Pay gap in focus and learning to back yourself as a leader

Gender issues are roaring back into the headlines ahead of International Women's Day 2025 on March 8. Expect to see a lot of reporting on gender equality next week, when the Workplace Gender Equality Agency will publish gender pay gaps for individual companies for the first time.

In the news this week | It emerged that Felicity Healy , a litigation and gender equality partner at Corrs Chambers Westgarth, has left the law firm and will join rival Ashurst.

We don’t know why Healy left, but she did say in an interview that “where Ashurst have done particularly well is that they walk the talk by having a strong presence of women in senior leadership, making sure there are strong communications, and consequences for misconduct”.

According to The Australian Financial Review Law Partnership Survey, last published in December, Ashurst had the highest proportion of female partners among the top tier at 43 per cent. Women made up 29 per cent of the Corrs partnership, the lowest of the major firms.

At Corrs, Healy was considered a rising star.

The takeaway | At face value, if companies want to attract more female employees, having more women at the top of the organisation should help them to achieve that.

The same can be said for individual divisions of a company. This reporter was speaking to a chief executive of a major property company a couple of days ago who reckoned when the proportion of female workers on (traditionally male-dominated) construction sites reached 20 per cent, that was the point at which “young people go back and tell their friends, their schools, their universities, about their experience”. In other words, women were more likely to apply for construction roles at that company. Success breeds success.

What’s to come | On Tuesday, WGEA will publish gender pay gap data for all employers with more than 100 staff, apart from government entities – which will be included in the data set next year.

Expect to see some big gaps. Across the economy as a whole, Australia’s total remuneration gender pay gap sits at 21.7 per cent , suggesting that a large number of companies will record gaps far bigger. WGEA concludes that a 5 per cent gap is “neutral”, so companies are going to have a lot of explaining to do. No doubt there will be women who will consider leaving their job if (or when) they discover their organisation has a gender pay gap, let alone a big one.

As an aside | While we are on the topic of gender, this week Woolworths appointed its first female chief executive in Amanda Bardwell , who will replace incumbent Brad Banducci in September. It means that both major food retailers will be run by women.

Other news | This week marks the return of the 15 Minutes with the BOSS podcast for 2024, featuring Deanne Stewart, CEO of superannuation fund Aware Super. Labor’s right to disconnect laws continue to attract attention, with HR executives arguing they will create uncertainty and complexity – and in any case, they say companies are already doing it .

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Work & Careers

Aware Super CEO: How I learned to back myself

The Financial Review's 15 Minutes with the Boss podcast has returned for season two. First up: Aware Super chief executive Deanne Stewart on how she learned to back herself.

"I think inside a lot of human beings is this huge, innate desire to make a difference, but somehow you get caught up in the humdrum of life, or you limit yourself because of either expectations or you just get into a habit." — Deanne Stewart

The best piece of advice Stewart was given was, “don’t think small, think big”. Don’t just fall into a habit or get caught up in the humdrum of life. Everyone can make a difference, Stewart argues.

Stewart also discusses her own favourite podcast and what it taught her about gratitude.

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