Legal Service example essay topic

{D} EVALUATE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE LEGAL SYSTEM IN ACHIEVING EQUALITY FOR WOMEN IN SOCIETY. As I have already stated, women have come a long way in the fight for equality. With numerous legislation, only some of which I have mentioned above, the legal system of today has been effective in striving to achieve equality for women. Although women and men are still not posed as wholly equal, the role of women over time has most definitely changed. Consider this statement: "The role of women in society has not changed, particularly in the domain of the family. Women are still unequal, under the thumb of men, with the sole burden of child rearing and housekeeping.

The legal system has failed to make substantial changes in correcting these inequalities". I wholeheartedly disagree. The role of women in society has indeed changed drastically. Women have gone from being considered as stupid, housebound, child rearing objects for their relevant man to own, to in some instances holding high positions in a traditionally male dominated work environment and having the choice to marry and / or have children. With the advancement of trade unions and lobby groups, anti-discrimination acts, affirmative action in the workplace and equal access to education to say the least, the legal system has obviously addressed the problem of inequality between sexes. Women have come from having very little rights at all, to having the same access to morality as men.

Some men would argue that women are not under the thumb of men, in fact in some relationships the situation is on the contrary, and the woman is the dominant force. The above statement declares that a woman still carries the sole burden of child-rearing and housekeeping. In most modern homes, the workload is usually shared between husband and wife when the matter of housework arises. With the occurrence of maternity and paternity leave granted by most workplaces in our society, the so-called 'burden' of child-rearing is shared between parents, and in some cases the woman has the higher paid job, so the man stays home to care for the child / ren. Inequalities between men and women are evident in many areas of every day life. The workplace is one of the most prominent areas for inequalities and discrimination to appear, as is the issue of pay.

All teachers in NSW in 1959 were granted equal pay, which was a significant achievement especially for women. It was not until 1972 that equal pay for work of equal value was granted by the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission. In 1998 women's full-time earnings as a proportion of men's were 84%, which is an enormous increase when compared with the fixed female wage of 54% of the male wage in around 1907. In the past 20 years, real wages for women have risen by 17% compared to 8% for men. There has been significant changes in the workforce with regards to equal opportunity and anti-discrimination. In a three year period, from 1995 to 1998 the percentage of Australian organisations with formal procedures to deal with sexual harassment has risen by 22%, from 70% to 92%.

It is not a colossal increase but if the amount of time is considered in proportion to the years women have been oppressed without action, the figures are very pleasing. The case of Stoker vs. Kellogg Pty Ltd (1984) is notable in relation to discrimination in the workplace. A female employee and two male employees were retrenched by Kellogg. When calculating how much severance pay the three employees should receive Kellogg determined that the standard age of pensionable retirement was 65 years for males and 60 for females.

The female employee claimed that if the standard pensionable retirement age was used to calculate severance pay, she would be treated unfairly as the age for females differed from males. The female employee took her case to the Equal Opportunity Commission who decided that she had been treated less favourably than her male co-workers because there was no compulsory retirement age and there was evidence to say that the female employee would have worked beyond the retirement age. This case is relevant as it tells of the injustice is the workplace towards women, and the legal systems way of righting it, this being the Equal Opportunity Commission. This case study further argues my point that the legal system has succeeded in making changes to correct inequalities. The very last sentence of the statement in question reads as "The legal system has failed to make substantial changes in correcting... inequalities". It could be agreed that this is the strongest accusation in the passage, as it is bluntly declaring, with no sense of doubt, that no changes have been made to the legal system throughout history on behalf of women.

As I have said before, I do not support this statement. In NSW alone there is a legal service just for women - the Women's Legal Resource Centre based in Sydney. This service provides help, legal advice and referrals for women who seek assistance. Its outstanding service is a telephone hotline, which enable women from all over Australia to access legal advice, such as rural women, isolated women and women in difficult situations. This service also helps migrant women by providing advice in several languages. Along with the above service there is also a Domestic Violence Advocacy Service (DV AS) based in NSW.

This is the only community legal centre in Australia that provides representation as well as legal advice for women in a threatening environment. There have been many changes to the status of women over time and most have been induced by the legal system itself. One of the functions of law is to reflect the values and ethics of society. Laws concerning women have changed according to different cultural values concerning women. The biggest problem that our society has today is dealing with the common stereotype of women that has been passed down through the ages, that is that a female is subservient to a male. Over time, society has thrown off the shackles of that stereotype and is gradually accepting that man and woman are equal beings.

We can clearly see that the legal system is addressing the issue put forward by the statement, and will continue to correct inequalities between men and women until the desired utopia is reached. Colonial Eve, Sources on Women in Australia 1788-1914. Edited by Ruth Tale. Oxford University Press 1978 Uphill all the way: A Documentary History Of Women in Australia. Kay Daniels and Mary Murnane.

University of Queensland Press 1980 Excel Preliminary Legal Studies Belinda Brassil & Dimity Brassil Pascal Press 2000 Heinemann Legal Studies: Preliminary Course Michael Brogan, Veronica Show, Therese Ej sak, Wayne Gleeson 2000 Women's Rights Patrick Rook e Wayland (Publishers) Ltd. 1972.