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Organisations have to respond to a range of legislative and policy initiatives intended to promote equal employment opportunity for women. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the mix of legislation and policies in Australia: anti‐discrimination and equal opportunity legislation, equal pay, work and family and managing diversity policies.

Legislation, industrial relations changes and policies relating to pay equity, non‐discrimination on the grounds of sex, affirmative action and equal opportunity, including work and family policies and managing diversity approaches are reviewed in the context of changing labour conditions and social trends.

Organisations are presented with a range of policies from which to choose and the result is variety in the extent and type of equity programs which produce variable outcomes for women in the workplace.

While this paper deals in particular with Australia, the pattern of multiplicity of approaches is common to other Western countries. As organisations choose among a variety of approaches in implementing an equal opportunity programme, the outcomes for women will vary.

The paper offers insight into equal employment opportunity legislation and policies within the Australian context.

Equal employment opportunity policies were introduced in Australia in the 1980s in response to women's disadvantaged workforce position. Australia's unique form of affirmative action was underpinned by legislation, and aimed to promote gender equity in the workplace via employer action. Throughout the 1990s there has been a policy shift away from collectivism towards individualism, and away from externally driven social programmes at the workplace towards managerialist driven social programmes. The main process for implementing progressive and inclusive equity programmes at the workplace is through human resource management policies that link employment diversity to organisational objectives (for example, productivity and profitability). Programmes titled “Managing diversity” have been introduced into some organisations, and today there are a variety of approaches towards equity policies in Australian organisations. The article proposes that a distinctive Australian version of managing diversity will develop in some organisations based on the prior national legislative framework.

The purpose of this paper is to examine equal employment policies in Australia’s male-dominated construction industry and categorise the types of activities undertaken against an equal employment typology to identify links to outcomes for women in the form of increased participation and management.

To explore the issue of low representation of women in construction through the content analysis of 83 construction organisations’ equal employment opportunity (EEO) reports.

This industry is not engaging with equal employment issues and the numbers of women working in the industry and/or management are based on individual decision rather than an institutional commitment to equality in diversity.

Australian legislation mandates organisational reporting of relevant data and offers public access to this information offering a unique data set.

An ageing population means that the predominately older male workforce is leaving construction in greater numbers with fewer potential replacements making new labour markets a vital consideration.

Legislation and organisational policies designed to promote EEO for women have existed in numerous countries for decades. One objective of this legislation was to reduce male domination in senior positions and industries/occupations where women were under-represented. Despite this, few women are employed in construction in operational or management roles worldwide.

This study offers a comprehensive analysis of a male-dominated industry in one jurisdiction rather than a few selected cases and uses a broader rigorous typology for analysis that acknowledges both equal and different treatment options.

The closer integration of work and family responsibilities has become an important element in the promotion of the decentralisation of the Australian industrial relations system. This article outlines the origins of the work and family agenda and discusses how it has come to be incorporated into the industrial relations reform agenda. A work and family typology is developed. Examples of family friendly workplace arrangements are outlined and discussed, and the extent to which these are incorporated into enterprise agreements is then outlined. There must be doubts as to how far family friendly workplace arrangements can be extended in an economy with high rates of casualisation, falling trade union densities and considerable differences in bargaining power. Indeed, many of the current family friendly arrangements are distinctly family unfriendly. Finally, there are important gender issues to consider in relation to the family friendly industrial relations agenda.

This paper reviews and investigates the relationship and intersection between three employment developments of the past decade. The restructuring of employment, notably the growth in non‐standard employment forms, the implementation of affirmative action and equal employment opportunity legislation, and the development of enterprise based decentralised bargaining. The central issue investigated is whether the employment conditions of women workers have been enhanced, unaffected or regressed by these developments. Of particular interest is whether enterprise bargaining and employment restructuring are compatible with the implementation of equal employment opportunity (EEO) based employment conditions for women workers. The paper argues that employment restructuring and enterprise bargaining are unlikely to realise the goals associated with EEO legislation, indeed, many women workers will find it difficult to retain existing employment conditions. The paper concludes by examining the likely impact of further individualisation of industrial relations systems on the employment conditions of women workers in Australia.

The purpose of this article is to assess the ability of formal equal employment opportunity (EEO) programmes and workplace agreement making to facilitate work and family balance for women workers in Australia.

This article uses documentary analysis and semi‐structured interviews in six Australian organisations that are required to develop formal EEO programmes.

Formal EEO programmes and agreement making are limited in their ability to promote work and family‐friendly arrangements at the workplace. Informal arrangements and managerial discretion are important in realising work and care balance.

The paper is Australian based, and the case studies were confined to six organisations, which restricts the findings.

Leave and work arrangements need to be required within agreements and EEO programmes. Most programmes gravitate towards minimum requirements, hence, it is important to ensure that these minimum requirements provide for work and care reconciliation. Programmes beyond the workplace, such as funded childcare, are important in this context.

The article highlights that formal mechanisms cannot achieve work and care reconciliation for women workers if they are built upon very limited minimum requirements, are voluntary and are dependent upon a bargaining process at the workplace.

Wonders whether companies actually have employees best interests at heart across physical, mental and spiritual spheres. Posits that most organizations ignore their workforce – not even, in many cases, describing workers as assets! Describes many studies to back up this claim in theis work based on the 2002 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference, in Cardiff, Wales.

Current literature acknowledges the growth of careers in project management. The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the characteristics of those who choose and continue in project-based careers.

Using social cognitive career theory as the lens to explore project management career journeys, 74 project practitioners were interviewed from across three broad industry sectors. A qualitative research approach was utilized and Atlas.ti was used to analyze and categorize the interview data collected.

Those who choose to continue in project-based roles demonstrate high levels of self-efficacy and coping efficacy and see uncertainty as opportunity. They value challenge, flexibility and variety and take responsibility for their own career progression. Desire for employment security may vary according to personal circumstance. These findings are of value to employers in guiding selection and retention of people for project roles.

This is a qualitative and exploratory study covering only three industry sectors and results are not generalizable. SCCT was found useful as a lens for understanding the nature of project-based careers.

Findings of this research provide valuable guidance for employers and HR practitioners in project-based organizations. For practitioners the study provides a useful framework for reflecting upon their own careers in projects.

The nature of careers is changing. Project-based careers are indicative of this change. This study therefore provides insight into an evolving phenomenon.

This study expands our understanding of careers in projects, going beyond technical skill development to gain a deeper understanding of personal attributes that contribute to selection into and retention in project-based careers.

The purpose of this paper is to identify issues in the long-term development of project workers, their career paths, their contribution to organizational success and their need for equity of opportunity. The long-term development of project workers, their career paths and their contribution to organizational success is explored.

A qualitative research design using semi-structured interviews was employed to gain an understanding of social and human issues related to careers in project management (PM). By researching the lived experiences and feelings of those pursuing a career in PM the aim was to gain insight into the career journeys and experiences of practicing project managers.

Those who choose to pursue a career in PM have the personal characteristics and sufficiently high levels of self-efficacy to deal effectively with the uncertainty inherent in the nature of projects and of project-based employment.

Participants were drawn from current project practitioners. As a result, the views of those who have worked on projects and chosen not to continue their career in the area have not been gathered.

Predictions are that there will be a continuing demand for project managers with the capabilities required to deliver successful projects. The challenge for organizations is to create an environment that will encourage greater numbers of people to embrace the uncertainty of project. The findings reported provide insight into how organizations might attract, develop and retain the project expertise they require for success.

This research provides further understanding into the lived experience of project managers, with a focus on those who have unexpectedly found themselves pursuing a career in PM.