BLATANT discrimination against women in the workforce has all but disappeared but a few subtle elements still remain, according to Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency Director, Fiona Krautil.

Ms Krautil, who is in Townsville at the invitation of the Catholic Education Office, will discuss this and other women related work issues along with recent legislative equal opportunity changes at a keynote speech to be given at a conference, Celebrating Women in Catholic Education, to be held on Friday and Saturday.

“Today’s discrimination in education tends to relate to the history and assumptions of roles of men and women and largely revolves around the under utilisation of women as leaders in education,’’ she said.

Ms Krautil stressed the importance of female leader roles as role models for female students.

“Often blockages in attaining those positions occur because women are not seen as serious leadership contenders,’’ she said.“What are needed are major mentoring projects, strong career development paths which identify women’s strengths and weaknesses and women to be highly visible as serious contenders.

“Historically, women tend to support and nurture and men make the decisions. But we need to enable everyone to acquire leadership skills.’’

Ms Krautil said the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Amendment Bill 1999, which passed through the senate on December 9, 1999 required all organisations with 100 or more employees to report on their equal opportunity for women in the workplace programs.

“These programs should be designed to remove any discriminatory employment barriers and take action to promote equal opportunity for women in the workplace,’’ she said. “Any good employer should be looking at that requirement in the year 2000 to attract and keep effective and talented staff, resulting in a much more productive workforce.’’

Ms Krautil identified flexibility as a key point in the new legislation.

“It allows employers to develop individual strategies, identify issues relating to women and employment and consider and select actions relevant to their business provided they have complied with the legislation,’’ she said.

“It’s also much more user friendly requiring only a three page report to the Agency as opposed to the previously required 30.’’

Sanctions under the old legislation still apply but the new Act focuses on helping employers deliver real results for women while mutually advancing employees and employers, Ms Krautil said.

“Our new slogan is ‘Working with employers to advance women and business’,’’ she said.Townsville Equal Opportunity Committee Co-ordinator Cathy Whittaker said over 70 women were expected to attend the conference which would examine women’s contribution to Catholic education over the years.

“This has been significant in the Diocese of Townsville with the majority of staff – some 80 per cent – women,’’ she said.“The Catholic Education Office is a best practice organisation and pro active in recognising the role women play.’’

However, she cautioned against complacency stating that 60 per cent of senior administrative positions were held by men. Ms Whittaker welcomed the new legislation which, she said, went a long way to addressing imbalances in all areas of employment. But she also called on women to continue to strengthen their considerable networking abilities to achieve important workforce goals.

“This networking skill was illustrated in a recent survey of 500 executives which found that retrenched women took an average of 3.6 months to become re-employed compared with men who took 5.9 months,’’ she said.

“There is no doubt women have perfected the art and I also have no doubt that the networking links established and reinforced at this weekend’s conference will lead to more women participating more fully in our Catholic Education system.’’

For further details contact:
Cathy Whittaker Equal Employment Opportunity Committee Co-ordinator 0408 484 721.
Catholic Education Office
PO Box 861, Aitkenvale, Qld 4814
Phone: 07 4773 0900
Fax: 07 4773 0901
email: director@ceo.tsv.catholic.edu.au

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