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New Kearney research shows Australia is among the world’s leading markets for gender parity in the workplace, ahead of the UK, US and India.
To arrive at its findings on gender equality, the global management consultancy looked at two key metrics: the percentage of female representation in parliament and the percentage of female representation on the boards of private listed companies.
While Australia outperforms the other three ranked countries on both fronts, the numbers are far from ideal. Australia has 84 female MPs, making the representation of women in parliament 37%. According to the researchers, this number jumped after the recent Australian election, before which there were 77 female MPs in the country. The number exceeds that of women in the United Kingdom, which is the closest representation at nearly 34%.
The US and India are far behind at 23% and 14% respectively. When it comes to female representation on private boards, Australia again ranks first, just ahead of the UK, where women hold 34% of all board positions at Australia’s largest companies, compared to 33.1% in the UK. Similarly, gender parity in the US and India is far behind at 28% and 16% respectively.
In private sector boardrooms, there is considerable variation in performance across sectors. The financial services industry – banks, insurance companies, asset and wealth managers and fintechs – are leading the way in gender parity and performance policies, closely followed by the non-energy materials sector. The consumer and industrial sectors are also among the “leaders”, but lag much further behind.
According to Kearney (one of the world’s leading management consulting firms), Australia is well aware of the much needed steps that still need to be taken. A 2018 McKinsey & Company report found that a whopping $12 trillion could be added to global GDP by 2025 by promoting women’s equality. However, achieving this status would require a strong concerted effort by the public, private and social sectors.
According to the Australian Institute of Company Directors, large public companies should rapidly aim to achieve a board structure of 40% female, 40% male and 20% open as a first milestone on the road to gender equality.
Specifically for the case of Australia, the recent KPMG The report revealed that developing a more gender-balanced workforce in Australia by increasing female participation could generate up to $60 billion in GDP. Questions remain about how to take this agenda forward, with some arguing that increasing male involvement is essential to achieving this goal.
Intersectionality is often a barrier, said Ramyani Basu, a partner at Kearney in the UK and a diversity and inclusion evangelist. “The outlook is much bleaker for women who identify as part of an underrepresented group related to their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or ability,” she said.
At any rate of progress, Kearney warns that gender equality is still a long way off. “For every milestone achieved in progress towards gender equality, there are many more descriptions of gender inequality. According to the World Economic Forum, it is unlikely that anyone old enough to read this will have seen gender equality in the workplace in their lifetime.”
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