AMMA webinarGender equality insights
25 June 2020
Federal statutory agency charged with promoting and improving
gender equality in Australian workplaces:
• Established under the Workplace
Gender Equality Act 2012
• Regulator, educator and influencer
• Change of focus from equal opportunity for women to
gender equality.
Workplace Gender Equality Agency
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Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012Gender Equality Indicators
1 Gender composition of the
workforce
2 Gender composition of
governing bodies
3 Equal remuneration between
women and men
4 Flexible working arrangements
and support for caring
5 Employee consultation
6 Sex-based harassment and
discrimination
What does the data
tell us?
Employment Status and Workforce Composition
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Women in leadership
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• Increased representation of women in manager roles to 39.4% (17.7% mining)
• The more senior the role the more women are under-represented
• CEO/Head of business 17.1% (6%) • KMP 31.5% (18.6%)• Other executive 32.2% (16.1%)• Senior Managers 36.0% (19%)• Other Managers 42.6% (17.5%)
Governing bodies
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• Increased proportion of female directors to 26.8% (18.4%)• Increased the proportion of female chairs to 14.1% (9.4%)• Gender composition of boards 29.3% female (20.2%)
Gender Pay Gap
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Flexible working
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• 68% of organisations in the mining industry have a formal policy or strategy in place – up 5.1pp from the previous year.
• Only one in four organisations with a flexible working policy or strategy provide manager training.
• Only one in 20 sets targets for employee engagement in flexible work.
Consultation
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60% of organisations in the mining industry said they consulted with employees compared with 53.1% in all industries
Sex-based harassment
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98% of organisations have a formal policy on the prevention of sex-based harassment and discrimination.
The Covid-19 pandemic
Women dominate the healthcare workforce and therefore are
in the frontlines
The increase in caring responsibilities during the pandemic is
likely to be shouldered by women
Men may take on more care and domestic work
Highlighted the need for and value of flexible working policies
and practices
Increased time in the home due to social distancing and
isolation measures is placing individuals at risk of domestic
violence.
Key points on the impact so far
What difference does it all
make?
10 components for gender equality
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• Build a strong case for change
• Role-model a commitment to diversity
• Redesign roles and work to enable flexible work and normalise uptake
• Actively sponsor rising women
• Set a clear diversity aspiration, backed up by accountability
• Support talent through life transitions
• Infrastructure to support a more inclusive and flexible workplace
• Challenge traditional views of merit in recruitment and evaluation
• Invest in frontline leader capabilities to drive cultural change
• Develop rising women and ensure experience in key roles
Bankwest Curtin Economic Centre Report
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• The fifth report in the series
• For the first time has fond a strong and convincing causal relationship between increasing
the share of women in leadership and improvements in company performance.
• Evident in the increase in women’s representation on boards, when appointing a female
CEO and increasing the share of women in the most senior leadership tiers
Summary of findings
The larger the market value of the organization, the more likely it is to have a woman at the
helm:
• One in eight ASX50 companies in Australia have a female CEO
• Approximately one third of board members on ASX50 organisations are women
• Just under 30% of top tier managers in ASX50 companies are women.
This compares with ASX200 companies where:
• One in eleven have a female CEO
Summary of findings
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• More women in leadership drives better company financial performance for Australian ASX
listed companies as follows:
• An increase of 10 percentage points or more in female representation on the boards leads
to a 4.9% increase in company market value.
• This translates to approximately $78.5 million for the average company.
• Increasing the share of female KMPs by 10 percentage points or more leads to a 6.6%
increase in the market value.
• This translates to the equivalent of approximately $104.7 million
• The appointment of a female CEO leads to a 5.0% increase in the market value.
• This translates to the equivalent of approximately $79.6 million
Summary of findings
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Reducing the number of women in top management tiers reduces company financial
performance.
• Companies that reduced the share of women in top management tiers over time were more
likely to underperform relative to their peers compared with companies that either
increased or saw no change to the representation of women.
• Companies that reduced the share of women as key managers by 10 percentage ponts or
more faced a reduction in market value of 2.9% or $46 million on average.
The EOCGE citation
Employer of Choice for Gender Equality
• Is a leading practice recognition program
• Drives improved gender equality outcomes
• Measurable, sustainable, accountable
• Beyond compliance
• Requirements increased each year
• Provides a roadmap for success
• Focus is on increased visibility and accountability
• Applications submitted 1 June to 30 September
• List announced in February
1. Leadership, strategy and accountability
2. Developing a gender balanced workforce
3. Gender pay equity
4. Support for caring
5. Mainstreaming flexible working
6. Prevent gender-based harassment and discrimination, sexual harassment
and bullying
7. Driving change beyond your workplace.
Seven focus areas
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What the EOCGE does for organisations
• Drives strategy
• Provides a clear point of differentiation
• Demonstrates commitment
• Provides impetus for excellence
• Tracks performance
• Robust measurement and assessment
• The right thing to do
The Business Case
Workplace gender equality is associated with
• Improved national productivity and economic
growth
• Future proofing the Australian economy
• Enhanced ability of companies to attract talent
and retain employees
• Enhanced organisational reputation
• Increased organisational performance
Thank you
Workplace Gender Equality Agency
Workplace Gender
Equality Agency@WGEAgency@WGEAgency