June 2013 –

Senior corporate and government leaders have adopted a framework for greater transparency in reporting the advancement of women into senior leadership positions within their organisations for their next reporting period. 

This follows calls from organisations such as Chief Executive Women (CEW), Financial Services Institute of Australasia (FINSIA), WGEA and others to improve transparency in measurement in Australia.

The Male Champions of Change said: “Improving the representation of women in leadership is a business priority.  It stands to reason that reporting standards, accountability and evaluation processes should reflect this in the same way as other business objectives such as revenue and profit growth, customer satisfaction or safety.”

MCC members have worked with their peers to create a reporting framework which will:

  • Report targets and progress on the representation of women for at least three layers of management via their websites or annual reporting
  • Define each level of management clearly (e.g. by articulating the relationship to the CEO) to ensure a consistent reporting approach
  • Ensure targets are considered in the CEO’s performance evaluation (where not prevented through regulation or other constraints)
  • Introduce these changes for the next possible reporting period.

MCC members have also confirmed that this reporting framework was established in alignment with the existing reporting regimes of the ASX Corporate Governance Council and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, to avoid any separate burden on business. 

“While we are intensely focused on building the conditions and cultures that enable women to thrive in our organisations, a significant body of research tells us that setting and reporting against targets for women in leadership has real impact on representation levels,” they said.

“What’s new is that we are committing to do so in a consistent and sufficiently granular manner to hold ourselves to account and help other Australian businesses to easily identify and replicate effective strategies for advancing women at work.

“While some businesses – including those within the MCC group – are more advanced than others, we believe that well-managed companies should be setting, tracking and assessing performance against targets for the advancement of women at all levels.”

Sex discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick established the MCC in 2010 creating a coalition of male business leaders committed to using their individual and collective influence to ensure the issue of women’s representation in leadership was at the forefront of the national agenda.

Raise the Bar on Gender Reporting – Participating Male Champions of Change and Organisations

  • Glen Boreham, Non-Executive Director
  • Gordon Cairns, Non-Executive Director
  • Stephen Fitzgerald, Non-Executive Director
  • Alan Joyce, CEO, Qantas
  • Elmer Funke Kupper, Managing Director and CEO, ASX
  • Lieutenant General David Morrison, Chief of Army, Australian Defence Force
  • Ian Narev, Managing Director and CEO, Commonwealth Bank
  • Grant O’Brien, CEO, Woolworths Ltd
  • Martin Parkinson, Secretary, The Treasury
  • Stephen Roberts, CEO and Chief Country Officer, Citi Australia/New Zealand
  • Mike Smith, Chief Executive Officer, ANZ
  • Andrew Stevens, Managing Director, IBM Australia and New Zealand
  • David Thodey, Chief Executive Officer, Telstra Ltd
  • Geoff Wilson, CEO KPMG Australia