award modernization and the lack of women in senior management and on boards. We conclude that ‘economic efficiency’ arguments to promote gender equality in the workplace became stronger during the year, sometimes displacing gender justice arguments. We also suggest that 2009 was a year of policy wins and losses for women at work and that 2010 will see more attention to gender equitable policies as political parties seek to win the ‘women’s vote’.

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