International Women's Day, Melbourne, 1980 International Women's Day march, Sydney, 1996 Reclaim the Night, Sydney, mid-1990s WEL NSW members displaying posters supporting the campaign for paid maternity leave, International Women's Day 2002 (WEL NSW Office) WEL-WA, Palm Sunday Peace March 1985 Eva Cox, at launch of WEL's 2004 federal election campaign. (WEL history collection, photo Gail Radford)

Amendment to Sex and Age Discrimination Act passed

30/05/2011 — Filed under: Current issues — Comments (0)

WEL welcomed the passage of the Sex and Age Discrimination Legislation Amendment Bill 2010 through parliament last week. The new law will provide greater protections by:

  • prohibiting discrimination on the basis of family responsibilities for both men and women in all areas of employment;
  • establishing breastfeeding as a separate ground of discrimination, and allowing measures to be taken to accommodate the needs of breastfeeding mothers; and
  • bringing in new protections for students from sexual harassment, including over the internet or by texting.

Disappointingly, however, one amendment, which would have strengthened protection against indirect discrimination on the basis of family responsibilities, was not passed as part of the Bill after it was rejected in the senate.

See the media release from Attorney-General Robert McClelland and Minister for the Status of Women Kate Ellis and the response from the Equality Rights Alliance.

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