Elizabeth Broderick welcomes the release of the EOWA 2010 Women in Leadership Census

Unchanged census results point to the need for continued radical change

Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick today welcomed the release of the EOWA 2010 Women in Leadership Census, saying the results should be seen as a baseline against which we should be expecting dramatic improvements by the next census in 2012.

“If the 2012 Census does not reveal a dramatic increase in the number of women in Board Director and Chair positions and in executive management positions, I would suggest we need to consider putting stronger initiatives in place,” Commissioner Broderick said.

Ms Broderick said the importance of the census lay in the fact that it was undertaken every two years. Over this period, it has demonstrated a trend which shows there has been no significant improvement since 2002, when the first census was conducted.

“The 2010 Census results gave very little indication of change from the previous census results in 2008, which showed a decrease in almost every indicator of women’s representation in leadership positions,” Commissioner Broderick said.

Ms Broderick noted, however, that the census was conducted prior to important initiatives introduced by the ASX Corporate Governance Council in the private sector and equally significant commitments made by the Australian Government for the public sector.

“The most concerning finding from the 2010 census is the continuing low level numbers of women in line positions,” said Commissioner Broderick. “We need coordinated and sustained action to ensure women are able to move up and through organisations just like their male counterparts.”

“The 2008 census results were a wake-up call to corporate Australia, alerting us to the fact that we had a problem, and these 2010 results, being largely unchanged, clearly demonstrate that there is still an urgent need for systemic change,” Commissioner Broderick said.

“Though we are still waiting for the Government’s response to the Review of the Equal Opportunity in the Workplace Act and Agency, these 2010 Census results underline just how imperative it is that we strengthen the laws and institutions which regulate gender equality in Australian workplaces,” said Commissioner Broderick

Commissioner Broderick said she was hopeful that initiatives such as those implemented by the government, the ASX Corporate Governance Council and others would deliver significant improved outcomes for women by the time the 2012 census is conducted.

6 October 2010

Kate Ellis has said on 6 October 2010 that the results of the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace’s Census of Women in Leadership are still not good enough.

“With women holding only 8.4% of board directorships and 8% of Executive Key Management Personnel positions in the ASX 200, it is clear that women are still being largely shut out of senior decision making roles in Australian business,” Ms Ellis said.

"Despite progress on many key indicators, women continue to be dramatically underrepresented in the most senior business positions.”

“Sadly this year’s Census also reveals that the percentage of ASX 200 companies with male-only boards has actually increased, from 51% in 2008 to 54% in 2010.”

“There are so many Australian women with the skills, abilities and experience to be wonderful contributors to corporate boards and yet this isn’t being reflected in the make up of Australian business management."

The Australian Government is committed to increasing the number of women on boards by providing scholarships to women through the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).

70 high performing women will receive these scholarships, which will entitle them to attend the AICD company director courses. The Australian Government and the AICD will both contribute $200 000 over the next two years to this program.

Although the representation of women on Federal Government boards is well in advance of ASX 200 companies, at 33.4 per cent, Ms Ellis said that there was still more to do.

“The Australian Government committed during the election to a new target of 40% representation for both women and men on Federal Government boards."

“We are leading by example when it comes to women’s representation on boards and I am calling on all Australian businesses to follow suit.”
"Tapping into women's skills and experience is not just good for women - it is also good for business and can improve international competitiveness".

Ms Ellis congratulated the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency for continuing to keep this issue on the national agenda and for their excellent in-depth work with over 2,800 organisations every year.

EOWA’s longitudinal study has been measuring the number of female board directors and senior managers in the ASX 200 since 2002.

The EOWA Census was conducted in partnership with ANZ, Macquarie University and the US research organisation, Catalyst.

29 July 2010

The Gillard Government announced the following changes to advance women getting in to boards

A target of 40 per cent women, 40 per cent met and 20 % unallocated will apply to Government boards. (This is a target when looking at the total number of women and men across all Federal Government Boards – it is not a target for women’ representation on individual government boards.)
Scholarships for at least 70 women to undertake Australian Institute of Company Directors courses will be provided by the Gillard Government in partnership with the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

In a speech on 29 July 2010 for the Women, Management and Work Conference Minister Tanya Plibersek announced:

"that a re-elected Gillard Labor Government will provide scholarships for at least 70 women to undertake Australian Institute of Company
Directors courses that will set them up to join private sector boards. The scholarships will be provided in partnership with the Australian Institute of Company Directors. A re-elected Gillard Labor Government will provide $200,000 over two years, to be matched dollar for dollar by the AICD. Scholarship recipients will be able to attend either the Company Directors Course or Mastering the Boardroom Directors Course. Recipients will be drawn from the private, not for profit and public sectors. The scholarships will be allocated by representatives of the Office for Women and the AICD."

"that a re-elected Gillard Labor Government will adopt a target for Government Boards that at least 40 per cent of Government board members should be women and 40 per cent of members should be men. The remaining 20 per cent will be either women or men. We aim to achieve this target within five years. We will do this because the Federal Labor Government believes that it should lead by example. Both government and the private sector are stronger when they represent our whole community – which naturally enough includes women. By getting more women into leadership positions in the public sector – we can help to transform the nature of advice provided to government. To reach this goal we will need access to the widest possible field of quality candidates for consideration for appointments and for that the selection of board members needs to maintain a high level of transparency. Working to a target of 40 per cent women, 40 per cent men and 20 per cent unallocated will help to achieve these goals."