Minister for Women, Minister for Foreign Affairs
The Morrison Government has released its review of the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 (the WGEA Review), a commitment from the 2021-22 Women’s Budget Statement.
The review sought feedback from across the community to address workplace gender equality while also considering the regulatory requirements of employers.
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women, Senator the Hon Marise Payne, welcomed the WGEA review report and said the Government is now focused on working towards implementation of its ten recommendations, noting that the report requires further consultation with business on some aspects.
“We have heard from businesses, employers, employee organisations, women’s organisations and academics through eight virtual roundtables and 155 written submissions,” Minister Payne said.
“The recommendations aim to progress gender equality outcomes in the workforce and streamline the reporting process for business, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic which saw women disproportionately impacted.”
“It’s clear that we need to proactively address issues in Australian workplaces to enable women to excel and reach their full potential.”
“This Review comes at a critical time – there is real momentum for change towards achieving gender equality.”
“I thank everyone who contributed to the WGEA Review, and also Pip Marlow, CEO Salesforce Australia and New Zealand, and Kerri Hartland, Principal Adviser Proximity, for their assistance as Expert Advisors to the Review.”
The recommendations in the WGEA Review aim to help employers to address problems proactively, and substantially reduce the reporting burden, freeing up employers to take action on accelerating progress on gender equality in their workplaces.
The WGEA Review supports the implementation of the Report to prevent and address workplace sex-based harassment and discrimination, in particular recommendation 46 (develop good practice indicators to measure and monitor sexual harassment issues) and recommendation 42 (consider how the indicators apply to WGEA reporting).
Sam Mostyn, President Chief Executive Women said the Review recommendations will be an important step in driving action and progress towards gender equality in Australia.
“Recommendations that support organisations to take greater purposeful action to close the identified gender gaps across Australian workplaces are to be welcomed. In particular, the recommendations to publish organisation gender pay gaps and to set targets and report against them are essential.”
“CEW looks forward to the timely and focussed implementation of these recommendations and the investments in reporting systems. These recommendations would put Australia at the forefront of global efforts to drive gender equality,” Sam Mostyn said.
The Director of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, Mary Wooldridge, also welcomed the Review recommendations, and said they would improve the reporting experience for businesses, enhance insights from WGEA’s already world-leading dataset and deepen WGEA’s capacity to work closely with employers to support and accelerate their efforts.
“Implementing these recommendations will mean Australia will have one of the strongest approaches in the world to ensure all women and men are equally represented, valued and rewarded wherever they work”, Ms Wooldridge said.
The Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins commended the focus of the WGEA Review on accelerating progress on gender equality.
“This reflects the significant appetite for change that we have all witnessed from the community and from workplaces, especially over the last 2 years.”
“Workplaces are critical to women’s economic security, leadership opportunities and safety. WGEA has successfully used data accompanied by their helpful guidance to support organisations to advance gender equality. The Review endorses this approach.”
“This Review focuses on data about the most important gender indicators, including introducing transparency of organisational gender pay gaps, clarifying that ‘sex based harassment and discrimination’ is a Gender Equality Indicator, collecting age and location data, and exploring opportunities to safely collect broader diversity data.”
“It also modernises the concepts of minimum standards to meet contemporary expectations for gender equality standards. These are important improvements.”
“I welcome the Government’s intention to implement all ten recommendations (subject to some further consultation recommended by the Review). Accelerating gender equality in the workplace is good for women, good for business and good for the economy,” the Sex Discrimination Commissioner said.
