WOMEN AND SMALL BUSINESS
Small business is playing an increasingly important
role in Australia's economy, especially in relation
to generating new job opportunities. Employment in
small business has grown more rapidly than in big business
or employment in the public sector.
The Government recognises the enormous contribution
made by women in small business to Australia's economy.
Women now comprise one third of small business owners
and operators in Australia. Research indicates that
over the past decade, this number has been increasing
more rapidly than the corresponding rate for small
businesses owned and operated by men. Of these small
businesses, 10-12 per cent are owned/managed exclusively
by women, and in 20 per cent women share the leading
role in managing the business.
Currently more than one million of the 2.7 million
people (40 per cent) working in small business are
women (ABS, 1996). Small business employment is one
of the areas which is continuing to attract significantly
higher levels of women's interest and involvement.
The Office of the Status of Women (OSW) is currently
undertaking research on women and small business which
focuses on impediments which women may face as small
business owners or managers to the expansion of their
business.
The Government is committed to reducing 'red tape'
for small business. The Prime Minister's Statement
on 24 March 1997 entitled, More Time for Business,
outlined an ambitious agenda to reduce significantly
the paperwork and compliance burden for small business.
It contains a comprehensive package of initiatives
which will deliver to small business the necessary
incentives to prosper and grow. These initiatives include:
- simplifying taxation compliance;
- reducing the complexity and delays in business approvals
and registration;
- accelerating Commonwealth, State and Territory reform
on rules and regulations; and
- requiring government departments to justify new regulations
in a Regulation Impact Statement.
The Government has put in place a number of measures
to support and encourage the small business sector
to promote the rate of job growth. Unfair dismissal
laws introduced by the previous Government have frequently
been cited by small business owners as being unfair
to employers, and a major impediment to small business
employment.
The Government has responded with specific measures
for employers in the Workplace Relations Act 1996,
repealing previous provisions from 31 December 1997
and replacing them with a fair and simple process of
appeal against dismissal, based on the principle of
a 'fair go all round', that is, fair to both employers
and employees. The Government has decided to go further
in recognition of the disproportionate burden that
unfair dismissal claims impose on small businesses,
by excluding (from 1 July 1997) new employees of businesses
with 15 or fewer employees, during their first year
of service. Safeguards will remain - these employees
will not be excluded from protection against dismissal
on discrimination grounds, such as pregnancy.
