| No. |
Key Themes and Questions |
| Theme 1: The value and impact of equal employment opportunity for women |
| 1.1 |
What factors and measures have contributed to improving employment opportunities and outcomes for women? |
| 1.2 |
What are the obstacles that may impede further progress towards equal employment opportunity within organisations and in Australia generally? |
| 1.3 |
Should there be a greater focus on enabling men and women to share paid work and caring responsibilities more equally? How can men be provided with better opportunities to participate in the care of their children and other dependents? |
| 1.4 |
What regulatory role should government play to achieve equal employment opportunity for women? |
| Theme 2: Objects and coverage of the EOWW Act |
| 2.1 |
Are the objects of the EOWW Act appropriate and relevant to today’s workplaces? |
| 2.2 |
Has the EOWW Act been effective in meeting its objects? |
| 2.3 |
Has the EOWW Act contributed to improving women’s employment opportunities? If not, why not? If so, how? |
| 2.4 |
Should the role of men as fathers and carers be acknowledged in the EOWW Act? |
| 2.5 |
Is the current coverage of the Act appropriate? Should the current coverage of organisations or employees be expanded or decreased? Why? |
| 2.6 |
Is the self identification and disclosure of organisations appropriate? Is there another way that organisations should or could be identified? |
| Theme 3: Workplace programs, reporting and compliance |
| 3.1 |
How are organisations responding to the barriers to women’s employment? What programs and policies are the most effective levers for change in organisations (e.g. work processes, organisational culture, and/or workplace relations and human resources practice)? |
| 3.2 |
Are the EOWW Act’s requirements regarding the content of workplace programs, including the specified ‘employment matters’, useful and appropriate? If not, how could they be improved? |
| 3.3 |
Is the process for developing workplace programs useful and appropriate? If not, why not? |
| 3.4 |
Has the development of workplace programs contributed to improved employment opportunities for women within reporting organisations? If so, can you provide examples from your experience? |
| 3.5 |
Are the EOWW Act’s requirements regarding the content of reports clear and useful? If not, how could they be improved? |
| 3.6 |
Is the frequency of reporting optimal? Are the provisions for waiving reporting requirements effective? If not, what changes do you think are necessary? |
| 3.7 |
How resource intensive are the reporting requirements for organisations? Can you provide examples of the costs of reporting from your experience? |
| 3.8 |
How useful are the reporting requirements to organisations? That is, what benefits can be attributed to the reporting process for the organisation and for women workers? |
| 3.9 |
Are the enforcement mechanisms currently in place sufficient to ensure that the objectives of the legislation are met? If so, how? If not, why not? |
| 3.10 |
Are there alternative enforcement mechanisms that would effectively and efficiently ensure compliance? Can you provide examples? What additional benefits would they bring? |
| 3.11 |
Has your organisation undertaken any analysis of the costs and benefits of compliance with the EOWW Act? What were the key findings? |
| Theme 4: Role and activities of EOWA |
| 4.1 |
Are the role and functions of EOWA appropriate to achieving the objects of the Act? Which functions of EOWA are most valuable and effective? Why? |
| 4.2 |
Is the role of EOWA in monitoring and enforcing compliance of reporting organisations under the EOWW Act adequate and appropriate? If not, how should it be changed? |
| 4.3 |
Is the role of EOWA in promoting understanding and acceptance, and public discussion of equal opportunity for women in the workplace adequate and appropriate? If not, how should it be changed? |
| Theme 5: Relationship with other legislation and institutions |
| 5.1 |
Does the EOWW Act complement or overlap with other legislation? How could the relationship of the EOWW Act to other legislation be clarified or improved? |
| 5.2 |
Is there potential duplication between workplace reporting under the EOWW Act and any other obligations such as, for example, the enforcement obligations of the new Fair Work Ombudsman? |
| 5.3 |
Should EOWA remain as an independent statutory authority or should the role and functions of EOWA be combined with those of another entity that also holds responsibilities related to achieving equal employment opportunity for women? If you think the role and functions of EOWA should be combined, with which entity and why? |
| Theme 6: Measuring the success of the EOWW Act and EOWA |
| 6.1 |
Are the mechanisms for measuring the effectiveness of the legislation and EOWA adequate? If not, how should they be improved? |
| 6.2 |
Is the EOWA data set adequate to measure changes in women’s participation and equality in employment? Could it be improved? If so, how? |