Wrong priorities
Nearly one in two private employers in Australia regard "good legs" and "big breasts" as more important employment criteria than skills and efficiency. This was the finding of a recent report released by the Public Sector Research Centre at the University of New South Wales.
The report, based on a survey of 154 private employers and 23 private employment agencies in Brisbane in 1993, aimed to investigate the effects of the privatisation of looking for a job.
Sounds odd? Privatising employment agencies? That's exactly what is happening with the contracting out of services for job-seekers and the expansion of fee-based special CES services for employer clients. And this is in the context of a "jobless recovery".
The CES has decided to let private employment agencies deal with the long-term unemployed. However, as the report clearly demonstrates, these people face a high risk of discrimination.
Private employers admit they want to discriminate. They say anti-discrimination legislation frustrates their search for the receptionist or administrative support staff with the qualities they desire — a Dolly Parton who works from 9 to 5.
A large proportion of the directors of private employment agencies interviewed were women. According to the report, they "expressed distaste over employment attitudes".
They have no choice but to send three or four eligible candidates along for interview. It is the employer who decides who to hire. If they send "undesirables" along too often, the employer will seek out a new agency which is more prepared to give them what they want.
This report demonstrates the urgent need to extend anti-discrimination and equal employment opportunity provisions into the private sector. It also highlights the fact that anti-discrimination or EEO legislation is insufficient to combat discrimination in the workplace.
Ongoing training within the workplace, for example, is one method of raising consciousness about the effects of discriminatory hiring practices, and discrimination against employees within the workplace. It's also important that trade unions campaign around these issues.
We all have a right to work. And we all have a right to a workplace free from discrimination and antiquated, bigoted values that place a higher priority on a woman's physical characteristics than on her ability to do the job.
By Kath Gelber