Last updated 05 March 2025
The fact we need to schedule and celebrate an International Women’s Day at all speaks volumes about the way women continue to be underrepresented in the corporate world, media, government and many other areas of day-to-day life.
While the day’s visibility may help in pressuring organisations to up the ante when it comes to being truly diverse – including a focus on having more women in the workforce – I’d love a future where we no longer need a dedicated day to remind the world that women are an integral part of the puzzle.
How can we achieve this?
Almost 51 per cent of the Australian population identify as female. It stands to reason that there’s a massively under-utilised talent pool at every organisation’s disposal.
A good place to start is with some very clear targets and holding senior leaders accountable.
1. Setting recruitment targets
Setting recruitment targets is important because what gets measured gets managed. If women make up half the population, there is no reason organisations can’t set the same target for the workplace.
It’s also crucial that recruiters are aware of the biases and actively look to recruit with greater diversity and a firm commitment to correcting the imbalance in mind.
Watch: Keogh asks women in senior leadership roles what advice they would give to their younger selves (3 min)
2. Developing women in leadership
Being an effective leader in today’s business world is about helping people learn and grow to fulfill their potential. And doing so without any conscious or unconscious bias that precludes anyone because of their gender, culture or other qualities – these are what bring diversity, creativity, enthusiasm and success to any workplace.
When we look at CEOs and boards, women are hugely underrepresented. While data from the last WGEA Gender Equality Scorecard shows we’re ever-so-slowly moving in the right direction, it also shows that in Australia:
- One in four boards have no women on them
- Just over 42 per cent of managers are women
- Just under 22 per cent of CEOs are women
Just over 51 per cent of the reported workforce were women, yet clearly this gender ratio was not being carried through to leadership and decision making roles.
3. Calling for change (and strategically implementing it)
We have seen the power of stakeholders and shareholders when encouraging environmental change. Imagine the possibilities if the same level of lobbying and activism went into demanding gender diversity and balance on boards and in senior executive teams.
It’s not enough to simply ‘have’ values aligned with gender equality; organisations must follow through to push change and growth with strategic planning, action, and monitoring over time.
A long time coming, a long way still to go…
It’s taken so many years to get to where we are today with equality and diversity – yet we are still seeing disparities in female representation, pay and opportunities.
According to the World Economic Forum’s most recent findings, it will take another 134 years to close the global gender gap at our current pace. What we need is radical change and a collective effort from government, advocacy groups, social enterprises, communities, and businesses.
Until then, while we may continue to make progress, it won’t be at a level that will see us get to the point that we no longer have to talk about gender equality or diversity.
Change will only come if the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of changing. It’s happening, but we need to push harder.
When the time comes that we don’t need a day dedicated to celebrating women, we will know we have made a difference. Until then, there is still a lot of work to do.
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