Strides towards diversity

The Australia Day Honours List highlights our progress with gender diversity, but also shows how far we have to go on issues such as childcare and pregnancy, writes Holman Fenwick Willan partner Amanda Davidson OAM.

• 07 April 2015 • SME Law

Boardroom diversity, and the progress of working women into senior roles, remains a hot topic – not just in Australia, but also globally. The issue was brought front of mind for me very recently, after receiving the Order of Australia in this year’s Australia Day Honours List.

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Much of the press commentary for this year’s awards focused on the diversity statistics of the award winners – 31 per cent this year were female, a significant improvement on last year’s 26 per cent. My own award was granted for my work in establishing and chairing PEARLS, a charity focused on raising funds for medical research and promoting awareness of pre-eclampsia (high blood pressure in pregnancy).

Childcare and pregnancy related challenges are undoubtedly one of the biggest blocks to women’s progression in the workplace. Pre-eclampsia is an issue close to my heart after I suffered from it just before the birth of my son some 13 years ago. At the time I was in the midst of a major mining dispute and not only was suddenly being ordered to take immediate bed rest – a big shock to me personally – it also had a significant impact on my practice, disrupting my handover plans and affecting my work.

But I still feel like one of the lucky ones – I gave birth to a healthy son, I didn’t suffer any long-term consequences. However for others, pre-eclampsia can be an insidious and destructive condition which just doesn't receive the attention it should.

Positive trends

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The pressure on working mothers across the private and public sectors to juggle a successful career while maintaining a happy family life, has never been greater. Conditions like pre-eclampsia and other pregnancy related medical problems make an already difficult challenge for women even harder.

However, men are now doing their part. Business leaders, male and female, across the world now realise diversity within the workplace is an important part of making the most of available talent. Efforts must be made to encourage more women into senior roles by exploring what is blocking their progress and removing the barriers.

The Male Champions of Change initiative in Australia is an excellent example, helping to ensure that the issue of women's representation in leadership roles is kept on the boardroom agenda for PLCs operating across Australasia. Five years ago Commonwealth Bank chief executive Ian Narev set an ambitious target of 35 per cent of middle management roles to be filled by women by the end of 2014. They missed this target by a mere 2 per cent, but their transparency on the issue is a great example of how a positive program can effect progress.

At HFW we are keen to implement this or a similar program. In Australia alone we have already worked hard to improve the number of female equity partners and our new managing partner, Marcus Bowman, is committed to making even further progress through a positive change program.

But the real issues can be hard to identify, partly because of our own subconscious biases. People tend to form judgements quickly, a trait inherent in everyone. For example, it is natural when hiring people or promoting them to be attracted to people who have traits similar to your own. Where the majority of senior executives doing the hiring are men, it is easy to see how the cycle of subconscious bias in hiring and promotion continues. We must test and educate ourselves to think differently. The good news is that male business leaders are starting to realise that when making hiring decision,s they need to ensure that there is no such subconscious bias.

We all benefit from a strong and diverse workplace, and at HFW the male partners are now also taking responsibility for creating such an environment. For example, we will soon move to new office space in Sydney, and having looked at a number of locations the final decision was based predominantly on the quality of the creche on site (one of the best in Sydney). We hope others will follow suit.

Amanda Davidson OAM is a partner at Holman Fenwick Willan and chair of PEARLS.

Richard Thursday, 21 May 2015

Which is why nature has made men more capable of working longer hours in more stressful jobs without the same physical effects. You should see the research the US military has done on the effect that combat situations have on women. Some of the nasty side effects that occur from the stress of combat include infertility and other serious health defects. Men on the other hand seem to cope with the pressure better. Whether you like it or not you can't reform biology. There will always be exceptions to the rule but men are generally more hardy and capable than women. We aren't equal, never have been never will be. Men and women are supposed to be different and have different roles in child raising and society. If you start messing around with this you face serious social and physical consequences.Everyone seems to just accept the argument that women are equal to men with intelligence, creativity and so on. If this were true why has it taken women so long to achieve equality?

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Lawyer Tuesday, 14 April 2015

Richard, the issue is that the choice to have children (which we need for humans to keep over populating the planet) is one that affects genders unequally. Yes there are sacrifices - but why do they all rest on the women? The man becomes a father and yet it does not seem that he has to make choices, or sacrifices? As you point out why should the women keep working? I would guess in many cases its financial but in others she may wish to keep using her skills, training and experience. I notice you didn't mention at all that the father could not work. I do not have children, but should I want to take time off for something then I could - the same way I could to have children. I don't because I have to work for financial reason - but I could take time off learn a language or whatever. As could you. Not having children does not stop you taking time off for something you want to do. You will of course need to balance how much you want it, against what you can afford. As do families. The point of Lawyerman's comment was that men should be able to stay at home to - that is those on the male side of the equation. You could then have time at home with your kids and your wife could choose to go to work. You should realise though that birth does have some physical effects on a women and we should probably at least allow her to recover.

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Lawyer Tuesday, 14 April 2015

Lawyerman I totally agree. We will not see real breakthrough in women representation until the domestic or home lift is not gender based.

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Richard Thursday, 09 April 2015

The answer is never. Feminism is all about achieving female supremacy. Not equality.Lawyerman I see your point but I ask you a similar question. Why is it ok for parents to take time off work to spend with their kids and not ok for people without children to take time off. Are parents more entitled to leave than the rest of us? Are women more entitled to leave than their male counterparts because they have given birth?This idea that some women have these days that they are are doing us all a favor by having children and pursuing a career is very typical and ridiculous. It's self entitled and unfair to the rest who either don't have kids or are on the male side of the equation.It is your choice to have children and pursue a career no one is forcing you to do it. You have to make some sacrifices in order to do so. It is not up to a firm or company to make special allowances for you just because you want to be parents.

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Lawyerman Tuesday, 07 April 2015

Indeed it is a significant issue. When are men going to be able to adopt flexible work arrangements in order to spend time with their family - without being laughed at by employers?

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