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Business must report on gender equality

By STEPHANIE SMART
THE federal government has begun implementing legislation that will drive gender equality in Australian workplaces, which leaders in the industry say are a welcome and needed change.

Kate Ellis, the Minister for the Status of Women, announced yesterday reforms to the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act, as well as an $11.2 million boost to the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency’s (EOWA) existing resources over the next four years.

Key changes to the Act will, for the first time, require employers to report on the gender diversity of their organisation and boards, including pay rates and the availability of flexible hours.

Where businesses were previously only encouraged to establish and report on workplace equality plans, it will now be illegal for businesses not to report on gender composition of their workforce and pay figures of male and female employees. This will allow the government to see the discrepancies in gender pay gaps and withhold funding to businesses that do not comply with the Act.

“The Government is using its power as a consumer to say that unless you are actively pursuing gender equality in your workplace, then we are not interested in doing business with you,” Ms Ellis said yesterday in her address (9 March 2011) at the National Press Club in Canberra.

“No more good intentions – we want good outcomes. Under these reforms, we are doing away with reporting on hollow plans and promises.”

Under the new legislation, businesses that do not adhere to the Act will be ineligible for a share in $42 billion of government contracts or grants. Regular spot checks will also occur, to ensure that the information businesses are supplying correlates with their submitted reports.

Smaller organisations, with less than 100 employees, will not be required to report back but will still be able to access advice, education and incentive activities provided by the Agency.

Chris Peters, CEO of the ACT & Region Chamber of Commerce & Industry, says it is too early to estimate the cost of compiling these reports for individual businesses, but the reforms are supported by the business industry.

“Workplace equality is something that businesses have been striving for, and the business community does support these changes,” Mr Peters said.

“These reforms will also help by way of reminding larger businesses of their social obligations, and making businesses even more aware of further pursuing gender equity.”

EOWA’s 2010 Census on Women in Leadership showed that just 8.4 per cent of board directorships in Australia’s top 200 companies were held by women. On average, women working full-time earn 16.7 per cent less than men. This amounts to a 25-year-old woman earning around $1 million less over her lifetime than a man of the same age.

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