Global Utilities

La Trobe University
Equality and Diversity Centre

Equal opportunity programs for women

Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace (EOWW) programs are a systematic approach to the identification and elimination of the barriers that women encounter in employment. They are therefore a strategy towards achieving genuinely equal employment opportunities.

The principles of merit based selection are behind Equal Opportunity for women programs in order to redress historical and current imbalances and discrimination. La Trobe University recognises that a commitment to Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace leads to greater diversity of skills, knowledge and ideas. Further, it is integral to effective human resources management and is widely acknowledged as making good business sense.

Workplace programs

A workplace program is the term for a range of measures for eliminating direct and indirect discrimination and for implementing positive steps to overcome the current and historical causes of lack of equal employment opportunity for women. Equal opportunity for women is compatible with appointment and promotion on the basis of merit. Equal opportunity is not about quotas. It is not about discrimination to favour women.

All employers with 100 or more employees must:

  • Develop an equal opportunity for women in the workplace program, considering the seven Employment Matters
  • Report annually to the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency on the equal opportunity for women in the workplace program.

The Affirmative Action (Equal Employment Opportunity for Women) Act, 1986 (Cth)

Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Amendment Bill, 1999 (Cth)

Workplace programs need to analyse the seven Employment Matters:

  1. Recruitment and selection procedures
  2. Promotions, transfer and termination of employment
  3. Training and development
  4. Work organisation
  5. Conditions of service
  6. Arrangements for dealing with sex-based harassment
  7. Arrangements for dealing with pregnancy, potentially pregnant employees and employees who are breastfeeding
When developing workplace program you must proceed through the following six stages:
  1. Prepare a workplace profile (factual information about the composition of our workforce).
  2. Analyse the issues for women in our workplace considering each of the Employment Matters (above). Consult with both male and female employees and assign responsibility to a senior person in our organisation to take action.
  3. Prioritise our issues for action.
  4. Take action to address our priority issues.
  5. Evaluate the effectiveness of our actions.
  6. Summarise the future actions to be taken for the next year as a result of the evaluation process.