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Speeches
2009 Australian Women's Leadership Symposium
17/06/2009
Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra
Canberra
Acknowledgements
I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land we meet on today, the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people, and pay my respects to their elders, both past and present.
Introduction
Good morning, it is an absolute pleasure to be here in Canberra today among so many talented women.
Indeed it is right here in our nation's capital that Australian women's leadership is showcased with our first ever female Governor-General and Deputy Prime Minister working in two of the Commonwealth's most important leadership roles.
An important focus of today's proceedings is to acknowledge how far we have go in women's leadership but I think it is also important to celebrate how far we have come.
There has been progress in:
- women's pay;
- women's labour force participation (now 45 per cent of total labour force);
- the availability of flexible and family friendly working conditions;
- access to quality affordable child care;
- legal and financial rights following divorce and separation;
- women's education (women now account for 55 per cent of all higher education students);
- support available to survivors and victims of violence;
- availability of quality health care; and
- human rights.
In politics; women now make up 30 per cent of all of Australian Parliamentarians.
This compares to 30 years ago when there was not one woman parliamentarian in the Federal House of Representatives - it was an all-male house!
In the public service; women currently make up nearly 58 per cent of the 160,000[1] employees and five departments are headed by women.
On Australian Government Boards and bodies; women account for 34 per cent of all seats.[2]
In the judiciary; three out of our seven High Court Justices are women.
Many women have achieved high office, good pay, significant influence.
But I do not think we can say yet that equality has been won.
Not when so many women are stretched between paid work and caring obligations, unable to perform their many roles as well as they want.
Not when women earn 83 cents for every dollar men earn.
Not when, the number of female board directors in ASX Top 200 companies actually decreased from 8.7 per cent to 8.3 per cent over the last two years.
Not when the average superannuation payout to a women is projected to be $150,000, just 50 per cent of the average payout to a man in 2010-11.
Not when the biggest risk factor for becoming a victim of domestic violence or sexual assault is being a woman.
Rudd Government women's agenda
The Government recognises its role in tackling these challenges and is responding.
We have developed a modern and ambitious women's agenda for 2009 and beyond.
I have made:
- improving women's economic outcomes and financial independence;
- reducing violence; and
- ensuring women's voices are heard at all levels of decision making.
my three priorities as Minister for the Status of Women.
Importantly, we need to make this a shared journey between women and men; we must engage men on these priorities.
After all, gender equality is the whole community's responsibility and will benefit us all.
Since the Government was elected in 2007 we have already made considerable progress along the path to equality.
We have:
- Reformed the workplace relations system so it is fairer and more balanced.
- Made significant progress on the development of a National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women including taking immediate action in a range of areas.
- Refocussed the National Women's Secretariats to a network of Alliances.
- Acceded to the United Nations Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
- Begun developing a National Women's Health policy.
In addition, the 2009-10 Budget delivered some great news for women.
The Government's announcement to introduce paid parental leave will help families find a better balance between paid work and caring responsibilities.
It will also allow mothers to remain connected to the labour market and support men to share in the raising and caring of children - a critical step to progressing equality between men and women.
Workforce participation requirements for single parents receiving the Parenting Payment will be changed to provide parents with more flexible opportunities to gain skills and qualifications.
95 per cent of Parenting Payment Single recipients are women.
These measures will wind back the worst aspects of Welfare to Work, while still encouraging and supporting women's workforce participation.
$12.8 billion will be invested to increase the availability of quality and affordable child care over the next four years.
The Government will provide $120.5 million to improve choice and access to maternity services for pregnant women and new mothers. The new arrangements will allow eligible midwives working in collaboration with doctors to provide services subsidised by the Medicare Benefits Schedule.
These initiatives will improve gender equality across a wide range of indicators including in women's economic, health and safety outcomes.
Women's leadership, the subject of today's Symposium, is also a priority.
The Government is committed to boosting and supporting women's leadership in the public sector, business and the broader community and is implementing a range of measures to realise this goal.
Women's leadership in Government
The driver of many of these positive changes has been the increasing presence and influence of women in the Australian Government - as Ministers, MPs, Senators and as public servants.
Making sure women win these positions is not just about finding the right women. These women have always been available - it's about male leaders recognising their talents.
Women occupy around a third of Government board and body membership overall, but hold less than a quarter of the Chair and Deputy Chair positions (22.3 per cent).
My colleague Tony Burke, Federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry said at last year's National Women's Rural Summit:
When boards keep appearing before me with about 20 to 25 per cent female representation, I find it really hard to believe that the selection has been done purely on merit.
I am not interested in imposing formal quotas on selection committees, but at the same time, I've got to say, it's time that selection on merit simply cannot be occurring when women are so consistently and so blatantly underrepresented on almost every single board that is meant to be advising me. It just can't be right.
Minister Burke and his department have been working hard to increase the proportion of women on boards. The results speak for themselves.
Female representation in Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry boards has increased from 20 per cent in 2007 to 42 per cent in 2009.
We are working to achieve these types of results across all portfolios.
But it is not just the individual representation of women that is important - outcomes are also critical.
Former U.S. Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, said:
I think it is important for women to help one another. I have a saying: There is a special place in hell for women who don't.[3]
The Government has created a Women's Interdepartmental Committee (IDC) so that departments do a better job of talking to one another regarding how their policies are effecting and will affect women.
In addition, my Office for Women is supporting Jenny Macklin, and her Executive leadership in the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs the Department to undertake a gender assessment trial within the Department.
The trial will comprise of two main activities.
The first will be an analysis of if and how gender was considered in the development and implementation of selected policies and programs.
The second component will look at FaHCSIA as an employer - gender pay gaps, levels of women in senior positions and the availability of flexible and family friendly conditions.
This study will be important for the Government to not only understand how to be a better employer, but also how to deliver policies that deliver for women.
Women's leadership in the private sector
The Government supports women's leadership in the private sector through a combination of regulatory and educative measures - which operate currently through the work of the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA).
I recently announced a review of the EOWA and its underlying legislation the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act.
Over the last decade, the agency has worked with thousands of large businesses across the Australia improve women's opportunities in the workplace.
These employers are reaping the benefits of their equal opportunity programs through the attraction and retention of the best talent, improved morale and increased employee effectiveness.
Don Voelte, Chief Executive Officer of Woodside Energy Ltd. said at the EOWA Business Achievements Awards in November last year:
Diversity, fairness and equality can turn good companies into great companies. And I want Woodside to become a great company.
We're not there yet but I think we're on the right path. Gender Diversity makes good business sense...every day, every week, every month, every year.
The EOWA Employer of Choice for Women, the Business Achievement Awards and the Australian Census of Women in Leadership have also been incredibly successful initiatives.
At the same time though, there have been a vast array of economic, social and legislative changes since the last review of the legislation in 1998. So it's timely to see what we can change to improve the Government's contribution in this area.
Pay, Power and Position: Beyond the 2008 EOWA Australian Census of Women in Leadership
As many of you are already aware, the 2008 Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) Australian Census of Women in Leadership, released in October last year, revealed disappointing results for women in business.
Female representation at board director and executive management level across the ASX200 declined for the first time since the Census was first conducted in 2002.
In Australia, we are performing worse on these measures than countries like Canada and the United States.[4]
The 2008 Census showed that the number of companies with no female executive managers actually rose from 40 per cent in 2006 to 46 per cent in 2008.[5]
Macquarie University and the EOWA have conducted a detailed analysis of the 2008 Census and have exposed other areas at this highest level of business where women are under-represented, under-paid and prevented from advancing to the most senior levels of leadership.
The EOWA are releasing the Pay, Power and Position: Beyond the 2008 EOWA Australian Census of Women in Leadership report today.
This report analyses the results of the 2008 Census to present several key findings that focus on the status of women at board director and executive manager level in the ASX200.
Although the number of individual women serving on ASX200 boards increased since the first Census, the rate of change has been so slow that without significant improvement, women will remain substantially under-represented for decades.
We know this is not for lack of talent.
The evidence shows once women have been appointed to boards, they are as influential as men with almost half of the individual women holding ASX200 board seats chairing at least one board committee.
In relation to executive managers, just as women workers are heavily concentrated within particular occupational and industry groups, so too are women executive managers.
Women are more likely to be in human resources, corporate communications or finance. Or in legal counsel or company secretary roles.
Women remain under-represented in key leadership positions particularly in CEO, production, strategy and general line positions.
Significantly, and disappointingly, only one in 14 of ASX200 executives considered to be Key Management Personnel are women.
We already know the gender pay gap for employees is around 17 per cent.
The EOWA report released today shows remuneration for female executive managers represents a gender pay gap of 28 per cent - more than 10 per cent higher than other employees.
Business's role
Clearly there is a lot of work that needs to be done here and we cannot, as the Government, change it on our own.
Real change occurs in organisations when businesses themselves take action to promote women and make their organisation more family friendly.
Providing Australian women with greater leadership opportunities is crucial to a sustainable economy.
According to Robert Zoellick, the President of the World Bank,
Investing in women and girls is not only the right thing to do, but also the smart thing to do. Gender equality will not or need not compete with other goals.[6]
More women leaders are also important because businesses cannot function properly if they do not represent and reflect the clients they serve.
We are, indeed, half the population of the world.
The persuasive arguments regarding the economic and social merits of women's leadership do not denote from the fact change can be challenging for organisations.
The following excerpt is from the EOWA's Agenda in the Boardroom report:[7]
Women are expected to bring diversity to boards and yet are criticised when their experience is not the same as those around them.
They are praised for being prepared, conscientious and hard working whilst in the same breath this very conscientiousness is used as evidence against them of their lack of 'gut instinct'.
They talk about not being heard yet when they try to contribute they are described as 'aggressive'.
Their difference and alienation is exposed throughout this research while they are criticised for not being 'collegiate'.
They are expected to be successful and confident whilst there is a common acceptance that they are 'token' and symbolic' and 'don't contribute as much as men.'
They cannot win.
While it is tough for organisations and individuals to support women leaders in historically male led organisations, it's great to see that some organisations are making real progress.
This year the number of EOWA Employer of Choice for Women organisations rose to 111, up from 99 just last year, and this is despite the strengthening in 2007 of the rigorous pre-requisites.
It shows the increasing commitment from a number of Australian organisations who are really leading the way in creating equitable, fair and flexible workplaces.
They are organisations of all types, some are large corporations, some are non-profit, and they come from many different industries - but they are showing a commitment towards real and positive change.
I am pleased to see that Deloitte is represented here today by Margaret Dreyer.
Deloitte is an Employer of Choice and also won the 2008 Business Achievement Award for Leading Organisation for the Advancement of Women.
Whilst I do not want to spoil Margaret's presentation later today - I did want to highlight some of the great work Deloitte is doing.
The Deloitte "Inspiring Women" program works to increase the number of women in leadership positions.
Deloitte also monitors company data to review the retention of women, pay differentials, promotions, ratings across gender and the bell curve, leadership pipeline, and exit interview data. This is reported directly to the CEO on a regular basis.
Proof of Deloitte's success includes the fact that the total number of women partners at Deloitte increased from 28 partners in 2004 to 73 partners in 2008
Examples such as Deloitte show that change can happen in all types of industries and organisations.
Promoting women and making businesses more family friendly takes imaginative management.
It means re-examining the way we work and what expectations organisations have of their employees.
Change such as this is not easy but it is essential and is also achievable.
According to research by Chatman and Flynn:
It requires having 20 per cent of employees to be female in an organisation - at each level and function - for the culture to start to change.
At 30 per cent there is a noticeable difference.
At 40 per cent gender is no longer an issue.[8]
Conclusion
Events like today's Symposium are important to improving women's leadership as they provide an avenue to inspire female leaders to mentor other women.
The conference is a great opportunity for you to network, share your experiences and learn some new tricks.
It is through your determination as leaders in your organisations that real change can and will occur.
Thank you very much for inviting me to be here today.
ENDS
[1] State of the Service Report, State of the Service Series 2007-08, Commonwealth of Australia 2008.
[2] GovBoards Report 2006-07: A statistical analysis of the composition of Australian Government Boards and Bodies 1 July 2006 - 30 June 2007. Australian Government Office for Women, Canberra.
[3] www.time.com.
[4] 2008 EOWA Australian Census of Women in Leadership - Women's glacial progress melts away, Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency, 2008.
[5] 2008 EOWA Australian Census of Women in Leadership - Women's glacial progress melts away, Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency, 2008.
[6] www.worldbank.org.
[7] Agenda in the Boardroom. Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency and Egon Zehnder International, 2008.
[8] Chatman, J. and Flynn, F. "The influence of demographic heterogeneity on the Emergence and consequences of cooperative norm in work teams" Academy of Management Journal, 2001, pp956-974.