The Concept of Equal Employment - Term Paper Example

Compare between the protection of equal employment opportunities in China and Australia Introduction The paper focuses on the issue of protection of equal employment opportunities in China and Australia. It further compares the approaches followed by these two countries regarding providing equal employment opportunities in the workplace. The paper would first understand the concept of equal employment opportunity and follow the employment trends in China and Australia. Thereafter, the paper would concentrate on finding out the regulations followed by these two countries to protect equal employment opportunities. In the later sections, the approaches followed by these two countries would be compared to find out the underlying weaknesses or strengths of the systems. As discrimination is based on various parameters such as gender, race, nationalities, disabilities etc. and it is difficult to compare all these parameters in this paper, only one issue i.e. of gender discrimination is being studied in detail in the later half of the paper. It is believed that China has a less stringent legislation with regards to employee protection as compared to developed economies like Australia. This paper would also try to understand whether such an assumption is true or not. Definitions and theoretical issues Equal employment opportunity is also defined as an approach by most of the employers for ensuring impartial and fair in the process of giving employments to the prospective people. "Equal Opportunity Employment" was coined by President Lyndon B. Johnson at the time of signing Executive Order 11246 that was created for prohibiting federal contractors against discriminating and keeping the basis sex, race, creed, color, religion, or even national on the same podium. The scope also covers the discrimination made on the criterion of minority status (Kramar 1995). Discrimination in employment The term refers to any form or kind of biasness, prejudice, or favoritism, which can be done on the basis of race, disability, age, sexuality, sex, Marital status and pregnancy for employing people. It also states that no one should be treated or made to look less favorable. Many countries in the world have implemented Equal Opportunity Act. This move by the organisation has made it mandatory for the employers to treat everyone fairly (Liff 1999). Diversity in workforce The increasing number of employees in an organisations and with increased globalisation, varied or diverse workforce is the need of the hour i.e. people from diverse background or with varied educational background, race, age groups, abilities, gender etc get together to work for an organisation with a common objectives. Thus it becomes a responsibility of the organisation for creating an equal podium, which is free of discrimination (Thomas 1996). Equal opportunity Equal opportunity is also defined as dealing with people fairly and equally excluding the factor of race, sex, religion, age or disability. It is also providing women an equal access and treatment at the workplace. This compels the employees to be protected against ill-treatment or harassment by the employers. The principles of Equal Employment Opportunity also help respect and realise the actual worth an individual for his skills, knowledge, merit and abilities. This also needs all the employees be it temporary, permanent, contractual etc to be covered under the policy. It is necessary to ensure that Equal employment opportunity is giving fair access to the people for opportunities for their development. It also helps ensure industry, organisation and society. It also encourages the disabled or disadvantaged a fair opportunity in comparison to the others (Kirton & Greene 2005). Employment status in China The legal system in China continues to be in a crumbling state with the social and political complications. In spite of the economic development in the country, the employment opportunities are only few. One of the major problems in New China is regarding the treatment of workers. It has been seen and some evidences have been produced that ethnic minority groups and women and other groups, which may older workers and disabled persons, are disproportionately borne to bear the costs. This has been done against job promotion, firing, and remuneration (Qian 2003). Along with this, discrimination of the rural migrant workers who find work in the urban areas has been very severe. This kind of discrimination can be deliberate or may arise because of lack of awareness and understanding. Further to this, groups like this can experience some difficulties in getting education or even getting themselves training for being a professional (Giles et al 2006). China has come out with numerous regulations and laws for governing labour relations and protecting rights of the workers. On the surface, these laws are being scripted and are internationally recognised. China has enacted a number of laws and regulations to govern labour relations and protect workers’ rights. However, workplace safety violations, labour disputes, and labour unrest have seen a rise in the recent past (Zimmerman 2008). The Ministry of Law and Social Security, and the provincial branch offices, cannot function fully as they have been always understaffed. By this, they are unable to supervise or enforce standards. In addition, the Trade unions have not been able to effectively supervise the workplace. Historically, it has been seen that trade unions are considered to be the marginalised power base for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The party has been instructed to provide a supporting role, but not interfering in the larger picture (Zimmerman 2008). The Labour Law also states that an employer should not discriminate any employee on the basis of race, nationality, religious belief or sex. Also, it states that an employer is refrained from discriminating against women worker; unless otherwise not fit for female workers. The scripted policy by the government encourages employment of a person from a minority nationality, disabled persons, or any military person who has been disabled or retired (Zimmerman 2008). Employment status in Australia Australia follows a comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation that makes it unlawful to create discrimination on the basis of gender, race, disability or religion in the workplace. Further, the legislation also prohibits discrimination that might be direct or indirect (Ronald & Pepper 2004). The Employment equity legislation was defined or introduced in Australia for providing additional support to the other wise stated anti-discrimination legislation (Department of PM, Prime Minister and Cabinet 1984). The Affirmative Action Act, was directed for increasing employment opportunity than bias hiring or ignoring the disadvantaged groups. The legislation was depending on the operations or implementing the legislation by the organisation across the country to give equal opportunity to the people seeking employment (Thomas 2001). Descriptive comparison Australia has a more comprehensive equal employment opportunity and anti-discrimination laws as compared to China. These laws are designed to protect employees against direct as well as indirect discrimination and providing equal opportunities for women, disabled people, aged employees and the gays and lesbian community. Further, these laws are also supported by various industrial agreements and corporate policies. Most Australian organisations believe in providing workforce diversity and consider it one of the driving forces for their companies (French et al 2010). China also have stringent employment and labour laws, however, these laws address more specifically various general issues regarding employment. In 1994, a comprehensive labour law was enacted by the National People’s Congress (NPC) that was applicable for all the organisations, whether state owned or private companies. This law prohibited companies to discriminate employees on the basis of sex, race, nationality or religion. Although, the law stated that women employees should not be discriminated against, it also provided a clause wherein employer may not employ women for certain jobs that might be deemed unsuitable for women. The policy also advocated equal employment opportunities for disabled, retired armed forces personnel and minorities (Qian 2003). The regulation in Australia is binding in nature and addresses the issues of discrimination, diversity and equity. The country has a comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation known as the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, which not only prohibit discrimination but also ensures equal opportunity for both the genders. The country also practices affirmative action regulation that encourages analysing discrimination in an organisation and come out with a remedy at the corporate level (Ronalds 1991). This regulation calls for using different solution for every issue for overcoming the differences within the organisation (Poiner and Wills 1991). However, the central problem that the country faces is tackling discrimination cases due to availability of an array of legislations concerning anti-discrimination and equal opportunity. These regulations provide too many exemptions and loopholes through which the companies may escape in case of any defamation lawsuit against them on the grounds of not providing equal opportunities (Charlesworth et al 2002). Thus, like China, in Australia as well employers may involve in discrimination in an indirect and systemic manner. In case of China, although, the laws states that equal opportunity should be provided to all with regards to employment, discrimination in the labour market is seen to be rampant. As per a survey conducted by the China University of Political Science and Law, 86 per cent respondents felt that discrimination takes place in the employment market of China. Interestingly, more than half of the respondents stated that this discrimination is at a serious scale. Employment is often denied to people with disabilities, felt around 22 per cent people. Even people with diseases are also discriminated against, with 63 per cent employers saying that they would not employ people with HIV and 56 per cent stating that people with hepatitis B would not be recruited. The country also displays regional discrimination, wherein people can only get employment in the province they reside in and cannot seek employment in other provinces. Further, people without degrees from top universities are not preferred. Most of such people are from the rural communities who fail to get jobs in the urban areas (Li 2007). Explanation of differences Gender issues Previously, during the 1980s and 90s in the state-controlled China, companies were obliged to employ women under the stringent guidelines. However, during those times as well, many companies were reluctant to fulfill the quota (Granik 1991). After the abolition of the quota system in the 1990s, the problem of gender discrimination became much more visible (Cooke 2005). The irony of the situation is that the 1992 Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women states that companies should not refuse to employ women on the basis of their sex (Burda 2007). However, the major issue in China regarding the gender discrimination at workplace is the lack of stringent implementation of the regulation. Further, companies have little understanding on how to implement the law (Burda 2007). Although, a new Employment Law has been enacted from January 2008, which specifies the jobs that are considered to be ‘unsuitable’ for female employees, many believe that listing certain work unfit for women itself is a form of discrimination and goes against the policy of providing equal opportunities to all (Beijing Review 2007). In comparison, Australia has a much more stringent legislation against discrimination on the basis of sex, marital status and even pregnancy. The organisations also have their own policies that provide equal pay and leaves to the women employees, especially taking care of their maternity requirements (French et al 2010). The country has in recent years introduced legislations such as the Workplace Relations Act 2006 which has provided added responsibilities to the corporate to provide equal opportunities and benefits to the women employees. However, such a policy has resulted into creating more problems for the women employees as the domain related to providing work-life balance is still not defined properly, every organisation use its own definition as per its convenience. This together with lack of any compulsory regulation has resulted in putting more pressure on the employees, especially women employees who often have to cope up with added responsibilities (French et al 2010). Conclusion It was found that both Australia and China has some stringent legislation with regards to protecting equal employment opportunities in the workplace. However, both countries also have certain loopholes with the implementation of these legislations. While in Australia, individual organisations are given more power to decide about employee welfare, which has resulted into varying welfare polices and discrimination against women employees, in China, the lack of proper implementation of regulations has resulted in rampant misuse of the law. However, on the whole, the paper found that the Australian regulations protect employee rights and opportunities in a better manner than the Chinese ones. References: Beijing Review 2007, What will it take to stop gender discrimination? Viewed 5 July 2010, . Burda, J. 2007, ‘Chinese women after the accession to the World Trade Organization: a legal perspective on women’s labor rights’, Feminist Economics , vol. 13, no. 3-4, pp. 259-85. 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Kirton, G. & Greene, A. 2005, ‘The Dynamics of Managing Diversity: A Critical Approach,’ 2nd edition, Elsevier, Amsterdam. Kramar, R. 1995, 'Equal employment opportunity: An essential and integral part of good human resource management' in G O'Neill & R.Kramar (eds), Australian Human Resources Management: Current Trends in Management Practice, McGraw-Hill, London and New York, pp. 223-241. Li, Lin 2007, ‘Survey: Employment discrimination persists in China’, Xinhua News Agency, viewed 5 July 2010, . Liff, S. 1999, 'Diversity and equal opportunities: Room for a constructive compromise?', Human Resource Management Journal, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 65-75. Poiner, G. & Wills, S. 1991, ‘The Gifthorse: A Critical look at Equal Employment Opportunity in Australia,’ Allen and Unwin, Sydney. Qian, Y. 2003, ‘How reform worked in China’ in Rordrik, D. (ed), In Search of Prosperity: Analytic Narratives on Economic Growth, Princeton, Princeton Ronalds, C. & Pepper, R. 2004, ‘Discrimination Law and Practice,’ 2nd edition, Federation Press, Sydney. Ronalds, C. 1991, ‘Affirmative Action and Sex Discrimination: A Handbook on Legal Rights for Women,’ Pluto Press, Sydney. Thomas, R. 1996, ‘Redefining Diversity,’ American Management Association, New York. Thomas, R. 2001, 'From affirmative action to affirming diversity' in Harvard Business Review on Managing Diversity, pp. 1-32. University Press, pp. 297-333. Zimmerman, James 2008, ‘Labour Law: Trends and Practices in China’, In Regulating Enterprise: The Regulatory Impact on Doing Business in China, The Foundation for Law, Justice and Society in collaboration with The Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford Read More