The Women’s Business
You may have the view that there is no glass ceiling and being female won’t hold you back. But you can’t argue with the statistics. So, how can we change things?
To a lot of women, it seems almost a little insulting that there needs to be arguments put forward in favour of gender diversity and achieving more gender balance in the workplace. The reality is Australian business is male-dominated and it is men that need to be convinced of this situation. While the debate on quotas for boards has raised its head, with much opposition from both men and women, it seems that many organisations and individuals still lack a balanced and objective understanding of what is happening and what the true impacts are.
Get men on board, get ROI
Is there a return on investment (ROI) for organisations willing to attract females, invest in female leadership and keep females? You bet there is! But the key is getting men involved – without their buy-in, support and leadership in this area, women will remain a minority voice in trying to shift attitudes and cultures within the workplace.
Let’s recap on where Australia is at. Women are disadvantaged in the Australian workplace. There is a gender pay gap which continues to grow from the average 17.5 percent to 28.3 percent at executive management level. There is also a marked gender gap when it comes to leadership. Women currently make up 45.4 percent of the workforce, yet two percent of Chairs in the ASX200 are women, 8.3 percent of Board Directors in ASX200 are women and only 10.7 percent of Executive Managers in the ASX are women. Why is this such a big deal? It’s a bit like you don’t know what you don’t know. An organisation may very well be doing fine, making a profit, achieving results. But the proof is out there – they could be doing so much better.