As a worker at Nissan sues her bosses for sex discrimination, Women's Editor Christen Pears looks at the problems women face in the workplace.

AS the only woman working on Nissan's car production line, Beverley Ward might have expected the odd sexist comment from her male colleagues, but she certainly didn't expect them to spend their lunch breaks watching hardcore porn.

She was outraged and, earlier this week, took the giant car manufacturer to an employment tribunal for sex discrimination. During the proceedings, it emerged that supervisors at the Sunderland plant knew male workers watched pornographic videos and were reluctant to put a stop to the practice, even though Miss Ward found it offensive. The 24-year-old from Ferryhill, County Durham, also claimed she was told her contract would not be renewed because she was a woman.

Beverley Ward is not alone. The number of women reaching the top of their profession is slowly increasing but, on the shop floor, sexist comments and attitudes often make them feel unwelcome or inadequate. In a recent survey carried out by the Northern TUC, 37 per cent of women questioned said they had experienced discrimination in the workplace.

Paul Nowak, North-East regional secretary of the TUC, says: "Discrimination can take lots of different forms and I don't think this is something unique to Nissan. In the more traditional industries like heavy engineering and manufacturing, the vast majority of workers are men and there can be a macho culture that makes women feel uncomfortable."

Research carried out by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) last year to mark the 25th anniversary of the Sex Discrimination Act showed that women had broken through into areas of work and public life from which they were virtually excluded in the past. But it also highlighted deep-rooted sexist attitudes that continue to prevent them from achieving genuine equality.

EOC spokeswoman Catherine Evans says: "What is said to have happened at Nissan is an extreme case but it does highlight a wider problem. In some sectors that are still dominated by men, there are extra barriers that women come up against. In some cases, what most of us would see as unacceptable behaviour has become the norm and, as a result, women can find themselves in a working environment that is uncomfortable.

"We had a case last year of a woman truck driver who felt she was being treated unfairly because her colleagues didn't believe it was an appropriate job for a woman. It is these kind of stereotypes about jobs and who should be doing them that cause problems and our position is that there is absolutely no room for this kind of attitude in the 21st Century."

In the North-East, with its tradition of heavy industry, many of the old-fashioned stereotypes persist and the fact that Miss Ward was the only woman in Nissan's paintshop speaks volumes about the nature of the workforce. In the North-East, 28 per cent of men work in manufacturing but for women, the figure is just nine per cent.

"It's a huge gap and it has a lot to do with the industrial heritage of the region," says Mr Nowak. "We have only really seen women entering the workplace in significant numbers in the last 15 to 20 years and then they have tended to go into industries like retail and call centres. Overall, women account for 46 per cent of the workforce and, in the newer sectors, there is much more of a balance between men and women. In some areas, there are actually more women than men but it is a lot harder for them to get into more traditional industries.

"Part of the problem is the contraction of manufacturing and heavy engineering. It is very difficult to see any employment growth, never mind a change in gender composition, and that means that attitudes are slow to change."

Training organisations, employers and local authorities all encourage girls to consider working in what, in the past, were regarded as male industries but because of the ongoing decline, there are only limited opportunities.

"Large employers like Nissan want women and ethnic minorities to come and work for them because it's in their interest to have the best employees, whether they're men or women. This tribunal isn't particularly good news. It could discourage people from applying for jobs," says Mr Nowak.

He believes that employers must recognise that there is a problem and work with trade unions to tackle it. Equality in the workplace is already high on the TUC agenda and last month the Northern TUC held a major conference at Newcastle Civic Centre under the banner 'All Different, All Equal'.

"I think we are slowly getting there but in certain sectors where the overwhelming majority of the workforce is male, it can cause challenges and problems for women," says Mr Nowak. "It is not up to the woman to put up with it or get over it. If you are going to take full advantage of everyone's talents and skills, you have to make sure that the culture in the workplace is such that people aren't being discriminated against or being made to feel uncomfortable.

"We need to bring about a change in perceptions of what are women's and what are men's jobs. As far as we're concerned, there should only be jobs."