Harnessing the benefits of diversity and inclusion within Australian workplaces amid global pushback could boost company profits and improve conditions.
That’s the verdict of the chief executive of UN Women Australia, which will launch a pioneering leadership network on Tuesday to help address the gender and diversity gap.
Diversity and inclusion programs have come under attack overseas, including in the US, where President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to end what he has described as “discrimination programs”.
However, a group of leaders in Australia is instead looking to reap the benefits.
“We see an absolute willingness by Australian companies and organisations to really face into what it means to be an Australian entity – we have a culture of a fair go,” UN Women Australia’s Simone Clarke said.
“I’m confident, based on the conversations that I have on a regular basis with our partners, there is an absolute undeniability that people value diversity in the workplace – that there is an opportunity to it.”
The leadership network unites influential leaders from industries across Australia to foster collaboration and share evidence-based strategies to tackle persistent gender inequality.
Australian women currently earn 78 cents for every dollar a man earns – an average annual difference of $28,425, Workplace Gender Equality Agency data shows.
And despite progress across employers, 79 per cent of workplaces still have gender pay gaps outside the five per cent range.
That’s where the leadership network comes in.
It aims to bring UN Women’s global insights to Australian workplaces, companies and academia to better understand gender inequality and its impacts on profitability and pay gaps.
“By having a broad cross-sector network, we hope to lift the capability of a range of actors in this space,” Ms Clarke said.
Companies with higher proportions of female board members or senior executives are 27 per cent more likely to financially outperform those with lower proportions, according to UN Women Australia.
Those with diverse executives are 21 per cent more likely to experience above-average profitability.
Ms Clarke rejected characterisations of diversity in the workplace as “men versus women”.
“It’s really about balancing out the playing field, but also providing diverse views, because we know in that diversity, we see better results,” she said.
Australian Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national newswire and has been delivering accurate, reliable and fast news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We keep Australia informed.
