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What 'special measures' are allowed to achieve equality? |
'Special measures' are permitted by Australia's sex discrimination laws to achieve substantive equality between men and women - that is, equality of outcome rather than equality of opportunity. Special measures go beyond merely ending discriminatory practices, and can include correcting or compensating for past or present discrimination, or preventing its recurrence in the future. |
A recent court case on the special measures laws involved a union whose rules provided that particular elected positions on the branch executive were available only to women. |
A male applicant had complained that the rules discriminated against men and were unlawful. He objected that the union policy of ensuring 50 per cent representation of women in the governance of the union exceeded the proportional representation of women in some union branches. |
Consequently, women were guaranteed representation in particular branches of the union in excess of their membership, to the disadvantage of men. |
The union successfully argued that these rules were 'special measures', designed to achieve substantive equality between men and women. |
The judge was satisfied that the union believed substantive equality between its male and female members had not been achieved, and that solving this problem required having women represented in the governance and high echelons of the union. |
She was also satisfied that the actions of the union were reasonable ones which could generally be regarded as being capable of achieving their goal. |
peter.mcnamara@cmlawyers.com.au
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