Legislation

The Council was quick to realise that discriminatory legislation prevented women exercising choices in paid employment. ^[86] In two important areas - equal pay and parental leave - legislation was required to make the difference for women in employment, as discussed previously. There have been other areas for women workers where legislation has improved women's choices. NACEW supported in principle the provisions included in the proposed amendments to the Factories Act to permit women to work extended ordinary hours of work and overtime. However, the Council wanted to make equal pay a precondition for any extension for women of ordinary hours of work and overtime.^[87]

Reflecting on its first eleven years, NACEW was pleased with two pieces of legislation passed in that period - the Equal Pay Act 1972 and the Human Rights Commission Act 1977. In 1977, the Council also recommended to the Minister of Labour that women and men share restroom facilities in places of employment with fewer than ten employees, which would require amendments to the draining regulations and the Factories and Shops and Offices Act.^[88] This recommendation was included in the Factories and Commercial Premises Act 1981 and prompted the Council to question if promoting legislation relating to women workers was a central aspect of its work. NACEW agreed that legislation was only one means of fostering equality of opportunity for women in employment. ^[89]

In 1978, the Human Rights Commission Act came into effect. The Council had previously recommended that a body was needed to promote equal opportunity in the workforce and deal with complaints of discrimination. Subsequently, the Human Rights Commission Amendment Act 1992 made it illegal to discriminate in employment on the grounds of age. In 1993, the Human Rights Act was passed that extended these grounds to include disability, political opinion, employment status, and family status.

In 1978, the Council also focussed on night work and decided in principle that there should be no distinction between men and women over night work in factories. At the time there was little research on this subject and NACEW urged the government to investigate this, which it did. NACEW was represented on the steering group, which was established to prepare for the denunciation of ILO Convention 89, which prohibits women working at night in factories.

With the introduction of the Factories and Commercial Premises Act 1981, provisions that previously covered outworkers were set aside leaving this group of workers with no statute controlling them. The Council believed that a more comprehensive approach was needed to ensure reasonable work conditions, workloads and rates of payment.^[90]

In 1983, the Council opposed the Industrial Law Reform Bill, which introduced voluntary unionism because of concern that women, who were predominantly employed in small workplaces, would be adversely affected. The Council saw the proposed introduction of youth rates for all types of work as a breach of the principle of equal pay for equal work and was pleased that the measure did not reach the statute book.

In 1987, NACEW saw some of the provisions proposed in the state sector reorganisation as a backward step. It was concerned that re-entry after parental leave, flexible working hours and permanent part-time status were not assured and would need to be re-negotiated between employer and employee. In the State Sector Act 1988, chief executives of each government department were required to develop and publish an equal employment opportunities programme. NACEW was pleased with this but noted that there was a still a long way to go to reach equal employment opportunity.^[91] In 1989, the Council was still concerned over the effect of state sector reorganisation on women's employment, reinforced by the Public Service Association's report, which showed that most State Owned Enterprises had failed to carry over equal employment opportunity measures that existed when they were government departments.

In 1991, NACEW's submission on the Employment Contracts Bill recommended some changes. NACEW was concerned that the Equal Pay Act 1972 was rendered ineffective by the legislation and that women were heavily dependant on union organisation and unions were not granted a statutory place in the bargaining structure by the legislation. The Bill also proposed individual contracts that would provide fewer protections than collective contracts. The legislation was passed with only minor alteration.