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Review of the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999 – Submission

Boardroom Partners

A review of the EOWA legislation and its provisions is timely and welcomed. In thirty years some of the structural and many of the cultural barriers to women’s participation on the Australian workforce remain and anyone working in this area would agree that ‘fixing it’ is complex and requires a long term commitment and a combination of approaches to make real progress. I am encouraged by the broad Terms of Reference for this review and hope to see some real changes as a result of the process.

The role of the government and legislative provisions remains critical, not as a ‘fix all’ but as a signal to the type of environment we want Australia to have and the messages we want to send to Australian women, as well as to the rest of the world.

By way of background, and to provide my own ‘bona fides’ to make a contribution to this review, I have described some of my background that is relevant experience for this review and included that as an attachment. The following comments are offered as they relate to the Terms of Reference for the review:

1. Examine the role that the EOWW Act and Agency have in gathering and reporting on workplace data.

The role that EOWA has in gathering data is critical – the Australian government as a signatory to UN Conventions on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women require reports from Australia on progress and no other body presently collects and monitors much of these data. It is unfortunate that a previous review of the legislation allowed tampering with the data fields that were collected so that much of this comparative data was lost, and there is a critical need for this review to avoid any further cancelling out of comparisons.

The need for the data should be obvious – whether EOWA is the most suitable agency of collection could be debated. As they have the history and experience, it would seem unnecessary to shift the responsibility (unless to the ABS?) however, as a small statutory authority, with a staff of 17 and a limited budget, the requirements on EOWA to advise and assist organisations as well as collect data and report to government on progress is unrealistic and guarantees their interventions can only be scant.

2. Examine the contribution that the EOWW Act has made to increasing women’s employment opportunities and advancing women’s equality in the workplace.

EOWA has made a great contribution to the broad awareness of the issues surrounding women’s employment generally and issues such as lack of progression; equal pay and need for revised workplace conditions.

It is of great concern however, that the issues to be dealt with remain largely the same as 25 years ago, and having a dedicated agency, albeit a very small agency, allows for abrogation of broader responsibilities within government to this tiny specialised unit.

Having a government agency allows the rest of government to distance themselves from the issue; having HR departments in organisations involved with the ‘busy’ work of reporting to EOWA allows the CEO and board to remain at arm’s length from the facts.

Until accountability is at the feet of the decision makers, this issue will continue to languish and be relegated to ‘someone else’ or seen as a ‘women’s issue’ as opposed to an international embarrassment that Australia makes such poor use of its educated and capable women.

The stark facts and lack of progress ‘at the top’ prompts the question about the ongoing effectiveness of the agency in its present form and with its current mandate, budget and operating arrangements.

3. Consider the effectiveness of the EOWW legislation and arrangements in delivering equal opportunity for women.

It is disappointing that the debates around targets quotas and affirmative action are still so emotionally charged and almost prevent an open debate. The role that EOWA has is small, specific and quite limited, and they continually need to work carefully to not alienate ‘stakeholders’. The role and responsibilities charged to them should not need to be explained away, however, the apparent diminution of their influence through the relocation to the ‘family’ department and the reporting to a non Cabinet Minister, all send messages about the downgraded importance of this agency and render than less likely to have an impact.

It must be acknowledged, that while some progress has been made, this has been almost immeasurably slow at the senior levels of the Australian workforce, and EOWA is largely impotent to do anything about it.

A second issue is the very limited role that EOWA actually has - although around 5M women are in the Australian labour market currently, EOWA has the mandate to collect data on about 1.2M of them. Admittedly, some are employed by the various public sectors, but many work under EOWA’s radar and therefore EOWA’s data and reports do not engage many employers or women workers.

This results in the near impossible situation to comment confidently about the status of women in Australia, other than from data cobbled together from many sources, often comparing apples with oranges and lemons too in an effort to portray a national picture. Australia has already been criticised at the UN for the lack of data, and this national picture must be a priority if the government wants to know what is actually going on. How else can decent policy decisions possibly be made?

4. Provide advice on practical ways in which the equal opportunity for women framework could be improved to deliver better outcomes for Australian women.

It would be helpful (if difficult) to have a good cross government debate about the various needs and orientations that inform policy decisions when decisions about ‘women’ are made (Ideally as half of the country’s population, rather than a separate species).

Researchers tell us that there are at least three conflicting orientations that continue to cause tensions (and poor policy) when issues about women in the labour market are discussed, and these represent an ambivalence about the ‘right’ of women to participate in the labour force on an equal basis. For those of us who have worked in the area, it is very apparent that women still do not participate equally and without having to claim a position (to speak, to sit at the table or to come into work ‘late’) The welfare, industrial relations and gender equity positions invariably are pitched against each other rather than working in a collaborative way (or even a woman centred way) and this continually results in compromises and an ineffective policy framework.

Following on from this, the development of a piece of ‘omnibus’ legislation combining human rights with anti discrimination and equal opportunity is not supported as it has the potential to further marginalise the issues as it will keep these issues away from core significant decisions (resource allocation; access to education/economic decisions and labour market policies).

Suggestions for improvements include:

5. Consider opportunities to reduce the cost of existing regulation and/or ways to ensure that any new legislation is cost-effective and well-targeted.

Specifying at the outset what any changes are designed to achieve.

Do we care that Australia is positioned at no 1 in access to education for girls and women by the World Economic Forum and no 41 for workforce participation? If so, then we need a national goal and the legislation and administrative arrangements that are required will follow.

Suggest a Cabinet discussion!

6. Consider the EOWW Act and Agency within the framework of existing and proposed workplace-related and human rights legislation and policy.

Depends on (5) above. If this is a national priority (despite low mention at the 2020 Summit) then a high profile and well resourced agency needs to have carriage of the monitoring of progress. The Treasury is the obvious choice, or a designated unit with the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Wherever it is positioned ultimately, the Minister responsible would be a Cabinet member and be in a position to raise the level of debate on issues relating to women at work. It would seem logical to have this role tied closely with the Minister responsible tor Workplace Relations and the employment function so that it is ‘mainstreamed’ and not seen as a marginal responsibility.

7. Have regard to the effects of the Act, or any proposed recommendations resulting from this review on the economy, the labour market, business competitiveness, social inclusion and the general wellbeing of the Australian community.

There are significant effects on the Australian economy by continuing to permit dysfunctions in the labour market, and this situation (25 years of stalemate) must be seen as just that.

Business competitiveness; social inclusion; and the general well being of the Australian community are all affected. Gender based crimes, including domestic violence are less prevalent in societies where men and women participate as equals and women who hold positions of public office or make extraordinary contributions are no longer seen as ‘odd’ or exceptional.

Australia has a great opportunity here and needs to step up to the mark to keep pace with its own egalitarian reputation internationally, or get left behind as half of its workforce becomes disaffected and withdraws from participation in the traditional mainstream employment market.

With best wishes for the review and looking forward to some strengthened outcomes.

JANE BRIDGE

Managing Partner

Boardroom Partners

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ATTACHMENT

Jane Bridge

Relevant background and experience.

In the 1980s I worked in Equal Employment Opportunity, introducing concepts of EEO to TAFE teachers around NSW, followed by some years in policy development at the Public Service Board and then as Director of Personnel Policy for the NSW Government at a time when paid maternity leave and access to part time work were being negotiated.

From here I headed the government’s Equal Employment Opportunity monitoring agency (ODEOPE), working with state government departments to maintain the momentum on what was by then a well established and ‘second nature’ programme. I left government in 1994 from the position of CEO of the state’s policy advice office for women and have worked with boards of Australian companies for the past 15 years.

During this time I have conducted much research into the position of women on Australian boards and in the early 1990s managed to convince the then director of AAA (EOWA) that the government had a responsibility to monitor the participation of women on the country’s corporate boards. This subsequently was added to EOWA’s remit and data have since been available every second year, using tools from Catalyst in the US. Boardroom Partners continues to monitor the situation of women on boards, observing shifts and making comparisons across progress in the various ‘sectors’. In the corporate sector, I work frequently with many of these same boards as a supplier of ‘boardroom talent’.

I have also been an active member of CEW, working on the development of the CEO Kit with three other CEW members and the then Director of EOWA. I continue my involvement with this initiative through participation on the Steering Committee with Ernst and Young who now have carriage of this initiative.

On the international front, I have co authored a book chapter for Prof Susan Vinnicombe’s latest publication that compares progress across 14 countries regarding women on boards, and written many papers on women’s employment. As a part time lecturer at UTS, I am involved in a number of research projects, one of which will see a group of international academics in Australia early in 2010 to discuss approaches and tactics for an internationally consistent and comparable approach to monitoring progress in this much neglected area.

In short, I see myself as someone who has had a long involvement in work that is very relevant to that of EOWA and would regard myself as having a deep commitment to issues around women’s employment, particularly those affecting women at senior, decision making levels.

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