Aldridge v. Booth, 30 May 1988.
In the course of determining damages in a case of sexual harassment, the Federal Court of Australia was asked to consider whether provisions in the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 were unconstitutional.  The Court held that passage of the Act, which was designed to give effect to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, was within the legislative powers of the Commonwealth and that, to give effect to the Convention, the Act had only to give effect to its principles, rather than legislate specific obligations imposed by the Convention.  It also ruled that prohibition of sexual harassment was within the principles of the Convention, since sexual harassment was a form of discrimination in the work place on the basis of sex, and stated that this conclusion was not negated by the fact that matters other than sex were involved in sexual harassment, that not all women are subjected to it, and that men could be sexually harassed.
D001315:Australia; D003415:Crime; D019049:Developed Countries; D004467:Economics; D004651:Employment; D006806:Human Rights; D007391:International Cooperation; D007603:Jurisprudence; D010139:Pacific Islands; D011057:Politics; D011287:Prejudice; D017406:Sexual Harassment; D012940:Social Problems
Australia; Court Decision; Crime; Developed Countries; Economic Factors; Employment--legal aspects; Human Rights; Macroeconomic Factors; Oceania; Political Factors; Sex Discrimination--legal aspects; Sexual Harassment--legal aspects; Social Discrimination; Social Problems; Treaties