... and ain't I a woman?: Sex and sandwiches
A clause referring to minimum dress requirements was deleted from three major awards by the Industrial Relations Commission on January 27. Commissioner Len Hingley said that the clause was outside the Workplace Relations Act's allowable matters.
The Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) employment condition awards, which cover workers employed mainly as shop assistants, previously had a clause that prohibited employers from "requiring an employee to dress in a revealing or indecent manner that may cause the employee embarrassment". This clause had been added in 1992 after publicity surrounding incidents in which women workers in sandwich bars, automotive repair shops and other small businesses had been made to carry out their jobs in revealing clothing, or even made to work topless.
When the decision was announced, an industrial organiser for the SDA said that the Howard government had "turned its back on family values". However, this issue is really about workers' rights.
All workers, women and men, should have the maximum possible control over their working conditions — this relates to hours, wages, safety, dress standards and any other aspect of their working environment. Of course, whether wages are high and conditions are good depends on the collective power of the workers and their ability to fight for and win a better deal.
Women, who are employed more often than men as casual or part-time workers, and are less represented by unions, earn less money and have less job security. This has made women far more vulnerable to extra exploitation, often sexual exploitation in the form of verbal or physical harassment, or the exploitation of their sexuality for their employer's profits.
Provisions such as the one removed from the awards will not stop sexism on the job, but provide some protection against this form of exploitation. While it has been pointed out that equal opportunity legislation could provide a safety net with which to take up relevant complaints, sometimes more specific award provisions need to be made relating to particular circumstances.
Poor conditions for any section of the work force make it harder for all workers to fight for better wages and conditions. Sexism has been used to divide workers since the industrial revolution and is still used today.
Women fight against sexism in many aspects of their lives — at home, in the streets, at universities and on the job. In every case, the battles waged for equality will need allies, and the fight against sexism on the job requires the strength of the union movement as a whole. Feminists and unionists need to combine to counter setbacks such as this, an example of the slow erosion of past gains made by working women and their allies.
Examples of unity in defence of these gains will help build and strengthen the movement not only to arrest this erosion, but to further improve conditions for women and all working people.
By Margaret Allum