Students are required to write an essay, which includes choosing one (1) discussion point from the list below, and completing the following requirements:
• Drawing on your research, summarise the important historical events and trends as relevant to community service values and principles • Identify current ethical and/or legislation requirements relevant to the chosen discussion point. • Use at least 5 peer reviewed journal articles and textbook references.
Note: To describe is to provide characteristics and features. To explain is to provide an explanation of not only how something happens, but why it happens. To discuss is to consider more than one point of view and provide arguments for and against the main ideas and draw a conclusion.
Discussion points — CHOOSE ONE:
1. "People with disabilities are undoubtedly among the most vulnerable at risk of social exclusion." Develop an argument to prove this point. Provide evidence of legislation (past and current), social policies and recent developments that have supported people to move from a status of excluded to socially included. Include a definition and explanation of social exclusion and social inclusion.
2. "Despite some progress, inequality still exists between men and women. What has led or influenced this inequality in the present day and how do we work to overcome it? " Focus on a key inequality such as employment and wages or education. Develop an argument to prove your point. Provide evidence of legislation (past and current), social policies and recent developments. Include a definition and explanation of empowerment.
3. "The problem of the world's refugees and internally displaced is among the most complicated issues before the world community today. " Develop an argument to prove this point. Provide evidence of legislation (past and current), social policies and recent developments related to the Australian Governments' policies on asylum seekers. Include a definition and explanation of human rights.
4. "Social justice means recognising the distinctive rights that Indigenous Australians hold as the original peoples of this land. " Develop an argument to prove this point. Provide evidence of legislation (past and current), social policies and recent developments. Describe gaps in service provision between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians. Include a definition and explanation of social justice.
5. "Globally, the LGBTI experience of promoting and achieving change and understanding with policy makers and the general population is that progress is extremely slow " Develop an argument to prove this point. Explain the role of advocacy. Explain the historical events and policy changes that were influenced by various advocacy campaigns
Inequality in Australia
Introduction
The unequal treatment between men and women is called gender inequality. Because of gender inequality, many societies discriminate and marginalise the individuals from participated in different events. Gender inequality creates inconsistencies among the individuals. Gender inequality has been experienced by men, women and transgender people in Australia. There are several forms of inequality, such as occupational segregation, retirement, gender pay gap, careers and violence (Winchester & Browning, 2015). Australian women and girls cannot access all the opportunities in the country because of the presence of gender inequality. Since, the age 15, 1 among three women experiences violence in Australia. The critical drivers of social transformation for this inequality is the feminist movement. Percentage of women inequality in Australia is 52. Most of the women are leaving their home because of domestic violence. Specialist homelessness services are approached by 38 per cent of people of the country. Another essential fact about inequality in Australia is women receives 15 – 20 per cent less salary than men (referred in appendix 3) (Wilkins, 2015). The average superannuation balance of men is double relating to women in Australia.
Discussion
Gender inequality was a major social problem in the ninetieth and twentieth century. Victims are ashamed and fearful because of the culture of silence at the individual level. In the earlier past (before the ninetieth century) of Australia, gender violence was invisible. In the twentieth century, it has become a significant problem. In 1970, the historical Australian Feminists Scholarship began to emerge, and the historians focused on the lifestyle of women based on violence, sexual experience and family experience (Western & Tomaszewski, 2016). The “domestic violence of Wife Beating” was found in the newspapers of Ninetieth and twentieth century and it was a widespread problem. Male aggression was normalised at this century because as per the society, men should be mentally and physically tough. As a result of which, hyper-masculinity took place in Australian society (Triffitt, 2015). According to the historical approach, there is a positive relationship between economic development and gender inequality. As gender inequality is decreasing over the year economic development of the country is also growing (referred in appendix 4) (Treas & Tai, 2016). The participation of labour women is quite higher in different industries of Australia in 2014 relative to 2002 (referred in appendix 2). The full-time gender pay gap has reduced at a considerable rate in the last five years (Tapper & Fenna, 2018). In 2015-2016, the gender pay gap in Australia existed with 16.1 – 14.7 per cent (referred in appendix 1).
The primary driver of inequality is unequal pay. The education level of Australian men is less than women. Most of the women have earned doctorates degree, master's degree and bachelor's degree. However, the percentage of earning of men is twenty per cent more than women. Sexual harassment is another driver of equality in the society. The subject of mistreatment is sexual harassment. In the workplace of Australia, 38% of women have experienced sexual harassment (Morley & Ablett, 2016).
On the other hand, 81% of women experience lifetime harassment in Australia. For the main source of income, the women employees of a restaurant depend on the tips. In the compensation and treatment in the workplace, a significant role has played by racism. Based on the ethnicity and racism, the payment of the women varies. The highest annual median earnings of women are compensated by $46000 (Kennedy, Rae, Sheridan, & Valadkhani, 2017). Though women are higher educated than men, their promotion occurs in the workplace less than men. In Australia, less than 10% of women are the top earners according to S&P 500 brands. On another hand, the percentage of women holds the CEO positive is less than 5 per cent (Jayachandran, 2015). For asking to the higher pay at the job, women struggle all the time. Women are affected more significantly than men because of being feared of discussing money. The employers consider those women as desperate and greedy who ask for negotiation. Around 70 per cent of women in Australia acceptsalary without negotiation.
There are several processes of overcoming the inequality. People of the country should be transparent based on gender. The organisations of Australia should present the report on gender inequality transparently. The employers should adopt a proper step to reduce the gender pay gap in every organisation, and every employee should accept that. With all of the employees, employers should communicate honestly and openly about gender discrimination (Fleming & Measham, 2015). All of the facilities in the society should be provided to the women like the men employees. Women should engage in all of the events without any discrimination. The employers should support the women for holding the senior roles. The large companies in Australia, such as BHP, Woolworths Group, CSL limited, Amcor and Commonwealth Bank publish individual gender report on the individual company. All of the companies should enhance the gender-neutral recruitment process. They should make the job adverts carefully. Employers can attract more women than men, by inspiring cooperative and collaborative activities (Fenna & Tapper, 2015). The employers should review the standardise pay and salary. The employers should at first focus on the present pay gap between two genders. There should have a clear policy on discrimination. Non-retaliatory, unbiased and transparent discrimination policy ensures the proper commitment of both men and women. The government of Australia can promote the culture of meritocracy to avoid inequality and discrimination in the nation.
Three types of fundamental inequalities are present in Australia. Employment inequality is one of them. Numbers of unemployed Australian are 730000. The percentage of women participation in Australia is 47.0% among all employed persons in Australia. Among them, 21.4% of the women wok at part-time jobs and 25.6% of the women employees work in a full-time job (Coelli & Borland, 2016). As per the ABS report of 2019, the total percentage of part-time women employees is 68.1, and the percentage of full-time women employees is 37.3. The workforce participation rate in Australia is 71.3% for men while 61.1% for women (Charlesworth & Macdonald, 2015). The percentage participation of women labour force in the engineering sector is 9%. However, the percentage of participation in the education sector is 79% (referred to in appendix 2). Wage inequality is another key inequality. Earning of women in Australia is 14% less than men. For annualised full-time total remuneration, the gender pay gap is 21.3%.
On the other hand, women workers receive 4.8% less salary than men (Charlesworth & Macdonald, 2015). Year twelve qualifications have been attained by 89.9% of women workers of the age group 20-24 years. The percentage of women in Australia acquired a bachelor degree is 44.7%. The percentage of domestic student enrolment has increased to 58.4% in Australia.
Even the billionaires in Australian societies think about inequality. Though the government has taken several steps to reduce inequality, it is a still vital problem in Australian society. It cannot be removed without the consciousness and participation of the ordinary citizen of the country. People should focus on the widespread inequality in the country.
In 1984, the Australian government enacted the "Sex Discrimination Act". On the ground level, it prohibits the inequality among men and women. This act eliminates discrimination against the women of the country. Other aspects that have been mentioned in this act are family responsibilities, pregnancy and marital status (Borland & Coelli, 2016). The act has also focused on the sexual harassment. At this time, society and the employers focus on working equally. In both personal and professional lives, men and women should be given equal opportunities and right. Another essential legislation is “Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012”. This act also promotes and enhances equal rights among women and men. Through the advancement of gender inequality, the government wants to develop the competitiveness and productivity of Australian business (Kennedy, Rae, Sheridan, & Valadkhani, 2017). it also ensures the equal participation by removing the barriers among different genders. This act also nurtures the workplace consultation.
Gender inequality is a major barrier of poverty reduction, human development and economic growth of a country. It is present all around the world, along with Australia. The society can obtain financial stability, peace and security and consistent growth by empowering the women and removing gender inequality. Women cannot achieve economic and social equality because of violence against women (Triffitt, 2015). The citizen of the country should focus on this aspect. Every community should have some proper steps to reduce gender inequality in the country. The primary social policy to reduce inequality is decreasing the dependency burden. Communities should focus on better educated and heathier girl children in all over the country (Fenna & Tapper, 2015). Hunger of 150 million people can be reduced by allowing the accessibility of women workers in the field.
Australia and its partner countries have presented the gender equality result with the national interests. As per the commitment strategy of the government, the organisations can reduce gender inequality by working with regional organisations and government. In the local context, organisations should work sensitively. Currently, the employers include the women workers in peacebuilding, leadership and decision-making process (Coelli & Borland, 2016). with the government coordination, the employer supports the women coalitions, such as identifying the lead role, enhancing the service prover and association for women and respecting the women entrepreneurs. The government has also made men and boys conscious about the disadvantage of gender inequality.
The process of providing status and power in a specific situation is called empowerment. The managers delegate the power among the workers irrespective of gender, race, religion, nationality and age to make the decision-making process more comfortable and improve the performance of the employees; it is called empowerment (Winchester & Browning, 2015). The process of involving women in recognition, honour and respect is called women empowerment. It promotes the sense of self-worth of women. A significant global movement is promoting the rights of women employees and women empowerment. It ensures the corporate leadership of women at a high level. It also ensures the safety, well-being and health of all the workers.
Conclusion
The intervention of the government of Australia has reduced the inequality at different sectors. According to laws and legislation of the government, people should be treated in the same manner irrespective of gender, race and region in the society and the workplace also. Gender inequality has been reduced in Australia from 24.7% to 21.3% (referred in appendix 5) (Jayachandran, 2015). The government of the country has focused on professional development, training and education of the women employees. (Source: Jayachandran, 2015)
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