Gender equality is an issue that exists for every organisation. Yet, unfortunately for many organisations, it remains an issue that is not appropriately recognised or addressed. The leadership of these organisations is facing a serious loss of competitive advantage by not seeking to capitalise on the gender dividend. The annual Gender Equity in the Workplace Summit is co-hosted by UN Women Australia and the Australian Human Resources Institute. It provides a space for Australian business leaders to discuss their joint leadership role in empowering women and ensuring gender equality in the workplace. It is frequently cited that while over 50 percent of Australian university graduates are women, and many companies employ equal numbers of men and women at graduate level, the percentage of women drops sharply from the first team leader role, and continues to drop off as careers progress toward the executive levels. If we want to harness the full power of the workforce in these competitive times we need to change these statistics. Australian law affirms women’s entitlement to equal opportunity and freedom from discrimination. Yet in practice inequality exists in many ways. Women continue to be disproportionately affected by issues of economic security, pay inequality, access to leadership opportunities, taking on the majority of caring responsibilities and a lack of representation in decision making. Last year, Summit participants agreed that change was needed. They called on government to provide greater access to affordable child care, they called on employers to implement targets for women in leadership, and they called for education and stronger data. This year, through a series of Thought Leader Workshop Groups, delegates set out to develop tangible recommendations for employers about how to further embed gender equity in the workplace. The recommendations in this document are based on that substantial contribution. Complementary to these recommendations are the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs),1 developed by the United Nations Global Compact and UN Women, and the eight recommendations from the inaugural Gender Equity in the Workplace Summit in 2011.2 The WEPs share with the Gender Equity in the Workplace Summit an emphasis on the importance of courageous leadership in building gender equality at work.

1. Re-imagining
our workplaces
Communiqué of the Gender Equity in the Workplace Summit 2012
www.genderequity.ahri.com.au
Principal Partner

2. Contents
Re-imagining our workplaces 3
Maintaining the energy: empowering women to lead 4
Implementing a roadmap for flexibility 6
Turning mentoring meetings into leadership opportunities 8
Promoting gender equality through supply chain practices 9
Resilience: Women’s Fit, Functioning and Growth at Work 10
Message from Westpac 11

3. Re-imagining
our workplaces
Peter Wilson AM
Summit Sponsors
National President
Australian Human Resources Institute
Gender equality is an issue that
exists for every organisation.
Yet, unfortunately for many
organisations, it remains an
issue that is not appropriately
recognised or addressed. The
leadership of these organisations
is facing a serious loss of
competitive advantage by not
seeking to capitalise on the
gender dividend.
The annual Gender Equity in the
Workplace Summit is co-hosted by UN
Women Australia and the Australian
Human Resources Institute. It provides
a space for Australian business leaders
to discuss their joint leadership role
in empowering women and ensuring
gender equality in the workplace.
It is frequently cited that while over
50 percent of Australian university
graduates are women, and many
companies employ equal numbers of
men and women at graduate level, the
percentage of women drops sharply
from the first team leader role, and
continues to drop off as careers progress
toward the executive levels. If we
want to harness the full power of the
workforce in these competitive times we
need to change these statistics.
Australian law affirms women’s
entitlement to equal opportunity
and freedom from discrimination.
Yet in practice inequality exists in
many ways. Women continue to
be disproportionately affected by
issues of economic security, pay
inequality, access to leadership
opportunities, taking on the majority
of caring responsibilities and a lack of
representation in decision making.
Last year, Summit participants agreed
that change was needed. They called
on government to provide greater
access to affordable child care, they
called on employers to implement
targets for women in leadership, and
they called for education and stronger
data.
This year, through a series of
Thought Leader Workshop Groups,
delegates set out to develop tangible
recommendations for employers about
how to further embed gender equity in
the workplace. The recommendations
in this document are based on that
substantial contribution.
Complementary to these
recommendations are the Women’s
Empowerment Principles (WEPs),1
developed by the United Nations
Global Compact and UN Women, and
the eight recommendations from
the inaugural Gender Equity in the
Workplace Summit in 2011.2 The WEPs
share with the Gender Equity in the
Workplace Summit an emphasis on the
importance of courageous leadership in
building gender equality at work. They
are a further mechanism for leaders
to demonstrate their commitment to
equality by signing the CEO Statement
of Support. We are pleased to
commend to you the recommendations
in this report and call on business
leaders to commit to implementing
them in their workplaces.
Friday 4 March 2011, Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre
Julie McKay
Executive Director
UN Women Australia
3
1. UN Global Compact and UN Women 2010, Women’s
Empowerment Principles, Equality Means Business,
http://www.unglobalcompact.org/docs/issues_doc/
human_rights/Resources/WEP_EMB_Booklet.pdf.
2. UN Women Australia and the Australian Human
Resources Institute 2011, Equality Means Business,
Communiqué of the Gender Equity in the Workplace
Summit, http://genderequity.ahri.com.au/summit.php.
A SPECIAL INVITATION
Dear <first name>,
We are pleased to invite you to participate in an exclusive gender equity summit to advance the
changes required to ensure that large private sector organisations in Australia significantly improve their
representation of women in senior leadership positions during the coming decade.
Tuesday 8 March is the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day. As a prelude to the national
celebrations, UN Women Australia and the Australian Human Resources Institute will host the inaugural
Gender Equity in the Workplace Summit.
The 2010 World Economic Forum’s competitiveness survey ranked Australia number 1 in its
participation of women in education but only 44th in their participation in the workforce.
As one of 150 specially selected guests, you are invited to set aside a day of your time to work with
other senior business leaders. The aim will be to contribute to a set of practical recommendations that
will lead to meaningful change in workplace gender equality. A Summit Report will be produced that will
summarise proceedings and contain major recommendations for short and medium term actions and
outcomes. Summit participants will be recognised as leading Australian supporters of gender equality in
the workplace.
The program includes presentations from The Westpac Group CEO Gail Kelly, Sex Discrimination
Commissioner Liz Broderick, non-executive director Helen Nugent and the male chief executive
champions of change from the Australian Human Rights Commission. Financial Review BOSS magazine
is the summit Media Partner and Narelle Hooper and Catherine Fox will moderate the proceedings.
During the afternoon, syndicate groups will focus on questions in seven areas that we believe are central
to improving the gender participation in corporate Australia.
We acknowledge with gratitude the Summit Principal Partner, The Westpac Group, and Summit
Sponsors Freehills, Melbourne Business School and Telstra. The Summit Supporters are The American
Chamber of Commerce in Australia, the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Business Council of
Australia, Diversity Council Australia, the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency, and
the Australian Human Rights Commission.
Your contribution to this important issue is valued and we sincerely hope that you can join us in
contributing to the creation of a more equitable and prosperous Australia.
RSVP to Stephanie Regan at summit@ahri.com.au or phone 03 9918 9224 by Tuesday 15 February.
Yours sincerely,
Julie McKay
Executive Director
UN Women Australia
Peter Wilson AM
President
AHRI
Principal Partner
Media Partner
Friday 4 March 2011, Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre
A SPECIAL INVITATION
Dear <first name>,
We are pleased to invite you to participate in an exclusive gender equity summit to advance the
changes required to ensure that large private sector organisations in Australia significantly improve their
representation of women in senior leadership positions during the coming decade.
Tuesday 8 March is the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day. As a prelude to the national
celebrations, UN Women Australia and the Australian Human Resources Institute will host the inaugural
Gender Equity in the Workplace Summit.
The 2010 World Economic Forum’s competitiveness survey ranked Australia number 1 in its
participation of women in education but only 44th in their participation in the workforce.
As one of 150 specially selected guests, you are invited to set aside a day of your time to work with
other senior business leaders. The aim will be to contribute to a set of practical recommendations that
will lead to meaningful change in workplace gender equality. A Summit Report will be produced that will
summarise proceedings and contain major recommendations for short and medium term actions and
outcomes. Summit participants will be recognised as leading Australian supporters of gender equality in
the workplace.
The program includes presentations from The Westpac Group CEO Gail Kelly, Sex Discrimination
Commissioner Liz Broderick, non-executive director Helen Nugent and the male chief executive
champions of change from the Australian Human Rights Commission. Financial Review BOSS magazine
is the summit Media Partner and Narelle Hooper and Catherine Fox will moderate the proceedings.
During the afternoon, syndicate groups will focus on questions in seven areas that we believe are central
to improving the gender participation in corporate Australia.
We acknowledge with gratitude the Summit Principal Partner, The Westpac Group, and Summit
Sponsors Freehills, Melbourne Business School and Telstra. The Summit Supporters are The American
Chamber of Commerce in Australia, the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Business Council of
Australia, Diversity Council Australia, the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency, and
the Australian Human Rights Commission.
Your contribution to this important issue is valued and we sincerely hope that you can join us in
contributing to the creation of a more equitable and prosperous Australia.
RSVP to Stephanie Regan at summit@ahri.com.au or phone 03 9918 9224 by Tuesday 15 February.
Yours sincerely,
Julie McKay
Executive Director
UN Women Australia
Peter Wilson AM
National President
AHRI

4. Maintaining the energy:
empowering women to lead
Background
A mounting body of knowledge
indicates that gender diversity in upper
management and leadership leads to
better decision making and increased
performance in business. US research
and lobby group Catalyst demonstrates
that firms with three or more women on
their boards achieve significantly higher
returns on investment, return on sales
and return on invested capital compared
to those with fewer than three women
on their boards.3 This is corroborated
by studies by McKinsey and Columbia
University.4 London Business School
found that teams with a gender balance
achieve the best results in most areas
which drive innovation as they are
more likely to experiment, share
knowledge and complete tasks.5 Yet
despite growing awareness that gender
diversity makes good business sense,
Australian businesses have been slow to
adopt policies and implement changes
that build gender equality and improve
gender diversity.
Delegates to the 2011 Gender Equity
in the Workplace Summit recommended
that organisations set targets to achieve
a minimum of 40 percent of each
gender in management, executive
leadership and board positions.
Businesses with diversity targets are
more likely to actively seek to rectify
gender imbalances and capitalise on
the organisational benefits of diversity.
Public attention has focused recently
on increasing women’s participation on
boards, with the latest figures showing
women comprising only 15.1 percent of
ASX200 boards (October 2012).6 There
is now growing recognition of the need
to increase women’s representation at
all levels of an organisation in order to
build a pipeline of female leaders and to
realise the business benefits of diversity
in leadership.
Hard wiring measures
like targets need to be
underpinned by programs
which challenge personal
bias and long-held attitudes,
build leadership confidence
and capability and
ensure that gender diversity
does not become something
with which people are
merely compliant.
The only way
[businesses] can be
smarter is if they’ve
actually got smarter teams
functioning within their
organisation. And the best
way to get smarter teams
is to have diversity within
those teams. The role of
women in every level of
decision making in the
business is going to be a
key part of achieving that.”
Denise Goldsworthy ,
Managing Director ,
Dampier Salt .
“How do we move our thinking beyond focussing on targets
to addressing the cultural barriers that continue to hamper
further progress?”
Jane Counsel , Workshop facilitator and Head of Diversity and
Flexibility , Group People Capability , Westpac Group .
Key Recommendations:
1 Listed companies to tie ‘at risk’ executive remuneration to the success of
those companies at achieving gender balance targets in the top four layers of
management.
2Companies to define what the business case for gender diversity is and
communicate to stakeholders in their annual report how gender equality
affects the bottom line .
3The Federal Government to run a national community campaign which
promotes the importance of gender equity and in particular men taking on
a greater share of caring responsibilities to challenge the traditional roles which
women play in the home.

5. 3. Catalyst 2011, The Bottom Line: Corporate
Performance and Women’s Representation on Boards
(2004-2008),
www.catalyst.org/file/445/the_bottom_line_corporate_
performance_and_women’s_representation_on_
boards_(2004-2008).pdf.
4. McKinsey & Company 2007, Women Matter,
http://www.mckinsey.com/locations/paris/home/
womenmatter/pdfs/Women_matter_oct2007_english.
pdf and David Ross and Cristian Dezso 2011, Does
Female Representation in Top Management Improve
Firm Performance? A Panel Data Investigation, Strategic
Management Journal, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/
doi/10.1002/smj.1955/abstract.
5. London Business School & The Lehman Brothers
Centre for Women in Business 2007, Innovative
Potential: Men and women in teams, web.
lerelaisinternet.com/114909462/CMS/modules/
dl/2138661879/Innovative_Potential_NOV_20071.pdf.
6. Australian Institute of Company Directors 2012,
Appointments to ASX 200 Boards, http://www.
companydirectors.com.au/Director-Resource-Centre/
Governance-and-Director-Issues/Board-Diversity/
Statistics.
Summit Discussion
Thought Leaders in this session argued
that targets alone are not enough to
drive sustainable change. Targets are
the hard-wiring process; the soft-wiring
processes that support targets
need to be further explored. Greater
internal accountability, consistency
and reporting must be buttressed by
a broader process of cultural change.
Maximising community engagement
should involve bringing gender into
mainstream dialogues and breaking
down stigma through role modelling
and story-telling. Currently, the
success of targets is tied to the level of
commitment of the CEO. For targets
to be sustainable beyond this model
businesses need to drive broader
acceptance of the business case for
gender diversity.
Current leaders are still crucial
in taking responsibility for change
within organisations. The executive
and senior leadership needs to drive
the adoption of policies which support
flexibility, even when employees
do not actively demand it. While
employees inevitably have a bottom-up
role in advocating change, leaders
have a top-down role in instituting it
and going beyond current legislation
to provide progressive, inclusive and
productive workplaces.
Also part of the leadership
challenge is removing internal barriers
to performance, including facilitating
individual work styles. Executive and
senior leaders need to break down
notions of the ‘100 hour’ working
week and model flexible work
practices. This is pivotal to ensuring
flexibility’s legitimacy so that men and
women feel confident in accessing it.
A key challenge is how to ensure
objective recruitment that is based
on skills and experience, not on
candidates’ similarities to the person
currently in the role or to the manager
recruiting for the position. Ostensible
acceptance of the merit principle
needs to be supported by a genuine
attitudinal shift which rejects out-dated
cultural thinking and targets
unconscious bias.
Another imperative is ensuring
accountability for diversity at
every level. The rapid spread of
accountability that occurred for
workplace safety should be emulated
with gender equality so that every
member of an organisation is aware
of his and her responsibility. In many
cases there is a high level of support
for diversity and flexibility among
senior leaders and in written policy,
but change is not affected by line
managers. Significant investment in
training and equipping managers to
capitalise on a changing environment
is needed and managers need to
be informed of the longer term
benefits of a diverse workforce.
Summit panellists also recognised the
need for significant evidence-based
research to record the productivity
implications of achieving workplace
gender equality.
5
Left to right: Carmel McGregor, Martin Portus, Kathy Hirschfeld.

6. Implementing
a roadmap for
Key Recommendations:
1The government to provide tax incentives to employers supporting women to
come back from parental leave through payroll tax reductions or similar means.
2Organisations to commit to reporting on their flexibility policies along with
their gender diversity policies through their website and public materials.
3Organisations to train and skill managers and other staff to manage in a flexible
Background
To increase workforce productivity,
women and men need access to
flexible work arrangements. This
is a critical element in ensuring
equal opportunity. It is also an
opportunity for businesses to enhance
employee satisfaction and productivity
through acknowledging the need for
work life balance broadly, as well as
the individual needs of employees with
family and other responsibilities.7
The 2011 Gender Equity in the
Workplace Summit recommendations
included establishing scorecards at
“Innovative companies are
offering flexible working and
careers to attract and retain
talent. This flexibility has
benefits for employers and
employees alike.”
Nareen Young , Workshop
facilitator and CEO, Diversity
Council of Australia .
leadership levels that
promote flexibility practices. Driving
flexibility from the top acknowledges
the business case for flexibility while
initiating the kind of cultural change
needed to make flexibility accessible.
Summit Discussion
In seeking to envision the workplaces
of the future, flexibility arose as a
core focus of the Gender Equity in the
Workplace Summit 2012. Men and
women need flexibility as a necessary
enabler of change, diversity and
women’s empowerment in Australian
work environment.
It’s become so familiar
so quickly I think we
underestimate just the
profound impact that
technology can bring.”
Mark Scott,
Managing Director ,
Australian Broadcasting
Corporation .
flexibility
Left to right: Mark Scott, Michael Rose, Denise Goldsworthy.

7. Summit participants
acknowledged the need for robust
and open discussion around the
challenges without losing sight of
the reasons for change. Business
decisions that have short term costs
associated with them are made
every day for long term gain and for
principled reasons around equality,
human rights and best practice. The
answer involves being realistic about
challenges, costs and risks while
keeping in mind the fundamental
goal of equality.
7. Diversity Council of Australia 2012, Get Flexible:
Mainstreaming Flexible Work in Australian Business,
Sydney, Diversity Council of Australia.
workplaces. Further, opportunities
for flexibility need to be equally
embraced by men and women. Many
employees feel restricted by stigma
around working flexibly, meaning all
members of an organisation have a
stake in driving change and supporting
their colleagues to do so too.
Flexibility’s success is dependent on
the mindset of the entire organisation,
from leadership through teams
to employees.
Technology plays a pivotal role
in enabling flexible work practices.
The kinds of technology that were
unthinkable a decade ago are now
facilitating flexible work practices in
organisations across Australia.
Flexibility is challenging traditional
notions of the nine to five working
day in the office. Technology allows
organisations to explore options for
teleworking and virtual collaboration
and to reconsider questions about
where, when and how it is necessary
to meet.
The challenge is whether
organisations can redesign the
measurements around performance
to take advantage of the opportunities
flexibility and technology bring.
Businesses need to re-evaluate time
based performance assessments and
reconsider the way they rank and
value experience over time. They
must contend with how to measure
and appreciate the reality that many
women will not have 20 years of
unbroken service, but are nevertheless
fundamentally capable of the job. They
need to challenge notions that flexible
work is less valuable and provide access
to opportunities and promotions for
employees working flexibly.
The economic and managerial
implications of flexible workplaces
must be considered. There are still
disproportionate economic returns
for constancy and intensity of work,
including faster career progression.
There are also structural disincentives
around the cost of employees if
multiple employees working flexibly
mean multiplying costs.
The challenges underscore
the importance of redesigning
productivity measures. Recognising
the value of employees’ work life
balance is beneficial not only to
employee health, satisfaction and
productivity but also to the business
bottom line.
Are businesses too
focussed on headcount
and traditional measures
of productivity and missing
the chance to achieve
greater productivity
through flexibility?”
Michael Rose , Chief Executi ve
Partner, Allens.
Summit delegates were keen to hear about flexibility policies working in
non-professional, blue collar environments. Denise Goldsworthy offered
examples from the mining industry demonstrating that flexibility can work
across industries. She recounted instances of high voltage electricians
in Perth assisting with repairs at remote mines using a camera and ear-piece
to communicate with on-site electricians. She described fly in fly out
rosters with some employees working one week on, four weeks off. She
also mentioned cases of mothers at residential sites working three hours in
the day while their children were at school, driving trucks while other truck
drivers were having lunch breaks or doing training.
7

8. Turning mentoring meetings into
leadership opportunities
“How we can, particularly in the Australian environment, really put mentoring in the forefront of what
we’re doing as an opportunity for women.”
Sonja Price , Workshop facilitator and Board Diversity Manager Policy and Advocacy ,
The Australian Institute of Company Directors .
8. UN Global Compact and UN Women 2010, Women’s
Empowerment Principles, Equality Means Business,
http://www.unglobalcompact.org/docs/issues_doc/
human_rights/Resources/WEP_EMB_Booklet.pdf.
9. Nancy Carter and Christine Silva, 2010, Mentoring:
Necessary But Insufficient for Advancement, Catalyst.
Key Recommendations:
1Organisations to embrace a range of customised mentoring and sponsorship
options including identifying profiling and networking opportunities to
broaden individual visibility and enhance leadership skills.
2Organisations to invest the necessary time and money in mentoring and
sponsorship programs, including training and education for mentors and
mentees and implementing structures and processes that facilitate effective
matching, manage expectations and support goal setting.
3Board members, CEOs and senior management to take a leading role in
making mentoring legitimate, creating an open culture around mentoring
and making their own mentoring relationships explicit.
4Organisations to support and encourage women to seek and develop strong
mentors and advocates throughout their careers.
Background
The Women’s Empowerment Principles
call on businesses to promote professional
development for women.8 Mentoring
and sponsorship programs present
opportunities for businesses to build
women’s professional development
and ensure their advancement. A range
of mentoring schemes, both formal
and informal, inside and outside of
organisations, have been instituted across
businesses with the aim of supporting
and retaining female talent. Yet much
of the literature around mentoring for
women points to its limited effectiveness,
despite growing access. Research also
suggests that demographic factors are
less relevant than structural factors in
determining mentoring’s success: having
a mentor in a senior position, who takes
on a personalised, sponsorship type role is
more likely to open avenues for women’s
advancement.9
Summit Discussion
Thought Leaders in this session
advocated the importance of
mentoring and sponsorship in driving
leadership opportunities for women.
Mentoring is the most important
form of learning in the workplace
after ‘on the job’ experience. It can
also be helpful in enabling women to
navigate issues of male dominance in
workplaces.
Despite this, women tend to
underestimate the value of networking
and mentoring compared to men.
Women also tend to attribute success
to higher levels of technical excellence,
while men tend to place a higher value
on mentoring and sponsorship as a
means of reaching this success. Further,
many businesses report stop-start
behaviour, difficulties in implementing
effective or sustainable programs or
outright failure. There is evidently more
that can be learned in Australia about
how to make mentoring worthwhile.
Many Australian workplaces have
taken strides towards implementing
effective mentoring programs. A key
success factor for mentoring is the
commitment of the organisation to
making the program work, to engaging
mentors in training and equipping
them to effectively support their
mentee. Mentoring fails with a lack
of training or formal structures and
diverse expectations or misaligned
values. Businesses need to ensure that
mentoring is focused on the success of
the mentee and does not become an
attempt to socialise women to a male
dominated workforce.
One future challenge for Australian
businesses is translating the work
done in the gender space from
large corporate organisations to
small and medium businesses. The
National Small Business Summit
reports that 70% of the Australian
workforce is employed in small and
medium-sized business and the
majority of women are employed
in small business. There is perhaps
an opportunity for engaging small
businesses with the gender diversity
conversation through inter-business
mentoring.

9. Supplier diversity
represents an opportunity.
It’s one of the relatively
untapped parts of the
diversity agenda that we
really aren’t seeing much
leverage in within Australia
at the moment.”
Neil Cockroft ,
Workshop facilitator
and Head of Diversity and
Culture , King & Wood Mallesons .
Behaviour is driven by
consumers and if women
make or influence over
70% of consumer choices
then diversity credentials
could be a very powerful
value proposition.11
10. UN Global Compact and UN Women 2010, Women’s
Empowerment Principles, Equality Means Business,
http://www.unwomen.org.au/Content%20Pages/
Get%20Active/weps.
11. Rich Morin and D’Vera Cohn 2008, Women Call
the Shots at Home; Public Mixed on Gender Roles in
Jobs, Pew Research Centre, http://pewresearch.org/
pubs/967/gender-power.
Promoting gender
equality through
supply chain practices
Key Recommendations:
1Organisations to audit their current
suppliers against organisational
values, brand proposition and diversity
strategies.
2Organisations to integrate gender
diversity requirements into their
tendering process and communicate
this publically in their annual report,
on their website and in other public
materials.
3Organisations commit to educate
potential suppliers about the value
of gender diverse workplaces and help
them achieve the new requirements in
the tendering process.
4Organisations to challenge their
own approach and the approach of
companies in their supply chain as to
how they portray women, especially in
advertising.
Background
The Women’s Empowerment
Principles also call on organisations
to consider the gendered
implications of their supply chain
practices and the diversity policies
and strategies of their supply chain
partners.10 Businesses’ commercial
weight and purchasing power
positions them strongly to take a
stance in setting policy standards
which promote gender equality.
Where businesses can hold their
commercial partners and other
key stakeholders in markets and
the community to these standards,
there is an opportunity to make real
traction in the gender space.
Summit Discussion
Implementing supplier diversity has a
social benefit, but it also has a credible
business case. In terms of market share,
employee value proposition, employee
engagement, access to greater supplier
choice and cost efficiency, the value of
implementing supplier diversity policies
has enormous potential to improve
business practice and bottom line.
Thought Leaders in this session
emphasised the need for supplier
diversity to stand up on its own two
commercial feet in the corporate sector.
The current supplier diversity model
in Australia is limited, but there has
been progress around ethnic minority
supplier diversity. Businesses seeking to
exploit the commercial opportunities of
supplier diversity can adapt and build
on the current model to incorporate
organisations promoting gender equality
into their supply chain.
There are also immediate sector
based opportunities: organisations can
look to sectors where there are a higher
proportion of female business owners and
leaders. Further, Australian businesses can
learn from more advanced approaches,
particularly in North America. This is
especially pertinent where international
companies operating in Australia can
import practices from other parts of the
organisation.
Ideally, supplier diversity needs to
be owned by the procurement process
within organisations, rather than by
human resources, diversity or community
teams, or be seen as a separate entity.
Internal support for the concept is
crucial in changing the thinking around
procurement performance indicators to
add suppliers that would normally be
overlooked.
In promoting gender equality, business can learn from other sectors including the environmental sustainability movement.
The rapid changes which made organisations more accountable for their environmental impact were driven by employee and
consumer demands. Building community awareness of gender inequality, so that consumers and employees can start making
choices based on a company’s equity and diversity commitments, is essential in driving behavioural change.
9

10. Resilience:
Women’s Fit, Functioning
and Growth at Work
“Research shows that being made aware of your membership of a
stereotyped group leads you to behave in ways that are in line with
other people’s stereotypical expectations of you. This is stereotype
threat and it can ultimately reduce the performance of individuals
who belong to a negatively stereotyped group.”
Rebecca Bose , Workshop facilitator and Program Facilitator , Gender
Equality Project , Melbourne Business School .
Key Recommendations:
1Organisations to commit to building internal awareness through training
on unconscious bias, including self-awareness assessment for male and
female employees.
2Organisations to strive for corporate maturity by implementing and
continuously managing a policy of zero tolerance toward micro-aggressions in
the form of ‘just joking’ behaviour. CEOs to take a leadership role in enforcing this
zero tolerance policy.
3Organisations to integrate genuine consequences for this behaviour, holding
accountable all members of an organisation, including the executive suite.
4Business education institutions and higher education regulators to develop
a policy which requires all accredited business education courses to contain
some content on the issue of gender equality as it links to productivity and
business success.
We will struggle to
have gender equity
in the workplace as
long as we don’t have
gender equity in
the home.”
Tim Orton ,
Managing Director ,
Nous Group .
Stereotype threat is the
greatest risk factor for women’s
performance at work, while
increased control over work
life and opportunities for
development constitute the two
key protective factors.
Left to right: Nareen Young, Sonja Price, Neil Cockroft, Rebecca Bose, Jane Counsel.

11. Background
A new report from the Melbourne
Business School’s Gender Equality
Project looks at the factors that
affect women’s resilience within
organisations.12 The research defines
eight key indicators of women’s
fit, functioning and growth in
workplaces. Indices of women’s fit in
an organisation include experience of
sexual harassment, a sexist climate
and women’s attitude to their work.
Indices of women’s functioning
include health, performance,
recruitment and retention. Indices
of women’s growth include
compensation level and managerial
levels. These factors are the most
commonly reported in the research
as statistically significant indications
of women’s resilience at work. The
report also defines 17 significant
predictors of women’s fit, functioning
and growth at work. It divides these
into protective and risk factors which
operate at the organisational or
personal level.
Summit Discussion
The strongest risk factor for women
in workplaces is the insidious and
detrimental effect of stereotype threat
and the associated behaviour of micro-aggression.
While in small and medium
businesses sexism often can be overt,
in large corporates women are up
against more subtle forms of sexism
that harassment legislation does not
touch. Such challenges to resilience can
come from all parts of an organisation
and are likely to adversely affect
women’s performance and make them
less likely to stay in a role. Ensuring
women are represented and promoted
across the organisation, rather than
being concentrated in certain areas, is
part of breaking down these barriers to
women’s performance.
The Melbourne Business School
research found that the second largest
risk factor for women’s resilience in
the workplace is associated with family
stress and work-family conflict. The
family unit plays a large role in shaping
women’s experiences in the workforce,
and there is much opportunity for
improvement in this area. The 2011
Gender Equity in the Workplace Summit
called on the Federal Government to
provide 100 percent tax deductibility
for child care expenses. 2012 Summit
delegates echoed this, calling for greater
diversity and availability of child care.
Businesses also need to better embrace
returning and ageing employees.
While women still can’t ‘have it all,’
the reality is nor can anyone. The focus
should be on how men and women
can have access to anything, not
have access to everything. However,
women’s choices are limited by a range
of social and structural constructs,
including social norms, history and
ethnicity. This is where workplaces
need to take a greater level of
accountability for gender equality more
broadly rather than just gender equality
in the workforce.
12. Victor Sojo and Robert Wood 2012, Resilience:
Women’s Fit, Functioning and Growth at Work:
Indicators and Predictors, Melbourne Business School
Centre for Ethical Leadership.
11
Principal
Partner
The Westpac Group has a long
history of supporting women
in leadership, demonstrated
by the fact that it has been
acknowledged on EOWA’s Blue
Ribbon list since its inception
in 2002. The Westpac Group
recognises that it makes good
business sense for its workforce
to reflect the diversity of its
customer base.
The Westpac Group is
committed to helping lead the
gender equality debate both
nationally and internationally.
Its support of the Gender Equity
Summit and International
Women’s Day are important
ways in which it can continue to
challenge itself, and the rest of
corporate Australia, to take real
action to drive a positive change
for the future.
Acknowledgements
Summit Organising Committee: Sandra Cormack, AHRI;
Rebecca Bromhead, Jessica French, Olivia Rothnie-Jones, UN
Women Australia; Jane Counsel, Westpac Group.
UN Women Australia and AHRI would like to thank workshop
facilitators: Jane Counsel, Westpac Group; Nareen Young, the
Diversity Council of Australia; Neil Cockroft, Kind and Wood
Mallesons; Sonja Price, the Australian Institute of Company
Directors and Rebecca Bose, Melbourne Business School.
We are grateful for the invaluable contributions of the
workshop thought starters: Carmel McGregor, Department
of Defence; Dr Lucy Burgmann, Australian Institute of
Management NSW and ACT; Jennifer Levasseur, Corporate
Express; Peter Wilson, AHRI and Dr Jennifer Whelan,
Melbourne Business School.
We would also like to thank the Keynote Panel: Michael
Rose, Allens; Denise Goldsworthy, Dampier Salt;
Tim Orton, Nous Group; Mark Scott, Australian Broadcasting
Corporation and Julie McKay, UN Women Australia.
We also thank all event scribes and volunteers.
Finally, thanks go to Olivia Rothnie-Jones, Julie McKay,
David Wakeley and Ali McTaggart for their contributions to
this communiqué.

12. As the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the
Empowerment of Women, UN Women Australia brings
together experts in the gender sector to progress gender
equality and empower women to reach their full potential
in contributing to our communities at work, home and in
public life.
Australian National Committee for UN Women
GPO Box 2824, Canberra, ACT 2601
Phone (02) 6225 5810
www.unwomen.org.au
As the national association representing human
resource and people management professionals,
AHRI leads the direction and fosters the growth of
the HR profession through actively setting standards
and building the capability of the profession.
Australian Human Resources Institute
Level 13, 565 Bourke Street, Melbourne Vic 3000
Phone (03) 9918 9200 | Fax (03) 9918 9201
www.ahri.com.au
Principal Partner
Supporting Partners
www.genderequity.ahri.com.au