Is it right that a workplace can run job advertisements asking only for women recruits? Isn’t this an example of gender discrimination?

Many people would be appalled at the idea, but let’s look at the facts. In today’s BTalk we hear from Kirsty Duncan, Group General Manager at car chain Trivett. They sell prestige automobiles and the vast majority of their sales and service staff are male. To counter this imbalance they recently received an exemption from the NSW anti-discrimination board.

Kirsty says many customers prefer dealing with women, so the move is a logical way to improve sales and customer satisfaction. That’s fair enough isn’t it? Perhaps more businesses should consider it — in either direction — if there’s a gender imbalance in their workforce and it’s seen as detrimental to business outcomes.