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Why gender quotas would help Australian business (2009)

Sex Discrimination

 

Why gender quotas would help Australian business

Author: Ms Elizabeth Broderick, Sex Discrimination Commissioner and Commissioner responsible for Age Discrimination

Publication: The Punch, 16 October 2009.



It is a running joke in my office that we should just pack up and relocate to Norway.

Norway has an enviable track record when it comes to gender equality initiatives.

And looking specifically at the issue of women in corporate leadership, Norway’s experience with the introduction of quotas for corporate boards has shown that such measures can radically alter gender equality outcomes for the better.

Quotas are a means to an end, not an end in themselves. As a solution to the shocking under-representation of women in corporate leadership positions in Australia, quotas have met with great resistance.

But I think it is time we all stopped to consider the merit in quotas. Because ‘merit’ is obviously the sticking point in this debate. That is, “do quotas undermine the concept of people being selected for positions on merit? Or do they actually work to uncover merit and thereby enable true merit selection in what is essentially a patriarchal society?”

A quick survey of the state of women’s leadership in our country shows there can be absolutely no doubt that it is time for action and strong intervention if we are to guarantee progress towards gender equality in the Australian marketplace.

While women constitute 45% of the total workforce in Australia, they are radically under-represented in leadership positions in virtually all sectors of our paid workforce.

Since 2006, the representation of women on corporate boards in ASX200 companies has fallen from 8.7% to 8.3%, only 2% of Chairs on Australian boards are female and half of our top companies have no women on their boards at all. Looking at senior line management, the number of women has fallen from 7.5% to less than six percent since 2006.

In our universities, women account for less than a quarter of academic staff above senior lecturer. In many Australian universities only 14.5% of the professors are female despite more than 50% of the graduates being female.

There are also signs that these trends could worsen in the coming years as the already low number of women in feeder positions to top leadership appointments decreases.

But how can this be when women make up more than half our population and are educated to a higher level than men?

Putting this in context, the World Economic Forum has found that, while Australia ranks equal first for women’s educational attainment, it is fortieth in women’s workplace participation. In other words, the return on our investment in the education of women is very low.

There is no nation or government, industry or sector which can afford this kind of loss.

It is time for us to aim high and present a truly innovative plan.

I firmly believe that, instead of women working with women or women working with men, significant gains will only occur when men starting to work with men to solve this problem. After all, it is men who make the rules in business, so real change will only take place when they are invested.

And finally, once we have agreed upon what we want, then we need to put all the options and possibilities on the table.

Quotas are one such option. Time-bound targets are another. We need to kick start this process of gender equality to place us firmly on the road to where we want, and need, to be.

Publicly listed companies, currently run overwhelming by men, would be required to set a three and five year target for gender equality on company boards and at senior leadership levels, and work together to make change happen. They should be required to measure progress against these targets and to publicly report on progress in their annual reports to the ASX.

Now, does that really sound so threatening?

As a mother of a boy and girl, I want a future where neither of my children’s choices or ambitions in regards to work and family will be dictated by their gender.

As Ilene Lang, President of Catalyst, said: “We need to see the issue of women’s leadership in a broader context of gender equality. Until women are equitably represented in leadership in the private, economic sector, they will be marginalised in every other arena.”