Bidiversity

In this article, originally published in The Age, Lucinda Schmidt highlights the key issues impacting Australia’s lack of gender diversity in the boardroom and the imminent legislative changes about to become the catalyst and driver behind redressing this issue.

For women, it’s harder than ever to rise to the top of corporate Australia – but things may be about to change.

The statistics are appalling. In boardrooms and executive suites across Australia, there are almost no women in the top ranks of our biggest companies.

And it seems to be a peculiarly Australian problem; our overseas counterparts, including the US, the UK, South Africa and New Zealand, are doing much better.

“When overseas executives visit Australia, they often ask, ‘Where are all the women?’ ” says Naseema Sparks, director of Chief Executive Women.

“It’s only us that are used to this type of environment.”

Sally McDonald, chief executive of fashion house Oroton Group, felt the same culture shock when she returned to Sydney after eight years working in the US among many women who were industry leaders.

It was difficult – and expensive – to find childcare for her one-year-old son, and the corporate environment was clubbier and less diverse.

“In the US, working women are viewed in a more positive light that is about maximising individual potential; in Australia, the attitude is more, ‘Who’s looking after the kids?’ ” she says. “I think it’s really disappointing.”

Now – finally – moves are afoot to redress the imbalance. In December 2009, the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), which regulates all the companies listed on the stockmarket, released a plan to force companies to publish a gender breakdown of directors and senior staff, and to set targets for gender diversity.

If the companies don’t comply from July 1 this year, they’ll have to explain why.

“We shouldn’t underestimate the significance of this change,” says federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick. “It’s the first structural intervention we’ve had. It’s a call to action to business – if they don’t fix it, it’s a good case for [compulsory] quotas.”

She notes that in Norway, for example, where board quotas were introduced in 2003, the number of women directors has leapt from seven per cent to 40 per cent. And in France, legislation was tabled in December to force companies to have equal numbers of women and men on their boards.

The move comes a year after an audit by the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) highlighted just how dire the Australian situation was – and that it was getting worse.

The figures sparked a serious debate among many business leaders – including a few men – as to whether mandatory quotas, once viewed as insulting and tokenistic, were needed.

“But the pipeline effect, where we just wait for enough women [to join the workforce and flow through to top positions], has simply not happened.

“In the past, people like me would be very polite,” says Katie Lahey, who heads the Business Council of Australia and is on the board of retailer David Jones. “The statistics make your hair stand on end – it’s not right and we’re going backwards.”

As to why we’ve fallen so far behind, Broderick says there are several factors at play.

First, there’s what she calls “the belief barrier” – deeply ingrained cultural beliefs that a good mum should be at home with the kids, and that the ideal worker is available 24/7, has no visible caring responsibilities and is usually male.

“It’s these beliefs that really set us apart from other countries,” she says.

Then there are structural barriers, such as the cost of, and access to, childcare and the stigma of flexible work as a poor relation to full-time “serious” work.

Broderick notes that in the World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report 2009, Australia is equal first in the world for women’s educational levels, but 50th in terms of female workforce participation (we dropped 10 countries last year).

“Our women start with the same intelligence, commitment and expectations as men, and greater levels of education,” says Broderick.

Christine Holgate is one of the few women to have made it to the top echelons of the Australian corporate world. The British-born chief executive of vitamin company Blackmores says she was warned about Australia’s blokey culture before she came here six years ago, but hasn’t found it any worse than other countries she’s worked in.

Where she does think Australia could improve is having more men willing to take on a bigger parenting role.

“If we had more role models of men as carers, so their wife can be the main breadwinner, it would help women step up.”

As to why she’s managed to make it to the top, Holgate – who has no children – says her upbringing has a lot to do with it.

She left home at 11 to live with a volatile, depressed aunt who had been overseas for 20 years.

That made Holgate independent and self-sufficient, and keen to break free of a potential future as a housewife married to a boy from her village in rural northern England.  Holgate and McDonald were two of 31 female chief executives interviewed by the University of Queensland’s Terrance Fitzsimmons for his PhD on why Australia has so few women at the top.

Fitzsimmons, who is presently writing up the results of his research, says the female chief executives had “amazingly similar” backgrounds.

Most had experienced a momentous event in childhood – such as the death of a family member or moving country – and most had at least one parent running their own business.

The result is women who are mature beyond their years and comfortable discussing business.

“It gives them an edge,” he says.

Lynn Wood chose to relinquish her high-flying executive career (she worked at various companies including American Express, Citibank, Myer, David Jones and Schroders) more than a decade ago, when she was told her promotion to a new job would require at least 12 hours a day in the office.

She moved to a successful “portfolio career” as a business coach and company director (she’s on the boards of retailer Noni B and the GPT Group).

Wood says one of the biggest impediments to women reaching the top, apart from the hours, is that they are not willing to network.

“A lot of women don’t like the term, they see it as using people,” she says. “But it’s about helping people and maybe one day they can help you. And it’s not just a matter of doing a good job; you’ve got to be known to do a good job.”

Another problem, says Wood, is that women lack the confidence to aim for the top job.

“I’ve been an executive coach and I’ve seen it time and time again,” she says. “You’ve got to be able to put yourself forward. If you don’t believe in yourself, others won’t either.”

Susie Babani, ANZ’s group managing director, human resources, agrees that lack of confidence is a key issue.

“Give a woman a list of six skills a job needs and they’ll focus on the one thing they can’t do,” she says. “Men will look at the three they can do and won’t even think about the other three.”

Anne Summers, a leader in the fight for women’s rights for more than 40 years, says Australia’s problems start with a lower workforce participation rate.

According to the Productivity Commission, Australia ranks fifth out of 30 OECD countries overall for female workforce participation, but 20th out of 30 for women of childbearing age (25 to 44).

A big issue, Summers believes, is the difficulty of combining children and a high-level job.

“We haven’t really addressed this,” she says, noting that other countries offer more state support for childcare costs and paid maternity leave, or a much bigger pool of professional nannies. “The outcomes show something is wrong,” Summers says.

“For 25 years, women have been graduating in the same numbers as men – they have the education, the talent and they start with the ambition.”

She is hopeful that the new ASX rules – as well as the current review into the effectiveness of the EOWA – will jolt Australia’s corporate sector into the 21st century.

Others also believe 2010 will prove a watershed year for women at the top levels of corporate leadership. “I feel the most optimistic I’ve ever felt about this issue,” says Katie Lahey.

“There’s great momentum for change,” says Elizabeth Broderick. “We need to take advantage of this window that’s opened up and change the face of corporate leadership in this country.”

The statistics

In Australia’s biggest 200 public companies (the ASX 200) in February 2008:

• there were four women CEOs

• 45.5 per cent had no women executive managers (39.5 per cent in 2006)

• women held 10.7 per cent of executive management positions (12 per cent in 2006)

• women held 5.9 per cent of senior line-management positions (7.4 per cent in 2006)

• there were four women chairing boards of directors

• women held 8.3 per cent of board directorships (8.75 per cent in 2006)

• 51 per cent had no female board directors (50 per cent in 2006)

Source: EOWA Census of Women in Leadership, 2008