Australia lagging behind on women in leadership roles
Diversity Council Australia is alarmed at the results of the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency's Census of Women in Leadership released last week that shows a decline in the number of women in executive leadership roles and on boards in Australia’s ASX200 companies.
The EOWA Census showed the number of women executive managers in the ASX200 had declined to 10.7% from 12% in 2006 and 11.4% in 2004. The number of companies with no women executive managers has risen sharply to 45.5% from 39.5% in 2006.
A total of 54.5% of ASX200 companies have at least one woman in an executive management position, which is lower than the USA (85.2%), Canada (65.6%), UK (60%) and South Africa (59.3%). In only 16.5% of ASX200 companies, women comprise 25% or more of the executive management team, down from 18% in 2006.
At the time of the Census, women held only four CEO positions (2%). Women chaired just four boards (2%) and held 8.3% of board director positions, a decline from 8.7% in 2006.
Decline a real concern
DCA’s CEO Nareen Young stated the decline is a real concern: “Australia’s performance in business life has fallen behind that of key countries like the US, Canada and the UK. This is just not good enough – we have a wealth of female talent that is clearly underutilised.
“Real workplace diversity, starting with the not unrealistic expectation that over half of our community – women – be represented in increasing numbers should be a priority for all businesses. Some organisations are making progress, but many others have dropped the ball and need to refocus their attention on maximising opportunities for women at all levels."
DCA is concerned about the trend in light of the current economic environment and what we know about downturns: “As EOWA Director Anna McPhee points out, the over-concentration of women in areas such as HR that are the first to be cut in tough economic times, does not bode well for future trends,” said Ms Young. “I would argue that maximising the potential of your talent, both female and male, is the very thing that assists businesses to perform well in difficult times and should not be an ‘optional extra’.
“At a time when the Australian Government is examining issues like pay equity, corporate Australia has an opportunity to make crucial community culture change in these areas, like it has for paid maternity leave, for example.”
'Blue Ribbon' list of organisations leading the way
DCA congratulates several DCA members that were included on EOWA's 'Blue Ribbon List' of those organisations who are leading the way:
ASX200 organisations with two or more women board directors:
- AGL Energy Limited
- AMP Limited
- Commonwealth Bank Australia
- National Australia Bank Limited
- Orica Limited
- Telstra Corporation Limited
- Westpac Banking Corporation
ASX200 organisations with two or more women executive managers:
- AGL Energy Limited
- ASX Limited
- Bunnings Warehouse Property Trust
- ING Industrial Fund and ING Office Fund
- Macarthur Coal Limited
- Stockland
- Telstra Corporation Limited
- Westpac Banking Corporation.
Macarthur Coal Limited was one of only four organisations with a female CEO.
What can be done?
DCA believes there is much than can be done to investigate and address the issue of women’s progress even though it is complex: “There is no simple explanation for the problem and no silver bullet to fix it,” said Ms Young. “Organisations need to do the hard yards – they need to conduct a thorough, holistic review of their practices and workplace and business cultures as they affect women, to get to the heart of the contributing factors. This means drilling down to all areas like recruitment, retention, development, promotion and pay equity as they are played out at the micro level in workplaces.
"While the Australian community has always rejected the notion of quotas for women, I welcome BCA Chief Executive Katie Lahey’s call for debate about quotas for women leaders and other ideas, as clearly current approaches are not working.
“We need to reignite the debate given how our Australian community looks and its expectations – we need to prepare for our country’s business and community future while we deal with current realities.”