Chief Executive Women has released a report demonstrating that diverse leadership is good for business.

Dr Marlene Kanga AO, a Project Steering Committee Member, believes culturally diverse women leaders are a force to be reckoned with. “With Australia facing a challenging economic climate and critical workforce shortages, businesses need to tap into a full talent pool and culturally diverse women are one of the greatest untapped resources in Australian business.”

Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz, President of CEW, opines racially diverse women leaders face a double-glazed ceiling, experiencing barriers because of their gender AND race. “It’s time for leaders to talk about race in Australian workplaces and take action.” CEW calls for leaders across big business to take action to support culturally diverse women in the workforce, highlighting the need to address gender and race to support more women in leadership. CEW is committed to gathering data across its membership and setting meaningful targets to drive greater diversity within the organisations.

With almost half of Australians now having a parent born overseas and 5.5 million Australians speaking a language other than English, according to the 2021 Census, there’s a large pool of untapped leadership talent in culturally and racially diverse women.