I've long held the belief that women alone can't solve the gender equality puzzle... but getting men to drive the change is sometimes easier said than done.  This article from The Glass Hammer points out that while gender equality is a hot topic, the message hasn't yet filtered down to the "Average Joe".  Author Elizabeth Harrin offers 5 tips to engage men in the change process: Read More

I’ve been pondering this week just how important gender equality in leadership is to the business community in Australia?  With the release of the 2010 Census of Women in Leadership (showing we’ve made almost no progress since reporting began in 2002), and ongoing attention around the ASX gender reporting guidelines, the consistent message from corporate affairs departments around the country is that our business leaders are more focused than ever on fixing the gender gap at the top.  But what sort of priority is attached to the issue?

Two events this week have convinced me that we still have a long way to go. Read More

The Reibey Institute, a newly founded Australian research centre focused on women’s leadership issues, released it’s first research note today noting amongst many preliminary findings that over the past 3 and 5 year periods, ASX500 companies with women directors on their boards delivered significantly higher Return on Equity (ROE) than those companies without women directors. Read More

The long awaited bi-annual census results of women in leadership roles in Australia have been released today by EOWA, the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency.  Following a downward trend in almost every category in the 2008 results, the 2010 census results have been eagerly awaited.  The good news is the downward trend appears to have been arrested; the bad news is despite comprising 45% of the Australian labour force, women hold only 8% of key executive management roles, 3% of CEO roles, 8.4% of company director roles and 2.5% of ASX200 Chairs. Read More

New research by Goldman Sachs JBWere finds that whilst some progress has been made in Australia towards gender equality, we’re still have two thirds to go. And the estimated value for closing the gender equity gap is 11%! Read More

On Tuesday I delivered a presentation to the CPA Business Women's network in Sydney on the ASX guidelines and what it means for the War for Female Talent that is really hotting up.  I believe that 2011 is shaping up to be a big year for women in business: the new ASX guidelines require companies to report on gender diversity in executive roles and board positions; Australia’s first universal paid parental leave scheme commences; and 8th March will mark 100 years of International Women’s Day.  Together these events are creating a "perfect storm" of opportunity for women in business. Read More

If you’ve ever been responsible for establishing employee development programs, conferences or leadership offsites, you’ll know just difficult it can be to find fantastic, out of this world, leading-edge service providers.  In a sea of social media and spin, my vast network send me calls for help every day – by email, LinkedIn, twitter and the sphinxx website - all looking for advice about who they should hire for their own professional development needs, or to supplement their in-house women's programs. Read More

For those of you responsible for measuring and managing the number of women in senior roles in your workplace, you won't want to miss the launch of the 2010 EOWA census results.  This is the official measure of women in leadership in Australia and feeds into the Catalyst international reporting metrics.  Mike Smith, CEO and Executive Director of ANZ Bank will again be delivering the keynote address at the launch of the Census results at a lunch on 6th October in Sydney.  Registrations for the event can be made via the Australian Institute of Company Directors website.  And let me know if you're planning to go - I'll be there and it would be great to catchup! Read More

Bain & Company has just released a brief titled “Level the playing field: A call for action on gender parity in Australia” outlines key findings in relation to attitudes of men and women towards gender parity.  Based on the results of an extensive survey of 1200 members of the Australian business community, the study found that promoting more talented women into senior roles isn't high enough on managements strategic agenda: although it's talked about in most sectors, it appears to be more talk than action and outcomes.  Other key findings from the survey include: Read More

Anne Lauvergeon is one alarmingly impressive woman. Not only is she the CEO of Areva, but the energy industry is notorious for poor female representation -  an issue she has worked to counter and she explains in this article exactly why it’s worth it. Her thoughts are especially timely given the French lower house has just passed a quota bill – 40% of corporate boards to be made up for women within 6 years.  Read More