In its 2020-21 Pre-Budget Submission, CEW calls for the strengthening of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s (WGEA) gender equality reporting scheme with the requirement for employers to specify targets, timeframes and incentives for addressing workplace gender equality outcomes in order to:
- Address gender composition of management and executive leadership
- promote action to close gender pay gaps across the workforce
- increase staff engagement in, and uptake of, formal flexible working arrangements by men and women.
Research shows organisations that embrace gender equality and increased representation of women at all levels have enhanced business performance and improved capacity to respond to the diverse demands of ever-changing business environments.
Six years of WGEA data shows that employers who take remedial action, implementing policies and strategies, deliver stronger outcomes in gender balanced leadership, pay equity and workplace flexibility.
Enhancement of the regulatory reporting framework will encourage more employers to develop gender equality policies and strategies with targets, timeframes and incentives for advancing gender equality outcomes in the organisation.
The CEW Pre-Budget Submission sets out key policy priorities for action in the 2020-21 Federal Budget that will build on the Government’s previous reforms including: embedding a gender lens in policy; enabling women’s workforce participation and progression; strengthening women’s economic security; and advancing gender equality in the workplace. CEW’s recommendations offer practical solutions that will drive real, tangible change in improving the lives of all Australians. Read the submission here.
Internationally, Australia’s overall standing in gender parity has lapsed from 15th in the OECD in 2006 to 44th in 2020, backsliding in women’s economic participation and opportunity, health and survival, and political empowerment,
Sue Morphet,
President Chief Executive Women.
