The stats from the latest Gender Equality Agency report are in, and they sadly do not represent both genders equally within Australian workplaces. Reporters from the ABC: Emily Clark and Rhiannon Hobbins, have discussed these statistics at length and explored what needs to be done, in order to improve gender equality in workplaces for the future. A copy of their article is written below:

“A new study has found that women make up just a quarter of those employed in the key management positions of Australian companies.

As well as an under-representation of women in management positions, the findings revealed the average full-time earnings of men were almost 25 per cent more.

One-third of Australia’s workforce was included in the data, with more than 11,000 employers reporting to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) on more than 4 million employees.

WGEA director Helen Conway said the results of the Gender Equality Scorecard were “ground-breaking” and proved gender equality needed to become a priority.

“It doesn’t matter how you look at it, women are at a serious disadvantage when it comes to climbing up the management tree,” she said.

A glass ceiling was evident at the first layer of management where women comprised 39.8 per cent of employees, but the number fell to 31.7 per cent at the next level of management – senior managers.

From the senior management level, female representation steadily declined with women comprising 27.8 per cent of executive and general manager roles in Australia, and 26.1 per cent of key management personnel (KMP) positions.

At the top management level, chief executive, women held 17.3 per cent of positions.

One-third (33.5 per cent) of employers had no KMPs who were women, and 31.3 per cent of organisations had no other executives […]

At a recent training program, some women in the group commented that they were having difficulty establishing personal boundaries in their work relationships. It seems that the border between professional and personal relationships can be a hard one to patrol, particularly when we spend so much of our week at work. The prospect of setting boundaries often comes encumbered with a sense of formality, but essentially it’s about assertive communication and preserving integrity – integrity of work, self and others.

A simple model for setting boundaries recommended by VM Learning:

Make ‘I’ statements –  “I felt frustrated when you spoke over the top of me in our meeting”
Ask for your boundaries to be respected – “You need to let me finish my point before launching into yours.”
Gain commitment –Relationships are more harmonious when people know what to expect and what is expected of them. “In the future we need to communicate in a respectful manner. I expect you to respect my perspective and I will do the same of you”
Follow-through – Actions speak louder than words. It’s important we make a conscious effort to maintain the boundaries we set with our co-workers and model the behaviour we wish to see in others.
Above all else, don’t take boundary breaches personally. We can’t take responsibility for the manner in which other people communicate.

“No one can make you feel inferior without their permission” Eleanor Roosevelt 

For further advice on workplace relationships, please feel free to visit our website: http://www.vmlearning.com.au/