Cultural Diversity on Boards | Gender Balance on Boards | Quotas & Targets | Gendered Budget Analysis | Paid Parental Leave | Gender Balance in Global Sport | WGEA  & Coalition for Working Women 

CULTURAL DIVERSITY ON BOARDS

Women on Boards supports culturally diverse women to access board and leadership roles and has established a Cultural Diversity Committee to progress action on this issue. 

• Cultural Diversity Committee
• Counting Culture Surey & More Information 

GENDER BALANCE on boards

Women on Boards vision since 2006 has been: "To increase the number of women on boards and in leadership roles to achieve a gender balance of  40% women, 40% men and 20% of either, and/or other genders." The percentage of women on boards across multiple sectors has been tracked by us between 2010 and 2020 in our Boardroom Diversity Index.  This has now expanded to look at cultural and ethnic diversity within gender. We also make submissions to a range of organisations in relation to the impact of improving the percentage of women on boards.

• WOB Boardroom Diversity Index: 2010 - 2020
• WOB Traffic Light Index - A Review of Gender Balance Performance and Reporting in the ASX200 in 2013 and Company Rankings
• WOB Guidelines for Gender Balance Reporting and Interactive Scorecard

Submissions

• WOB Submission to the Fraser Review of Governance Arrangements in Respect of Not-For-Profit Superannuation Funds 2016
• WOB Submission to the Australian Government Boards (Gender Balanced Representation) Bill 2015
• WOB Submission on the Review of Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations 2013
• WOB Submission on Improved Competition in Superannuation - Discussion Paper 2013
• WOB Submission on the Review of Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations 2009

Quotas & Targets

• Claire Braund 2011 Churchill Fellowship:  To investigate the effect of gender quotas on public listed company boards in Norway and the progress of the public policy debate in the UK and France.

Gendered Budget Analysis

WOB supports the independent review of the Federal Budget completed each year by the National Foundation for Australian Women (NFAW) and its 36 subject matter experts. This non-partisan analysis of the Federal Budget makes recommendations across a range of policy areas – workplace relations, health, education, housing, domestic violence, taxation, superannuation and more, as well as some related to machinery of government and data collection. Applying a gender lens to the budget ensures that government economic stimulus is more evenly distributed.

• 2022 Gender Lens on the Federal Budget
• 2021 Gender Lens on the Federal Budget plus Budget Overview
• 2020 Gender Lens on the Federal Budget + more reading here
• 2019 Gender Lens on the Federal Budget
• 2018 Gender Lens on the Federal Budget
• 2017 Gender Lens on the Federal Budget
• 2016 Gender Lens on the Federal Budget

PAID PARENTAL LEAVE

Women on Boards was part of the coalition of women that lobbied for universal Paid Parental Leave, which was introduced at 18 weeks paid at the national minimum wage on 1 January 2011. It defended the scheme against proposed changes under the Abbott Government in 2015 and in 2017 put forward a hybird model to the Government, based on a model of 26 weeks PPL. 

Submissions

• WOB Submission to Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs Inquiry into the Fairer Paid Parental Leave Amendment Bill 2015
• WOB Submission to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee inquiry into the Fairer Paid Parental Leave Bill 2016 

GENDER BALANCE IN GLOBAL SPORT

In 2014 Women on Boards authored the inaugural Gender Balance in Global Sport Report, which was subsequently updated in 2016.

• Gender Balance in Global Sport Report - 2016
• Gender Balance in Global Sport Report - 2014 

WGEA & Coalition for Working Women

Women on Boards has a long history of supporting the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) and its forerunner, the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace (EOWW).   In 2014 Women on Boards formed the 'Coalition for Working Women (CWW)' in response to the move by the Abbott Government to water down some of the reporting requirements for companies under the WGEA. Members of the CWW were; Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), Australian Local Government Women’s Association (ALGWA), BPW (Business and Professional Women) Australia, Financial Services Institute of Australasia (Finsia), Local Government Managers Australia (LGMA), National Council of Women of Australia (NCWA), National Foundation for Australian Women (NFAW), Women on Boards (WOB), Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL), YWCA Australia

Submissions

• CWW Submission to Government Consultation on Reporting Requirements Uunder the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 and Addendum - 2014
• EOWW Review 2009