Equity and Diversity in the Workplace: A Discussion on Legislation and Sociological Theory

This article discusses the importance of equity and diversity in the workplace in New Zealand, highlighting relevant legislation and the sociological theory of intersectionality. It covers topics such as the Human Rights Act, Equal Pay Act, and the concept of intersectionality.

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Equity and Diversity in the workplace
Questions based assignment
29-Mar-18
(Student Details: )

Equity and Diversity in the workplace
Question 1
In the article dated August 2017 published online, the discussion is undertaken regarding
raising the awareness about diversity in workplace, particularly in context of women in business
leadership. This article highlights the event being organized by around 240 senior women leaders
of New Zealand to push for greater diversity. In order to highlight the need for bringing more
diverse workforce, where women are given equal preference and equal standing, the discussion
also presented certain statistics. It was provided that in the NZX50 companies, only one woman
led the company, rest all the companies were in hand of males. There is only 22% board
members position in NZX100 who are women. And on an average, the women are paid 12% less
than men. This is the case even when NZ has the foundations of being a global leader in this
place, which would not only benefit the society but economy as well, as it would bring gender
equal and diverse leadership. Even though public sector holds 45% women as board of directors,
the private sector has been very slow in this direction. Even with the Equal Pay Act being passed
45 years back, the situation is grim and the women are underrepresented in leadership roles
(Nadkarni, 2017).
In the contemporary society, this position is most likely to continue. There has been an
increase in number of women who have entered the labour market and they have been working
in paid employment for longer hours. In 1951, only 28.4% of the women of NZ between the ages
of 15-64 had full time employment, whilst in 2001 this percentage had seen a raise of 56.4%.
And even with the substantial increase in the participation of women, the women are still given
the primary responsibility of child care and housework in the home. The current study which had
been undertaken suggests that there have been gender differences in manners where young adults
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of the nation give their time to different activities, and yet there was similarity between the
working activities of men and women (Gibb, Fergusson & Boden, 2018).
Another study conducted in this context highlighted that there was a substantial
difference found in the occupation and employment patterns, less earnings and levels of seniority
in between the men and the women and this continues to be present in the labour market of New
Zealand even with the major narrowing of gaps which favour men. To put this in perspective, the
June 2014 quarter revealed that there was an unemployment rate for women which had been
6.4% higher than the male rate of 4.8% which had declined in comparison to last year. There
have been feminist groups, unions and academics who have long argued that he Equal Pay Act of
NZ, which covers equal pay for work of equal work even with its arcane wording. There is a
need to implement the equal pay for the successful working of equal value principles and for this
principle to intervene for reducing the undervaluation of the female based working (Hyman,
2018).
References
Equal Pay Act, 1972
Gibb, S. J., Fergusson, D. M., & Boden, J. M. (2018). Gender differences in paid and unpaid
work: Findings from a New Zealand birth cohort. Policy Quarterly, 9(3).
Hyman, P. (2018). Is active intervention still needed to improve the position of women in the
New Zealand labour market. Policy Quarterly, 11(1).
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Equity and Diversity in the workplace
Nadkarni, A. (2017). Not just a women's issue: Global Women's 1 Day for Change video.
Retrieved from: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/95562022/global-womens-1-day-for-
change
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Equity and Diversity in the workplace
Question 2
For the employees of NZ, a crucial labour market issue is matching the workers with
jobs. Since the global recession of 2008, the unemployment rates in NZ have continued to
remain very high. This is despite the indicators which suggest that there may be a downward
pressure on price inflation and wages in comparison to the unemployment rates. Since the sharp
rise in beginning of 2008 of the unemployment rate of the nation, the persistent high
unemployment rate alone shows a major slack in labour market and even on the economy of the
nation. Yet, the job advertisements, which are the indicators of labour market, show skill
shortages and growth in wages, showing the recovery from recession period (Craigie, Gillmore
& Groshenny, 2012).
Through the measure of Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion, it was highlighted that
labour had fallen quite sharply since the year of 2009 and is presently running at long run
average levels. This matches the feedback given by the Reserve Bank in their recent visits. This
shows that the employers find it difficult to fill in the vacancies for thee skilled staff. Though, the
Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion measure since 2010 has been inconsistent with the
constant high rate of unemployment (Craigie, Gillmore & Groshenny, 2012). Covering the
context of previous discussion, there is again a disparity between the employment rates of men
and women, with 4.4% and 5.5%, where the overall unemployment rate for 2016 stood at 5.1%
(Stats NZ, 2018). Within the female groups, the Pacific and Māori women face high level of
unemployment (NACEW, 2012).
Unemployment is at times a boon, and at times a blessing for the managers. This is
because when there is skilled unemployment in any nation, managers can hire talent people at
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competitive pricing. This is because the skilled labour agrees to working even at lower costs, in
place of attaching a long term unemployment stigma on their résumé. It is often stated that where
a person is not working for over 26 weeks, their chances of getting employment tumbles down as
the organizations become reluctant in hiring such people. This, in itself presents a new problem,
as the managers get restricted by the time frame to rope in the talent pool, otherwise the company
might not hire the talented pool, where they pass this so called “expiration date”. Another
problem posed through unemployment, which the managers really struggle with, is the reduced
loyalty. When an individual, just to save their expiration date, works with a particular company
at low prices, they would not hesitate before switching to another better paying company, since
their expiration date is prolonged. There is also a problem in finding replacements due to such
quick swapping and expiration date issue. Where the posts remain unfilled, it leads to consumer
dissatisfaction. There is also a need to get a bigger training budget due to constant vacancies
(Great People Inside, 2017).
References
Craigie, R., Gillmore, D., & Groshenny, N. (2012). Matching workers with jobs: how well is the
New Zealand labour market doing? Reserve Bank of New Zealand Bulletin, 75(4), 3-12.
Great People Inside. (2017). Unemployment: Blessing or Burden for HR? Retrieved from:
http://greatpeopleinside.com/unemployment-for-hr/
NACEW. (2012). Critical issues for New Zealand women’s employment, now and in the future.
Retrieved from: http://bpwnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/NACEW-Critical-
Issues-for-New-Zealand-Womens-Employment.pdf
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Stats NZ. (2018). Unemployment. Retrieved from:
http://archive.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/snapshots-of-nz/nz-social-indicators/
Home/Labour%20market/unemployment.aspx
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Equity and Diversity in the workplace
Question 3
In New Zealand, equity and diversity are given a lot of significance. These are protected
through different legislations, which not only give the rights to the employers and employees
regarding diversity and equity, but also safeguard these rights. Some of these legislations
include:
Equal Pay Act, 1972
Human Rights Act, 1993
Parental Leave and Protection of Employment Act, 1987 (Parental Leave and
Employment Protection Amendment Act, 2014)
Employment Relations Act, 2000
Health and Safety at Work Act, 2015
The Human Rights Act, 1993 (HRA) is a key piece of legislation in the nation. The
purpose of this legislation is to make certain that the people of NZ are treated in a fair and in an
equal manner. Through this very legislation, the role of Human Rights Commission is set down.
This legislation was a consolidation of the Human Rights Commission Act, 1977 and the Race
Relations Act, 1971. HRA is the primary legislation which outlaws discrimination on varied
grounds which includes colour, race, gender, marital status, ethical belief, religious belief, family
status, employment status, sexual orientation, political opinion, age, disability, and ethnic or
national origins (Human Rights Commission, 2018).
Any dispute which revolves around unlawful is resolved by the Human Rights
Commission, due to the powers given to the commission under this act. This act protects the
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people in nation from varied forms of discrimination in different areas of their life.
Discrimination essentially takes place when an individual is treated less favourably or unfairly in
comparison to other individual in similar or same situations. This act not only gives the grounds
or areas for claiming an unlawful discrimination, but also brings out certain exclusions and
exemptions. This act went through major changes with the advent of Human Rights Amendment
Act, 2001. There are a number of major caveats covered in this legislation, which include
domestic employment in private household, genuine occupational qualification, national security,
organised religion, and preserving reasonable standards of privacy.
So, the basic purpose of this legislation is the protection of human rights in the nation. It
is applicable on the NZ government and also on the public body which has been given the
authority through law, for making decisions regarding respect of people. The Human Rights
Commission is a specialist commission meant for protecting and promoting human rights of
groups and individuals. Through the dispute resolution service, the commission provides advice,
mediation and information for helping the individuals in resolving their issues surrounding
human rights. For instance, where an employee wants to make a case against their employer in
employment for discrimination, sexual harassment and racial harassment, it has to be taken to the
commission under this act (Employment Relations Centre, 2018). This legislation is divided in
eight different parts, where each part covers a different aspect of this legislation. Discrimination
can be both direct and indirect. For instance; where the an employer being paid less in
comparison to another employee where every other factor of their employment remains the same
is direct discrimination; and only making stairs for a person to reach a shop is indirect
discrimination for person reliant on wheelchair (CAB, 2018).
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References
CAB. (2018). Discrimination and the Human Rights Act. Retrieved from:
http://www.cab.org.nz/vat/gl/roi/Pages/DiscriminationandHumanRights.aspx
Employment Relations Act, 2000
Employment Relations Centre. (2018). Human Rights. Retrieved from:
http://www.employmentrelations.co.nz/Our+Expertise/Employment+Law1/
Human+Rights.html
Equal Pay Act, 1972
Health and Safety at Work Act, 2015
Human Rights Act, 1993
Human Rights Commission. (2018). Human rights legislation – New Zealand. Retrieved from:
https://www.hrc.co.nz/your-rights/human-rights/human-rights-legislation-new-zealand/
Parental Leave and Employment Protection Amendment Act, 2014
Parental Leave and Protection of Employment Act, 1987
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Equity and Diversity in the workplace
Question 4
Intersectionality is a sociological theory through which the multiple threats of
discrimination are described, where the identities of the individual, overlaps with a number of
minority classes like gender, age, race, health, ethnicity and the other features (Stypińska &
Gordo, 2018). Kirton and Greenie (2016) have discussed this concept in context of connection
between gender and race. They highlighted that the black feminist critique had been focused on
developments regarding the intricate links in between class, ethnicity, race and gender. They also
highlighted that there was an ethnocentric nature of Western feminism, where the black minority
and ethnic community women were rendered invisible and were also denied a voice. There was a
difference in sexism experienced by the black minority and ethnic community women and the
white women, which was also different from the racism which the black minority and ethnic
community men experienced. This is the reason why the research and theories on oppression,
inequality and oppression need to focus on the interactions between individuals from different
class, gender and race. In the context of earlier discussion on the position of women in labour
market, it becomes important to discuss the concept of intersectionality, particularly in context of
visualising combined discrimination which the women face owing to them being of black and
ethnic minority.
There is an abundance of research through which the idea of black and ethnic minority
women being subjected to various disadvantages in the labour market have been highlighted,
along with the same being present in workplaces just because of their gender and ethnicity. As
has already been highlighted earlier, there is a high level of job segmentation and unemployment
which these black and ethnic minority women face. This is even when NZ has all the features of
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being a global leader in this context. In light of the global recession, all have suffered, by the
women of black and minority communities have suffered in a disproportionate manner. As per
some of the report, the black and ethnic minority women faced discrimination at every stage of
recruitment process (Wright, 2016).
The concept of intersectionality is particularly helpful in this context as it not only
highlights that there are multiple inequalities being faced by people in employment, but also
helps in analysing the grounds for such inequalities. Only when the problem is properly
identified, can it be worked upon and rectified. As against the popular belief of inequality being
present on single based issues, intersectionality highlights that these grounds are often clubbed
together, to have a multiplying effect on the individuals. The leading example of this is a person
from black and ethnic minority, particularly the females. The economic level of a person can also
be clubbed up here to amplify the inequalities being suffered by the poor black and ethnic
minority women, which highlights the need for taking steps towards their needs, to remove the
present inequalities (Collins & Bilge, 2016).
References
Collins, P. H., & Bilge, S. (2016). Intersectionality. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons.
Kirton, G., & Greene, A. M. (2016). The dynamics of managing diversity. 4th ed. Oxon:
Routledge.
Stypińska, J., & Gordo, L. R. (2018). Gender, age and migration: an intersectional approach to
inequalities in the labour market. European journal of ageing, 15(1), 23-33.
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Equity and Diversity in the workplace
Wright, C. (2016). Intersectionality and gender inequality in the Labour market. Retrieved from:
https://britishchamber.wordpress.com/2016/02/15/intersectionality-and-gender-
inequality-in-the-labour-market/
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Equity and Diversity in the workplace
Question 5
Acker (2006) has provided that the research and theory on oppression, inequality and
dominance had to pay attention on the intersections between the differences, which included that
of class, gender and race. The inequality regimes refer to the interlocked processes and practices
which result in the continuous inequalities in the work organizations. This concept is of
particular assistance in analysing the organizational change projects for gaining a better
understanding on the reasons for success or failure of such projects. Acker identified that all
organizations have inequality regimes, which are loosely interrelated actions, meanings,
processes and practices which maintain and result in racial, class and gender inequalities in that
specific organization. The inequality regimes in the organizations are highlighted through the
systematic differences in between the participants who are in control and have the power over
the results, objectives and resources. The examples of it include pay and monetary rewards,
security in employment and benefits, respect, workplace decisions and opportunities for
promotions.
The inequality regimes in the organization are a reflection of inequality in the broader
society, in context of culture, politics and history. So, where the earlier discussions highlighted
the inequality in workforce in context of women of black and minority ethnic community, it
shows that they are also treated in an unequal manner in the society. This is quite true, as it is a
common knowledge that the women are prejudiced against, and there are already high instances
of racism across the globe, against the people from back and minority ethnic groups (Simpson &
Yinger, 2013). Even in the present era, where there is a lot of discussion and awareness on the
issue of being equal and treating every sphere and aspect of life in an equal manner, there are
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instances of inequalities which not only continue to be present in the workplaces, but in the
general life of the people as well. The society is full of bias on the basis of gender, race, colour,
religion, and disability, amongst the varied other grounds. This is the case when everyone knows
the basis for eradicating such differences, and yet these continue to be present.
So, it is quite true that the bases of inequality are present in different components as well.
To prove this point, the biggest example is that of disabled. Even when people are aware of the
fact that the disabled need proper ramps to go up on a flight of stairs, or lifts for this purpose,
there are a number of places where these are not provided. This includes both offices and other
places. This is the biggest example of the inequality component being present in varied places.
The disabled are frustrated at being denied the chance to work (Quarmby, 2016). Even where the
disabled are provided with entrance ramps to any building, there are lack of adequate
infrastructure which can enable to explore each part of the building (BBC, 2018).
References
Acker, J. (2006). Inequality regimes: Gender, class, and race in organizations. Gender &
society, 20(4), 441-464.
BBC. (2018). Disability discrimination act. Retrieved from:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/britain/
disability_act_comments.shtml
Quarmby, K. (2016). Disabled people are frustrated at being denied the chance to work.
Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-
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Equity and Diversity in the workplace
network/2016/jun/23/disabled-people-grow-increasingly-frustrated-at-being-denied-the-
chance-to-work
Simpson, G. E., & Yinger, J. M. (2013). Racial and cultural minorities: An analysis of prejudice
and discrimination. New York: Springer Science & Business Media.
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Equity and Diversity in the workplace
Reference List
Acker, J. (2006). Inequality regimes: Gender, class, and race in organizations. Gender &
society, 20(4), 441-464.
BBC. (2018). Disability discrimination act. Retrieved from:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/britain/
disability_act_comments.shtml
CAB. (2018). Discrimination and the Human Rights Act. Retrieved from:
http://www.cab.org.nz/vat/gl/roi/Pages/DiscriminationandHumanRights.aspx
Collins, P. H., & Bilge, S. (2016). Intersectionality. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons.
Craigie, R., Gillmore, D., & Groshenny, N. (2012). Matching workers with jobs: how well is the
New Zealand labour market doing? Reserve Bank of New Zealand Bulletin, 75(4), 3-12.
Employment Relations Act, 2000
Employment Relations Centre. (2018). Human Rights. Retrieved from:
http://www.employmentrelations.co.nz/Our+Expertise/Employment+Law1/
Human+Rights.html
Equal Pay Act, 1972
Gibb, S. J., Fergusson, D. M., & Boden, J. M. (2018). Gender differences in paid and unpaid
work: Findings from a New Zealand birth cohort. Policy Quarterly, 9(3).
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Equity and Diversity in the workplace
Great People Inside. (2017). Unemployment: Blessing or Burden for HR? Retrieved from:
http://greatpeopleinside.com/unemployment-for-hr/
Health and Safety at Work Act, 2015
Human Rights Act, 1993
Human Rights Commission. (2018). Human rights legislation – New Zealand. Retrieved from:
https://www.hrc.co.nz/your-rights/human-rights/human-rights-legislation-new-zealand/
Hyman, P. (2018). Is active intervention still needed to improve the position of women in the
New Zealand labour market. Policy Quarterly, 11(1).
Kirton, G., & Greene, A. M. (2016). The dynamics of managing diversity. 4th ed. Oxon:
Routledge.
NACEW. (2012). Critical issues for New Zealand women’s employment, now and in the future.
Retrieved from: http://bpwnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/NACEW-Critical-
Issues-for-New-Zealand-Womens-Employment.pdf
Nadkarni, A. (2017). Not just a women's issue: Global Women's 1 Day for Change video.
Retrieved from: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/95562022/global-womens-1-day-for-
change
Parental Leave and Employment Protection Amendment Act, 2014
Parental Leave and Protection of Employment Act, 1987
Quarmby, K. (2016). Disabled people are frustrated at being denied the chance to work.
Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-
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Equity and Diversity in the workplace
network/2016/jun/23/disabled-people-grow-increasingly-frustrated-at-being-denied-the-
chance-to-work
Simpson, G. E., & Yinger, J. M. (2013). Racial and cultural minorities: An analysis of prejudice
and discrimination. New York: Springer Science & Business Media.
Stats NZ. (2018). Unemployment. Retrieved from:
http://archive.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/snapshots-of-nz/nz-social-indicators/
Home/Labour%20market/unemployment.aspx
Stypińska, J., & Gordo, L. R. (2018). Gender, age and migration: an intersectional approach to
inequalities in the labour market. European journal of ageing, 15(1), 23-33.
Wright, C. (2016). Intersectionality and gender inequality in the Labour market. Retrieved from:
https://britishchamber.wordpress.com/2016/02/15/intersectionality-and-gender-
inequality-in-the-labour-market/
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