Question One: Examine the issues for women in the Australian Workplace (5 marks)
Today, women enjoy the same rights as men in most areas, but still experience disadvantages in the areas of discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace. Studies suggests that the Australian workforce is highly segregated by gender and female and female-dominated industries such as child care are undervalued, and while there are anti-discrimination legislation, it is not enough to address direct discrimination. In reality, many Australian working women are financially disadvantaged when taking parental leave or affording childcare costs. The denial of superannuation under these circumstances further feeds into pre-existing gender pay gap and retirement gender gap, where women are experience a glass ceiling in career promotions as they have responsibilities to raise children. Furthermore, statistics show that more than half of women aged 18 or older have experienced sexual harassment in their lifetime which proves it to still be an issue despite the legal and non-legal responses addressed to resolve complaints.