Ethnic discrimination in private rental housing markets in Australia

Over the last two decades new and significant demographic, economic, social and environmental changes and challenges have shaped the production and consumption of housing in Australia and the policy settings that attempt to guide these processes. These changes and challenges, as outlined in this book, are many and varied. While these issues are new they raise timeless questions around affordability, access, density, quantity, type and location of housing needed in Australian towns and cities. The studies presented in this text also provide a unique insight into a range of housing production, consumption and policy issues that, while based in Australia, have implications that go beyond this national context. For instance how do suburban-based societies adjust to the realities of aging populations, anthropogenic climate change and the significant implications such change has for housing? How has policy been translated and assembled in specific national contexts? Similarly, what are the significantly different policy settings the production and consumption of housing in a post-Global Financial Crisis period require? Framed in this way this book accounts for and responds to some of the key housing issues of the 21st century.

Twisting the knife: discrimination in the law

Of the many different variations that can occur in human sexual formation, transsexualism no doubt remains the least understood by the wider Australian community. As a consequence, the process of attaining human rights to legal status, privacy, dignity and freedom from discrimination for those who experience this unusual condition has been a slow and sometimes frustrating one. The article seeks to introduce the reader to some of the more recent developments in the international jurisprudence of transsexualism and the underlying medical evidence that has supported them. It also offers criticism of the belated attempt by the State of Victoria,  with the Births, Deaths & Marriages Registration (Amendment) Act 2004, to establish certain statutory rights in this regard. While the legislation was enacted with the stated and very laudable purpose of providing for the  correction of birth records on the Register of Births of those people with transsexualism who have altered their phenotypic sex by hormonal  medication and surgery, the article argues it has also served to remove other equally important rights already won and proposes that a final remedy will only be found, as on previous occasions, in the courts.

The eradication of compulsory retirement and age discrimination in the Australian workplace : A cause for celebration and concern

Earlier this year the Age Discrimination Act 2004 was passed by the Commonwealth government. This paper provides an overview of the Age Discrimination Act 2004 and critically examines whether it is likely to be successful in eradicating compulsory retirement and age discrimination within the workforce. Empirical studies suggesting that law reform alone is insufficient to eliminate ageist employer behaviour are discussed as is the need for public awareness campaigns. Given that compliance with the law is closely linked with normative belief, this paper also considers whether a moral duty to refrain from age discrimination can be grounded within the natural law ethic.

Allegations of unlawful discrimination in education: parents taking their fight for Auslan to the courts

This paper examines the use of the Disability Discrimination Act (Commonwealth of Australia, 1992) by parents seeking access for their deaf children to native sign language in the classroom. It reviews a number of cases in which Australian parents have claimed indirect discrimination by educational authorities over their children's lack of access to instruction through Australian Sign Language (Auslan) and discusses the outcomes of such litigation. The policies endorsed by deafness organizations are contrasted with those of state educational authorities. The author discusses the limitations of a complaints-based system to address systemic discrimination and suggests the need for legislation to protect the linguistic rights of deaf children.

The employment effects of gender discrimination in Australia 1994-95

Interpreting the unexplained component of the gender wage gap as indicative of discrimination, the empirical literature to date has tended to ignore the potential impact wage discrimination may have on employment. Clearly, employment effects will arise if discrimination lowers the female offered wage and the labour supply curve is upward sloping. The empirical analysis employs the ABS Income Distribution Survey 1994–95 and finds evidence of both wage and associated employment effects. The analysis is replicated for the earlier period 1989–90. A comparison across time is of interest given the substantial deregulation of the Australian labour market over the period.

Institutional and structural forms of HIV-related discrimination in health care : a study set in Beijing

This paper presents key findings of a situational analysis of institutional and structural levels of HIV/AIDS-related discrimination in Beijing, China, with a focus on the area of health care. Initially slow to respond to the presence of HIV, China has altered its approach and enacted strict legislative protection for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). In order to determine whether this has altered discrimination against PLWHA, this study examined existing legislation and policy, and interviewed key informants working in health care and PLWHA. The overall findings revealed that discrimination in its many forms continued to occur in practice despite China's generally strong legislative protection, and it is the actual practice that is hindering PLWHAs' access to health services. A number of legislative and policy gaps that allow discrimination to occur in practice were also identified and discussed. The paper concludes with a call to rectify specific gaps between legislation, policy and practice. An understanding of the underlying factors that drive discrimination will also be necessary for effective strategic interventions to be developed and implemented.

Overcoming barriers: black African chartered accountants in 1990s South Africa

This paper examines the experiences of black Africans in South Africa who became Chartered Accountants in the 1990s. Building on previous work on marginalized groups within the accounting profession, the study relies on interviews with 22 of those who overcame steep educational, economic, racial, cultural, and political obstacles to join a profession that had fewer than 1% black Africans as members. The interviews indicate that those black Africans who did manage to become CAs in the 1990s shared many common characteristics and experiences. They and their families placed a high value on education and made tremendous sacrifices to meet the requirements to earn the CA certification. Many overcame extreme poverty in their childhoods and attended poorly equipped schools. All were exceptionally accomplished academically, most qualifying for scholarships offered only to the very top black African students in the country. Most faced educational disruptions due to boycotts and political protests that shut down schools and many black universities in the years immediately prior to the bringing down of the apartheid regime. All faced racial discrimination in housing and education. Few had ever met a chartered accountant before enrolling in university; many had never heard of the certification until that point. In the 1990s when they entered some of the major firms to meet their training requirements, they were typically not given the same opportunities as their white peers. Now that they have become Chartered Accountants, and the government has changed and instituted affirmative action policies, most find that they are often offered jobs outside of public accounting. Still only composing about one percent of all chartered accountants, in a country that is 75% black African, most believed that the main road towards overcoming this disparity is through radical efforts to equalize educational opportunities in South Africa across racial lines. Most make professional decisions based at least in part on the opportunities a given position offers towards contributing to the black community.


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Cultural racism, language prejudice and discrimination in hospital contexts : an Australian study

This article explores the idea that racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare may be expressive of unacknowledged practices of cultural racism. In conducting this exploration, the researchers identify, describe and discuss the practice of language prejudice and discrimination by health service providers, discovered serendipitously in the context of a broader study exploring cultural safety and cultural competency in an Australian healthcare context. The original study involved individual and focus groups interviews with 145 participants recruited from over 17 different organisational and domestic home sites. Participants included health service managers, ethnic liaison officers, qualified health interpreters, cultural trainers/educators, ethnic welfare organisation staff, registered nurses, allied health professionals, and healthcare consumers. Participants self-identified as being from over 27 different ethnocultural and language backgrounds.

Analysis of the data revealed that English language proficiency, like skin colour, was used as a social marker to classify, categorise, and negatively evaluate people of non-English speaking backgrounds (NESB) in the contexts studied. Negative evaluations, in turn, were used to justify the exclusion of NESB people from healthcare relationships and resources. Further data analysis revealed that underpinning the negative attitudes and behaviours in hospital domains concerning people who spoke accented English or who did not speak English proficiently were a dislike of difference, fear of difference, intolerance of difference, fear of competition for scarce healthcare resources, repressed hostility toward difference, and ignorance.

Highlighting the implications of language prejudice for the safety and quality care of NESB people, the researchers call for further internationally comparative research and debate on the subject.

Perceived discrimination in Mapuche discourse : contemporary racism in Chilean society

This paper documents the experiences of perceived discrimination by Mapuches, the largest aboriginal group in Chile, focusing on their oral discourse about the phenomenon. As part of a national research project, 100 Mapuches were interviewed about their perception of discrimination toward them. These interviews were analyzed using the four-level method developed by Merino, which is mainly based on local semantic strategies and argumentative sequences and topoi. The analysis suggests that racism is experienced in everyday interethnic interactions by means of four modes: verbal, behavioral, institutional and macro-social. Verbal racism includes name-calling (e.g. 'indio' [Indian]) and stereotyping (e.g. 'primitive'), and prejudiced remarks. Behavioral racism includes looking, ignoring, avoiding, segregating and denial of identity. In the institutional mode, denial of opportunities and discrimination in various public offices, private institutions and services are frequent, with perpetrators acting on behalf of the institution for which they work. The macro-social mode includes cultural dominance of the economic and educational systems, and an ethnocentric perspective of history. The findings suggest the presence of a racist ideology underlying Mapuche's discursive reproduction of the way Chileans talk and think about them and behave toward them.

Reducing the burden of proving discrimination in Australia

Mechanisms used in the United Kingdom and Ireland that attempt to overcome the challenges complainants face in proving discrimination - reforms - recommendation that Australia introduce a statutory 'questionnaire procedure' - burden of proof - onus of proof.

Age discrimination in the evaluation of job applicants

This study investigated the nature of age discrimination against older job applicants. One hundred fifty-six participants (102 students; 54 organization based) evaluated a hypothetical job applicant's (aged 33–66 years) work-related competences and likelihood of being hired. Applicant age affected hiring decisions for both samples where there was a preference for hiring applicants aged 42–48 years. Applicants at both the older and younger ends of the continuum were less likely to be hired, with the oldest applicants (over 54 years) being the least likely to be hired. Although the applicants' age negatively affected evaluations of their trainability and sociability, the effect of applicant age on hiring evaluations was not mediated by these work-related competencies, suggesting that age discrimination occurs via direct bias against older workers.

Utilising self-report data to measure racial discrimination in the labour market

Although economists have developed a series of approaches to modelling the existence of labour market discrimination, rarely is this topic examined by analysing self-report survey data. After reviewing theories and empirical models of labour market discrimination, we examine self-reported experience of discrimination at different stages in the labour market, among three racial groups utilising U.S. data from the 2001-2003 National Survey of American Life. Our findings indicate that African Americans and Caribbean blacks consistently report more experience of discrimination in the labour market than their non-Hispanic white counterparts. At different stages of the labour market, including hiring, termination and promotion, these groups are more likely to report discrimination than non-Hispanic whites. After controlling for social desirability bias and several human capital and socio-demographic covariates, the results remain robust for African Americans. However, the findings for Caribbean blacks were no longer significant after adjusting for social desirability bias. Although self-report data is rarely utilised to assess racial discrimination in labour economics, our study confirms the utility of this approach as demonstrated in similar research from other disciplines. Our results indicate that after adjusting for relevant confounders self-report survey data is a viable approach to estimating racial discrimination in the labour market. Implications of the study and directions for future research are provided.

Gender wage discrimination in rural and urban labour markets of Bangladesh

Female wages in Bangladesh are significantly lower than male wages. This paper quantifies the extent to which discrimination can explain this gender wage gap across the rural and urban labour markets of Bangladesh, using unit record data from the 1999–2000 Labour Force Survey. The gender wage differential is decomposed into a component that can be explained by differences in productive characteristics and a component not explained by observable productive differences, which is attributed to discrimination. An attempt is also made to improve on the standard methodology by implementing a wage-gap decomposition method that accounts for selectivity bias, on top of the usual “explained” and “unexplained” components. Analytical results from this paper show that gender wage differentials are considerably larger in urban areas than in rural areas and a significant portion of this wage differential can be attributed to discrimination against women. The results also show that selectivity bias is an important component of total discrimination.