this is your government working for you
not !
this is your government gone mad !
Gender job quotas: State contractors forced to hire 40 per cent women
GOVERNMENT contractors would be forced to employ a workforce consisting of at least 40 per cent women under new sex quotas set by the Australian Human Rights Commission.
Companies that fail or refuse to recruit similar numbers of men and women risk losing lucrative government contracts in the gender-bending experiment intended to boost women’s pay but which business groups have warned could mean a bad outcome for taxpayers and tougher conditions for small businesses.
Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins has told the federal government to take “disruptive action’’ and make private sector contractors hire more women, to help close the 16 per cent pay gap between male and female workers.
She wants government agencies to include a clause in contracts requiring “demonstrated efforts to improve gender balance’’ — with targets of 40 per cent women.
Contractors would have to prove that they have “gender-balanced shortlists’’ for job interviews.
“This means that the gender balance in the organisation would be 40 per cent men and 40 per cent women, with the remaining 20 per cent unallocated to allow for flexibility,’’ Ms Jenkins said.
I would want to see evidence that organisations had made extra efforts to reach these targets in recruitment, for example through gender-balanced shortlists.
“In male-dominated industries I would want to see data that indicated an upward trend in the recruitment and retention of women over time.’’
The controversial gender quotas would be a blow to businesses in male-dominated industries such as construction, electricity and water supply, and manufacturing, where blokes make up at least 80 per cent of the workforce.
But companies with feminised workforces — such as cleaning, catering and social services — would also be forced to hire more men to win government work.
Women make up a massive 80 per cent of the workforce in healthcare and 70 per cent of workers in education.
The federal government awarded 70,338 contracts worth $57 billion to private companies in 2015-16, the latest data shows.
A quarter of the contracts went to small and medium-sized businesses. Government departments use contractors for supplies and services ranging from transport, healthcare and legal advice to building and maintenance, engineering work, information communications technology (ICT), cleaning and training.
Business groups blasted the social engineering proposal yesterday, warning that some companies could go broke if locked out of government work.
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive James Pearson said government agencies should seek to maximise value for taxpayers’ money, instead of dictating who contractors employ.
