Jobs for the girls bid

Quotas push for government contractors

GOVERNMENT contractors would be forced to ensure at least 40 per cent of their staff were women under new quotas set by the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Companies that fail or refuse to meet the requirement risk losing lucrative government contracts in the experiment to boost women’s pay.

Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins has told the Federal Government to take “disruptive action’’ and make private sector contractors hire more women to help close the 16 per cent gap between male and female pays.

She wants government agencies to include a clause in contracts requiring “demonstrated efforts to improve gender balance’’ – with targets of 40 per cent women.

Contractors would have to prove they have “gender balanced shortlists’’ for job interviews.

“This means that the gender balance in the organisation would be 40 per cent men and 40 per cent women, with the remaining 20 per cent unallocated to allow for flexibility,” Ms Jenkins said.

“I would want to see evidence that organisations had made extra efforts to reach these targets in recruitment, for example through gender balanced shortlists.

“In male-dominated industries I would want to see data that indicated an upward trend in the recruitment and retention of women over time.”

The controversial gender quotas would be a blow to businesses in male-dominated industries such as construction, electricity and water supply, and manufacturing, where men make up at least 80 per cent of the workforce.

But companies with feminised workforces – such as cleaning, catering and social services – would have to hire more men to win government work. Women make up 80 per cent of the workforce in healthcare and 70 per cent in education.

The Federal Government awarded 70,338 contracts worth $57 billion to private companies in 2015/16, the latest data shows. A quarter of the contracts went to small and medium-sized businesses.

Government departments use contractors for supplies and services ranging from transport, healthcare and legal advice to building and maintenance, engineering work, information communications technology, cleaning and training.

Women outnumber men in the public service, at 59 per cent, but men make up 58 per cent of senior executives.