For well over thirty years, initiatives designed to improve diversity and inclusion (D&I) have been a priority for organisations – but are the plethora of D&I initiatives actually creating the organisational change they aspire to?
Gender
The business benefits for achieving gender equity in the workplace are well documented by both research organisations, government and by leading practice employers. In this section, you will find the following resources to help you manage this important diversity dimension.
DCA Research
Let’s Share the Care
DCA's Let’s Share the Care at Home and Work report, timed to coincide with Mother’s Day on 12 May 2019, is a call to action to end the gender pay gap by enabling women and men in Australian families to ‘share the care’ more equitably.
Myth Busting Sexual Harassment at Work
Using evidence to debunk myths and assumptions around sexual harassment in the workplace.
Cracking the Glass-Cultural Ceiling
DCA's latest report explores why so few culturally diverse females reach top leadership positions in Australia and what organisations can do to better recognise the skill and ambition of culturally diverse female talent.
Engaging men on gender equality
There is heightened interest in engaging men in the gender equality process. Drawing on the latest evidence and experience, this landmark report offers a set of recommendations for how organisations can engage men effectively to achieve gender equality at work.
Inclusion@Work Index
The DCA-Suncorp Inclusion@Work Index 2017-2018 is a landmark study, providing the first-ever national benchmarks for Australian workplaces in regards to the age, cultural background, disability status, gender, Indigenous background, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity of workers.
Capitalising on Culture and Gender in ASX leadership
In this landmark research, Diversity Council Australia and Deakin University, with the financial support of CPA Australia, tracked the extent of cultural diversity among women in leadership in ASX companies from 2004 to 2015.
WordsAtWork - Building inclusion through the power of language
DCA has developed a new Words At Work campaign for workplaces to show how inclusive language can improve workplace culture and drive productivity.
The Economics of the Gender Pay Gap
Recent public debate reveals widespread lack of community understanding about pay equity – what it is, why it exists, and what can be done to address it – as well as a tendency to minimise or explain away the gender pay gap in Australia through reference to ‘women’s choices.’
Older Women Matter
DCA research has found that older women (defined as 45 years plus) represent a sizeable and growing segment of the labour force but Australian organisations are failing to fully harness their skills and talents.
Men Get Flexible!
Although not new, men and flexibility is currently a ‘hot’ topic driven by the increasing number of dual-earner families, intensified fathering expectations and growing recognition that flexible work can generate positive outcomes for men, women, families and organisations.
Other Research
From Girls to Men: social attitudes to gender equality in Australia
A recent study by the 50/50 by 2030 Foundation has explored the generational attitudes of men and women to issues of gender equality and empowerment.
Insights into Sexism: Male Status and Performance Moderates Female-Directed Hostile and Amicable Behavior
In an online video game, lower-skilled male players are more hostile towards female players due to a female threat in a male-dominated social hierarchy.
The Unintended Consequences of Maternity Leaves: How Agency Interventions Mitigate the Negative Effects of Longer Legislated Maternity Leaves
New mums who keep in touch with their workplace while on maternity leave are more hireable and less likely to experience unconscious bias, research shows.
Algorithmic Bias? An Empirical Study into Apparent Gender-Based Discrimination in the Display of STEM Career Ads
Despite explicit intentions to be gender neutral, a Facebook ad for STEM careers was shown more often to men than women, potentially due to economic forces and competition among advertisers
Mckinsey (2017) Delivering through diversity
This report from McKinsey research reinforces the link between diversity and company financial performance—and suggests how organizations can craft better inclusion strategies for a competitive edge.
Intersectionality Matters: Guide to engaging immigrant and refugee communities to prevent violence against women
The Intersectionality Matters Guide aims to help people and organisations develop violence prevention approaches, strategies and activities in a way that meaningfully engages immigrant and refugee communities.
The Pursuit of Gender Equality: An Uphill Battle (OECD, 2017)
Countries need to do much more to close gender gaps worldwide, according to a new OECD report.
Case Studies
Indigenous women making their mark as tradies
A national Indigenous recruitment service is successfully placing Aboriginal women into a typically male-dominated workforce through an intensive traineeship.
WPP AUNZ has announced a target of 50:50 gender distribution in senior leadership roles across the company by 2021.
WPP AUNZ has announced a target of 50:50 gender distribution in senior leadership roles across the company by 2021.
ARTC recruitment of women into male-dominated jobs
The recruitment drive was deliberately aimed at getting women into non-traditional roles such as signal installers, and was part of the company's effort to improve diversity and capability by drawing from a wider pool of candidates.
Medibank's FamilyFlex policy (parental leave)
All eligible prospective parents are able to take 14 weeks of paid leave within the first 24 months of their child's life.
Flexible parental leave at Deloitte
From March 2019, Deloitte Australia is offering 18 weeks paid leave to all new parents that can be taken over three years, broken up in a range of flexible ways to suit each family’s unique needs.
Gender equity at Woolworths
As part of their 2020 corporate strategy, Woolworths is placing focus on increasing female leadership and removing salary wage gaps.
Challenging mindsets – Flexibility at Woolworths
Woolworths' innovative approach to flexibility to reduce turnover for female staff.
QinetiQ boosts paid parental leave conditions
QinetiQ boosts paid parental leave conditions and scraps qualifying period for primary care-givers.
News
New report shows how to make D&I change initiatives that stick
Media releases
22 Jul 2019
DCA with Deloitte and Google have released a new report which sets out an innovative framework to make diversity and inclusion change that works.
Is it time for Australia to embrace a Bill of Rights to enshrine equality for all?
Media releases
21 May 2019
The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG delivers Diversity Council Australia’s third Anna McPhee Memorial Oration on Diversity and Inclusion, sponsored by Telstra.
This Mother’s Day, let’s ‘share the care’ to close the gender pay gap
Media releases
09 May 2019
In the lead up to Mother’s Day, DCA is calling for government and business to do more to address the gendered impact of caring responsibilities to close the gender pay gap.
Perspectives
What would be good for mothers is closing the pay gap faster
Opinion pieces
13 May 2019
Mother’s Day is an apt time to recognise mothering. But the load of mothering doesn’t just happen on one day every year. It’s ongoing. And we need to look at what that means for women’s lives and careers, says DCA CEO, Lisa Annese.
Let’s hear it from the boys
Blog
28 Mar 2019
Addressing attitudes to gender equality from millennial men.
Workplace sexual harassment affects women in varied and complex ways
Opinion pieces
12 Mar 2019
Despite #MeToo, sexual harassment is still everywhere. And it has devestating effects ...
Coming events
22 Jul 2019
How effective are D&I initiatives in achieving change? Find out at the launch of Change At Work.
Hosted by Commonwealth Bank
23 Jul 2019
Join DCA Chair David Morrison AO and CEO Lisa Annese in Brisbane* for a presentation of DCA’s work on myth-busting sexual harassment at work.
Sponsored by National Australia Bank
09 Aug 2019
At our next Building Workplace Capability for Indigenous Australia Network event, we will discuss how workplaces can champion aspiring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women leaders.
Sponsored by KPMG
12 Nov 2019
At DCA’s upcoming Gender Equality Network, we will hear from the Australian Human Rights Commission on the findings of its inquiry into Sexual Harassment in the Workplace.
Webcasts from past events
Sponsored by KPMG
20 Jun 2019
At this Gender Equality Network, we looked at how workplaces can respond to and help prevent domestic violence.
27 Mar 2019
At this Gender Equality Network event, we explored social attitudes to gender in Australia.