Incorporation of Human Rights in Australian Law

In Australia legislation protecting women from discrimination exists both at state and federal levels. There are two types of sex discrimination, direct discrimination and indirect discrimination. Direct being of a blatant form and easily identified and indirect being covert and harder to detect. Under domestic law consists the sex discrimination act of 1984, the Anti-discrimination act of 1977 and the equal opportunity for women in the workplace act 1999. The sex discrimination act of 1984 aims to eliminate discrimination of the basis of sex, marital status or pregnancy in the key areas of employment and education. This act makes it illegal to discriminate on the above basis, to dismiss someone from their job based on family obligations and to sexually harass someone. This act isn’t as effective as women hope as power imbalances make it difficult to establish a case for harassment. This is made evident in the O’Callaghan v Loder case of 1984. O’Callaghan had claimed harassment in the workplace had occurred by Loder however the tribunal was not satisfied that O’Callaghan had made notice of her feelings to Loder therefore justifying that Loder had not breached law on the basis of sexual harassment. This clearly shows the inefficiency of the act as women who are tormented are not put at ease even after reporting matters to authority due to holes in the system.

The anti- discrimination act of 1977 (NSW) outlaws discrimination on the basis of sex, race, gender, marital status, disability, responsibility as a carer, homosexuality and age. It also establishes the anti-discrimination boards of NSW. Women who feel as if they have been discriminated against can make a complaint to the board which will then investigate the matter and aim to reach a solution. However the effectiveness of the legislation still limited due to the lack of knowledge of rights and reluctance to exercise those rights. This may be due to the fear of dismissal, failure to recognise discrimination...