I was in Bunnings today and the greeter on the door was giving women a voucher as they came in for a free coffee and cake for International Women's Day, a nice gesture.
As a graduate I had some time in the Commonwealth Public Service in the early Seventies. I read plenty of files and policies from the Sixties and before.
Written in the Sixties?! It must have been some daft 'off' joke by the allegedly junior clerk. Because I never came across any supervisor who would have accepted that cr@p and absolutely not on file. As for putting it to someone at director's level, that would have been a very quick ride out of the place, in the Sixties too.
Does anyone here remember the Sixties and Seventies? Everyone was polite and nice, the human rights movement was well under way and only a lunatic stirrer with a career death wish would draft something like that.
There are so many very positive and constructive personnel management initiatives taken by the C'wealth Public Service in the late Sixties and Seventies. Why not pick from the many positives?
Commonwealth Public Service in the 60s and 70s you say. Interesting, perhaps we served in different spheres completely.
That era was when women had to resign if they became pregnant - except for positions within the typing pool for instance, promotion of female staff above first level supervisor was extremely rare.
If a woman was working when husband and wife were applying for a mortgage from a bank, the woman had to sign an 'agreement' that she would not fall pregnant within five years of the granting of the mortgage.
The list of female discrimination goes on and on.
Interestingly, this summarises the position of Trade Commissioner -
Trade commissioner is the title of a government official whose primary duties are to promote international trade agreements and export trade programs on behalf of a national or regional government authority. Such envoys are normally posted abroad, often being permanently resident in the country or region to which they have been assigned, but in some cases are locally engaged employees. The title Trade Commissioner is also used by some international organizations for the senior official responsible for trade.
Yep ... sounds just like a "job for the girls" in the 60s environment.
Cheers - John
__________________
2006 Discovery 3 TDV6 SE Auto - 2008 23ft Golden Eagle Hunter Some people feel the rain - the others just get wet - Bob Dylan
Hurrah for women. In my eyes they are equal to men in areas of business and all other areas, sport, intellect and are superior to men in the home. I have no time or respect for anyone who practices discrimination against women and race. You may recall we had the White Australia Policy from 1901 to 1973. I want to digress for a moment and tell you this story. I think most old enough to remember would agree the Americans saved Australia from the Japanese during WW2. Our boys were in Europe and North Africa fighting for Great Britain.
We had a Beach Resort in the Philippines and every afternoon several of the expats living in the area came to our bar for a few drinks. A lot of these guys were retired U. S. Military. I was talking to an African American one afternoon and he told me he'd love to visit Australia and in fact after the war he had applied for a Tourist Visa to visit. His Application was rejected. When I asked him why, he replied "Because I'm black". At that stage I saw red and felt ashamed to call my self Australian. This incident strengthened my resolve about discrimination against race which later extended to women.
Have a Happy Day Ladies...
__________________
Retired Airline Pilot and Electrician..
I'm not old, I've just been young a long time....Ken
Since light travels faster than sound, some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
Commonwealth Public Service in the 60s and 70s you say. Interesting, perhaps we served in different spheres completely.
That era was when women had to resign if they became pregnant - except for positions within the typing pool for instance, promotion of female staff above first level supervisor was extremely rare.
If a woman was working when husband and wife were applying for a mortgage from a bank, the woman had to sign an 'agreement' that she would not fall pregnant within five years of the granting of the mortgage.
The list of female discrimination goes on and on.
Interestingly, this summarises the position of Trade Commissioner -
Trade commissioner is the title of a government official whose primary duties are to promote international trade agreements and export trade programs on behalf of a national or regional government authority. Such envoys are normally posted abroad, often being permanently resident in the country or region to which they have been assigned, but in some cases are locally engaged employees. The title Trade Commissioner is also used by some international organizations for the senior official responsible for trade.
Yep ... sounds just like a "job for the girls" in the 60s environment.
Cheers - John
The same Minute is paraded year after weary year. But even back then it would have been unacceptable to put up such tripe for consideration.
Historical events should be described as part of the environment as it was back then. If that is done it becomes apparent that the CPS was no slouch but a leader in innovation in personnel management and staff conditions. Where do you imagine that the present day superlative employment and retrenchment conditions of the (now) Australian Public Service came from?
Time for everyone to get a life and move on. Women are wonderful, and so hopefully we might also come to regard men one day. Women have choice and must live with their choices. So must men. We are in this together. None of us is responsible for anything beyond our time and decision.
As a graduate I had some time in the Commonwealth Public Service in the early Seventies. I read plenty of files and policies from the Sixties and before.
Written in the Sixties?! It must have been some daft 'off' joke by the allegedly junior clerk. Because I never came across any supervisor who would have accepted that cr@p and absolutely not on file. As for putting it to someone at director's level, that would have been a very quick ride out of the place, in the Sixties too.
Does anyone here remember the Sixties and Seventies? Everyone was polite and nice, the human rights movement was well under way and only a lunatic stirrer with a career death wish would draft something like that.
There are so many very positive and constructive personnel management initiatives taken by the C'wealth Public Service in the late Sixties and Seventies. Why not pick from the many positives?
f.y.i the source for the document was the Australian National Archives.
I am aware where the document has been stored, although one wonders what was so important about it that someone chose to retain it.
Or that it is dragged out year after year.
It gives a misleading view of policy, especially personnel management policy at the time. Historical events should be placed in the history they were part of. Not to do that is to create false impressions. We need to be shown the full picture, not the edited version that always results from picked 'examples' to 'prove' some point.
Even apart from that, the CPS was not the place for anyone acting in an official capacity to show such blatant disrespect. Or even in his/her private time, because staff were regularly called to account for potentially embarrassing actions outside of work time. God knows what would have been thought of the charges of drink driving and so on that are common in modern times. I would be very interested to know if any here who worked for the CPS at the time would see it as representative of the CPS then and if it would have been acceptable to the relevant unions such as the Administrative and Clerical Officers Association, which had been around since 1913.
One constantly wonders about the writing and re-writing of history to accord with later values and agendas.
It bears repeating that the CPS was a world leader, the leading edge in staff conditions, which should be very obvious from some of the debates in the media occurring even now. For instance, what is presently seen by some as an outrageous excessive promise being made for paid parental leave has been available and paid in Australia's federal public service for years.
-- Edited by johnq on Saturday 8th of March 2014 07:40:18 PM
