Patterns in the policies: affirmative action in Australia
Abstract
Although affirmative action is often referred to as though it was an homogeneous entity, the reality is that affirmative action policies can take many different forms. To date, the variety of affirmative action policies that have been implemented in Australia has not been well‐documented. In this paper, a framework is developed to describe the variety of affirmative action policies being implemented in Australia in the 1990s. The most frequently reported policies by Australian organisations concern reviewing employment policies for discriminatory practices. The next most commonly reported policies relate to companies’ efforts to assist employees to balance the competing roles of work and family. Policies that seek to challenge traditional patterns of employment, and policies that seek to “fix” women are less commonly reported by organisations. The breaking down of affirmative action into various types of policies provides scope for more fully exploring the question of the effectiveness of affirmative action policies.
Keywords
Citation
Sheridan, A. (1998), "Patterns in the policies: affirmative action in Australia", Women in Management Review, Vol. 13 No. 7, pp. 243-252. https://doi.org/10.1108/09649429810237088
Publisher
:MCB UP Ltd
Copyright © 1998, MCB UP Limited