Looking forward: the opportunities the Act presents for transformational change
At Women’s Health East, our vision is equality, empowerment, health and wellbeing for all women. We encourage organisations in Melbourne’s east to embrace the opportunities for impactful and lasting change that the Gender Equality Act 2020 (‘the Act’) presents. At Women’s Health East, we want defined entities in our region to feel confident in their abilities – not only to meet their obligations under the Act – but to exceed them.
Advancing workplace gender equality
Progressing gender equality in the workplace involves building proficiency in workplace gender auditing and implementing strategies to progress workplace gender equality, so that people of all genders in the workplace can feel certain they are paid fairly, have opportunities to advance in their careers and work in a safe environment.
By making material progress against the Act’s workplace gender equality indicators, you improve your organisation’s status as an employer of choice. The data, audit, and evaluation functions required by the Act encourage continuous improvement and better public policy by embedding organisational gender equality.
Gender equality in our communities
Actioning obligations under the Act means progressing gender equality in our community, so all community members have access to inclusive and accessible services and resources that meet their needs. Gender impact assessments are an important tool to create gender equitable policies, programs, and services.
Promoting equality is everyone’s responsibility
To fully realise the transformative potential of the Act, organisational actions to advance intersectional gender equality must be a shared responsibility. While this work is traditionally seen as the responsibility of people and culture departments, ‘siloing’ gender equality work in this way can limit progress.
We recognise gender equality work may be new to many staff across your organisation. Staff require training and support to establish skills and organisational processes to successfully undertake gender audits and assessments, and to translate results into tangible, transformative actions.
This work may be new to executive and leadership teams, who might be building understanding of the breadth of skills and expertise required to action their organisation’s obligations under the Act.
The Act provides an exciting opportunity to strive towards true intersectional gender equality. By ensuring that all relevant staff – from policy advisors to human resource business partners, from program managers to CEOs – understand their role in developing gender-transformative strategies, we will create workplaces, programs, and services that are equitable, inclusive, and beneficial for all.
Women’s Health East offers a range of training packages and advisory services that can be tailored to your organisational requirements. Contact Melissa O’Reilly, Manager Gender Equality, at moreilly@whe.org.au to discuss how we can assist your organisation to achieve transformative change.
