Melbourne Law School - Theses

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Women workers and the processes of the conciliation and arbitration system

Bennett, Laura Eleanor ( 1984)

The thesis studies the relationship between women workers and the Conciliation and Arbitration System. Its aim is twofold: to explain why particular policies were adopted by the Court/Commission and to assess the extent to which those policies disadvantaged women workers. Previous research has explained women's disadvantaged position by emphasising the role of judicial prejudice and sexist ideologies. The thesis rejects such simple explanations and tries to show that particular policies resulted from the interraction between the Conciliation and Arbitration System and its economic, political and ideological environment. The thesis emphasises the complexity of the processes which determined the law and, in particular, it stresses the role of economic and political forces in shaping legal policy. It also demonstrates that the issue of whether women were in fact disadvantaged by any particular policy can only be resolved through an examination of both the policy and its effects. The first five chapters examine Court/Commission policy on wages, skill, classifications, the sex-typing of work, redundancy protection and maternity leave. The final chapter considers the implications of the arguments adopted in the thesis for other studies of women and the law.