Make room at the table for women (2009)

Make room at the table for women

Author: Elizabeth Broderick, Sex Discrimination Commissioner

Publication: The Australian Financial Review, Thursday 29 October 2009.

As I was having dinner at the Business Council of Australia last night, surrounded by Australia’s captains of industry (almost exclusively male), across the other side of the globe, the World Economic Forum was releasing the Global Gender Gap Report for 2009.  How would Australia fare I wondered?

At the dinner, the absence of women at the top of business was plain for all to see.  There were many tables with zero or one woman, which is not surprising given only 2% of CEO positions are held by women and only 8.3% of board positions.

Yet again, I wondered, “What is it going to take to change this picture?”  And when I say picture – it was the picture in the Business Council’s 2009 Annual Review that shocked me.  They say a picture is worth 1000 words and that was certainly the case last night.  The list of the captains of industry included 112 men and just 3 women.  But the absence of women in the photo montage was overwhelming. How can this be in 2009?

The discussion at the dinner focussed on the way Australia would manage our recovery from the global financial crisis and build a strong and sustainable economy.  Yes, we all agreed – we need a strong partnership between government and business.  Yes, we need to improve our public transport; we need well designed cities, better port facilities, roads and rail.  Yes, we all agreed – we need to lift workforce participation and productivity. 

But at no time was there any mention that women were a major part of the solution. Not one mention!

If we want to increase our nation’s productivity, then increasing women’s workforce participation has to be the biggest game in town.

Released last night, the 2009 Global Gender Gap Report reveals that, once again, Australia sits in a group of countries that are number 1 in the world for women’s educational attainment.  But, in terms of women’s labour market participation, we have dropped 10 rankings from number 40.  That’s right, 10 rankings in 1 year.  We are now ranked 50th in the world on women’s labour force participation.

When other countries improve and we stand still, we fall behind.  The fact is that other countries are recognising that managing all talent - and that includes women - contributes to productivity.  They are effectively maximising participation and productivity, two of the most important drivers for economic growth.  Is it that we don’t understand this point or is it that we simply choose not to? 

Let’s be clear about the low female participation rates, the absence of women on boards and in senior levels of endeavour across our country. It is just not smart.

There is no nation or government, industry or sector who can afford this kind of loss.  I keep saying that without significant intervention - by government, by business - the number of women participating and progressing in the workplace will shrink even more and our ability to build the strong economy we want will be severely diminished. These new statistics prove me right.

Therefore we simply must widen our definition of infrastructure to include social infrastructure.  We must invest in childcare, out of school hours care, eldercare, adequate paid parental leave for both parents, and a robust flexible work infrastructure.  For without this social infrastructure, all the bridges and roads in the world will not lift the participation and productivity of women. 

It has become imperative that we implement special measures to accelerate the progression of women.  It is becoming clearer and clearer that if we are to secure increased participation by women, it will be necessary to set numerical goals such as targets and quotas. Targets and quotas do not constitute discrimination against men.  They are temporary measures.  Sometimes we just have to treat people differently to achieve substantive equality for everyone.

The government should lead the way immediately by setting minimum targets for each gender on government boards.  Publicly listed companies should set their own three and five year gender diversity targets at both Board and executive level. These targets should be set by business themselves and, no doubt, would vary depending on the industry.  Companies should report against their target in a transparent manner.  If there is no significant progress over the next five years, then the Government may find that it has no other choice than to consider the imposition of quotas.

As the New York Times said recently, gender equality is the solution of our times.

Women in our country are no longer prepared to wait politely – quietly - to be asked.  They want change. It is time.