How things have changed in the workplace...

[franfran]

A bit of social history.

I came across this while I was doing some research. It's a report from the Brisbane Courier-Mail of Tuesday 26 September 1933. It just shows how things have changed in the workplace in the last 75 years. Can you imagine the outcry if anyone said that now?

And although it sounds outrageous, please do not think that I'm trying to ridicule Herbert Austin. When you read this report you have to consider it in its context - it was 75 years ago, and the person making the statement was born in the 19th century.

REMOVE WOMEN FROM INDUSTRY.

Solve Unemployment.

MOTOR CAR MAKER'S VIEWS.

"If women are removed from industry the unemployment problem will be solved," declared Sir Herbert Austin in a speech at Oxford.

Australian Cable Service LONDON, September 25.

"Industry in Britain is quite unable to support a higher wage and a shorter week, and unless the organisation is better there will be a definite move in the opposite direction," declared Sir Herbert Austin, the well-known motor car manufacturer, in a speech at Oxford. A 40-hour week," he continued, "would be merely a palliative, and would not result In an effective cure for unemployment. We cannot afford such a doubtful experiment at present. The protagonists of the idea would better employ their time in bringing pressure to bear on those countries which do not observe a 48-hour week.

"Women should be expelled from industry, as Herr Hitler has done in Germany. I do not think that women's place is in business. If they are removed from it the unemployment problem will be solved."

[Lena]

The bosses got smarter and now let women work but pay us less then men with women still mostly kept out of the top spots

[boingo]

What a raving sexist Nazi supporter that guy was.

The bosses got smarter and now let women work but pay us less then men with women still mostly kept out of the top spots

Does that actually happen in the US?
Obviously discrimination does happen in parts of all countries, but here in Australia there's no more discrimination against women than there is against men.
Actually, the very title of our sexual discrimination act is sexist against men. It's called "The sexual discrimination act of 19XX and affirmative action for women" (I've forgotten the exact year on it) I wonder what happened to "affirmative action for men".

[franfran]

What a raving sexist Nazi supporter that guy was.

I don't think that's really a fair comment. Remember that this was in 1933. The sexism was pretty much in line with the views of the day and, as far as the reference to Hitler is concerned, very few if any people at that time would have foreseen the evil that was to come.

[quote="Lena"]The bosses got smarter and now let women work but pay us less then men with women still mostly kept out of the top spots

Does that actually happen in the US?
Obviously discrimination does happen in parts of all countries, but here in Australia there's no more discrimination against women than there is against men.
Actually, the very title of our sexual discrimination act is sexist against men. It's called "The sexual discrimination act of 19XX and affirmative action for women" (I've forgotten the exact year on it) I wonder what happened to "affirmative action for men".

[Lena]

Workers especially women get treated like crap here. Women get paid less for the same , usually don't get to the top , and are often resented &sexually harassed

Having said that I detest most yuppy women ...............

[franfran]

Having said that I detest most yuppy women ...............

The ones that behave like they've overdosed on testosterone?

[boingo]

What a raving sexist Nazi supporter that guy was.

I don't think that's really a fair comment. Remember that this was in 1933. The sexism was pretty much in line with the views of the day and, as far as the reference to Hitler is concerned, very few if any people at that time would have foreseen the evil that was to come.

It’s a perfectly fair comment! I wasn’t using slang, or slander. What I said was linguistically correct: He was sexist, the manner in which he presented his ideas was raving(by dictionary definition) and he was a Nazi supporter.
Ignorance is no excuse. Have you not heard that old phrase: "If everyone jumped off a cliff, would you jump too?" An adult should be capable of thinking for themselves and free thought is a sign of intelligence. Anyone who does things because it’s the tradition makes no choice.

Does that actually happen in the US?
Obviously discrimination does happen in parts of all countries, but here in Australia there's no more discrimination against women than there is against men.
Actually, the very title of our sexual discrimination act is sexist against men. It's called "The sexual discrimination act of 19XX and affirmative action for women" (I've forgotten the exact year on it) I wonder what happened to "affirmative action for men".

Here in Australia there's no more discrimination against women than there is against men? Come on - it still exists, it's just nowhere near as bad as it once was.

Read what I said!
I did not say it sexual discrimination against women doesn’t exist; I said it exists in equal proportions for men and women.

I have personally been discriminated against with a job I once went for because they wanted a woman, for no good reason.
Men are regularly discriminated against when it comes to lifting anything a bit heavy, whether it's supermarkets of in the office etc.
More often than not women are not expected to do as much physical labour as men because people are incorrectly brought up thinking women are these delicate fragile things. Obviously there are physiological differences, but women are just as capable as men in most situations where there's something that needs picking up. (I'm talking about boxes of printer paper and that sort of thing, not huge heavy weights) People often (but not always) assume because someone is a woman, they’re incapable of picking something up.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to say anything against women here. Quite the opposite. Often women are brought up to believe they’re physically weaker than they really are.


[quote="franfran wrote:The various acts covering this area are pieces of State legislation, so there will be differences from one jurisdiction to the other, but the overall aim of each act is pretty much the same. There are differences though - the New South Wales Act for example includes discrimination on transgender grounds (Part 3A of the act) , which inter alia makes transgender vilification unlawful and creates an offence of serious transgender vilification. I don't think you'll find this in most of the other State and Territory acts. It's not just about women. I also think you'll find that the term "affirmative action" does not actually appear in the act or the regulation but is rather to be found in policy documents put out by the relevant departments.

I don't know where you got the name from; the Western Australian one is called the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 and the New South Wales one is the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977.

[Bushwalker]

In every workplace and every job I have been in the women get paid the same as the men for doing the same work...

Up to three or four decades ago, women were getting paid a lower rate - up until WWII women often only got half the hourly rate that men did in many places..

The lot for women in the workplace in Western countries has greatly improved over the past 40 - 50 years.

The talk these days about "glass ceilings" and "positive discrimination" for women is a nonsense, constantly being perpetuated by lazy,jealous and incompetent female journalists looking for an easy ride. I know several successful females who easily put the lie to these female-sexist fables - including some of the female members on this forum..

[Lena]

Having said that I detest most yuppy women ...............

The ones that behave like they've overdosed on testosterone?

Exactly !!!!

[Bushwalker]

Workers especially women get treated like crap here. Women get paid less for the same , usually don't get to the top , and are often resented &sexually harassed

Having said that I detest most yuppy women ...............

Sounds like things over there in Kentucky are like they were here in NSW in the 1970s...

[boingo]

Workers especially women get treated like crap here. Women get paid less for the same , usually don't get to the top , and are often resented &sexually harassed

Having said that I detest most yuppy women ...............

Sounds like things over there in Kentucky are like they were here in NSW in the 1970s...

The same here. I still remember the local Woolworths, even up to the early '80s, had only women on check outs and they all wore yellow dresses.
Now things have changed and women can wear a skirt or trousers, but guys only have trousers to choose from.(By the company's rules)

[franfran]

What a raving sexist Nazi supporter that guy was.

I don't think that's really a fair comment. Remember that this was in 1933. The sexism was pretty much in line with the views of the day and, as far as the reference to Hitler is concerned, very few if any people at that time would have foreseen the evil that was to come.

It’s a perfectly fair comment! I wasn’t using slang, or slander. What I said was linguistically correct: He was sexist, the manner in which he presented his ideas was raving(by dictionary definition) and he was a Nazi supporter.
Ignorance is no excuse. Have you not heard that old phrase: "If everyone jumped off a cliff, would you jump too?" An adult should be capable of thinking for themselves and free thought is a sign of intelligence. Anyone who does things because it’s the tradition makes no choice.

He was sexist, there is no denying that, but what he said, although misguided, is stated in quite a reasoned manner - hardly "raving". And I can't see how by expressing admiration for one of Hitler's industrial relations policies makes someone a Nazi supporter. And I think we need to consider that this was only nine months after Hitler became Chancellor and although the Enabling Act was passed by the Reichstag on March 23, it was not until July 14 that a law that proscribed the founding of political parties and it was not until February of 1934 that the Reichsrat itself was dissolved.

Does liking Volkswagen beetles or Germany's autobahn network make someone a Nazi supporter too?

And I can't see what all this has to do with tradition.

Does that actually happen in the US?
Obviously discrimination does happen in parts of all countries, but here in Australia there's no more discrimination against women than there is against men.
Actually, the very title of our sexual discrimination act is sexist against men. It's called "The sexual discrimination act of 19XX and affirmative action for women" (I've forgotten the exact year on it) I wonder what happened to "affirmative action for men".

Here in Australia there's no more discrimination against women than there is against men? Come on - it still exists, it's just nowhere near as bad as it once was.

Read what I said!
I did not say it sexual discrimination against women doesn’t exist; I said it exists in equal proportions for men and women.

I have personally been discriminated against with a job I once went for because they wanted a woman, for no good reason.
Men are regularly discriminated against when it comes to lifting anything a bit heavy, whether it's supermarkets of in the office etc.
More often than not women are not expected to do as much physical labour as men because people are incorrectly brought up thinking women are these delicate fragile things. Obviously there are physiological differences, but women are just as capable as men in most situations where there's something that needs picking up. (I'm talking about boxes of printer paper and that sort of thing, not huge heavy weights) People often (but not always) assume because someone is a woman, they’re incapable of picking something up.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to say anything against women here. Quite the opposite. Often women are brought up to believe they’re physically weaker than they really are.

I did read what you said and, although I agree that there are instances of discrimination against males, I can't say that I can see it being as great an issue as discrimination against women, Aboriginal Australians, homosexuals and lesbians and so on. You will find quite a few instances where discrimination against males has been found in the following list: Clicky

[quote="boingo wrote:

There is no need for "affirmative action for men". Affirmative action is only needed for people who are or have been the subject of discrimination.

I'm sorry, but your last comment makes me very angry. It's sexist and your ignorance astounds me.

The very idea of having special priorities for women or so called "minority groups" is in contradiction to Australian Federal law.
You're post gives me the impression you expect women or people from "underprivileged minority groups" to be given more help and higher preference in industries simply to keep the statistics more even.

[SandieQ]

if you remove or ban any section of any workforce of course you're going to have less 'official' unemployment... anyone could say for instance 'remove immigrants from workforce and allow jobs only for nationals* but the bosses want cheap labour - same as they do from women...



ps - this isn't a racist jibe just a relevant example if u pls...

[Fred75]

The bosses got smarter and now let women work but pay us less then men with women still mostly kept out of the top spots

Didn't you tell us you blew a few boss's at work?

[speshul ed]

fornicate a canard fred, you have no magnificence in your soul... you absolute reason for abortion.

the argument for alien labour is moot as these aliens of which you speak are mostly canadian contractors, working legally under free trade, as your govenerment still operates the nafta agreement ilegally and against the contract... this will be repaired according to obama...

they are also mexican and they too are under free trade... the others are primarily doing jobs many nationalists find beneath them or not enough pay for the work done... as fred is so willing to say, ;love your shovel... of course since he uttered that shyte to me, he showed what he shovels most... these immigrant labourers are a necessary part of your workforce... they keep many locally grown and or produced goods affordable for the country...

men like fred often clang in here about the wages and unions... but the unions were formed to combat asss holes like fred in the first place... they were a necessary cog in the political and financial wheel of north america... and your nation would still be working for fred acting like henry ford and making grown men piss their pants because you have no time to have a break, get back to work!.

these unions worked for you at one time, making your wages and rights better for all... and then one day... there they were, taking you to the picket lines and talking through the window of their beemers... and the entire idea went south... and they built themselves into a body of fat cats just like the ones they were formed to combat...

the times obama states will take to readjust things is longer than any of us thinks... they will never be the same... they will get better, we hope... but the easy days are gone... doen't mean they have to be worse, just not the same.