US President Donald Trump has called time on working from home. An executive order signed on the first day of his presidency this week requires all federal government departments and agencies to: take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person.

Should Australia be following his lead?

The Coalition argues we should, and asserts that ending work from home arrangements for public servants would not disadvantage women. The opposition leader added for women who could not be in the office 5 days a week, there were "plenty of job sharing arrangements".  Is this fair or reasonable policy?

Women's Agenda responds that women make up around 57% of the public sector workforce. There is no evidence suggesting public servants don’t work as hard as their private sector counterparts. According to the Australian Council of Trade Unions, the Coalition’s plan to remove WFH options for public services, along with other recent workplace entitlements, will only worsen the gender pay gap.

Under a pay deal negotiated with the Commonwealth Public Sector Union (CPSU) in July 2023, federal employees have ‘unlimited’ work from home days, with WFH requests only to be refused after “genuinely trying to reach agreement” between a manager and its employee. Currently, public servants are permitted to make flexible work requests, such as the ability to work from home. Agencies are not allowed to force limits on the number of days an employee can work from home per week. They are also encouraged to “lean towards” approving employee requests. 

More than two-thirds of organisations have a formal work-from-home policy. 

Researchers from Australian National University and University of Newcastle have examined the impacts of working from home on staff performance and productivity in Australian workplaces as part of the Australian Workplace Index, surveying 2,932 Australian employees across 2022 and 2024.

The most recent data shows no significant difference in productivity between employees who work from home and those in the office. In fact, the data suggest numerous benefits. For example, staff who worked from home one or more days a week had 9.9% more autonomy in how they carried out their work. Those with higher job autonomy were up to 16.8% more productive in their work when compared to those with low job autonomy. Staff who work from home also save on average 100 minutes in commuting time each day.

In 2024, around 36% of employed Australians worked from home regularly, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which is down slightly from the 40% peak during the pandemic.

Among workers aged under 40, a University of Sydney study found that in 2022 men were more likely to work from home than women with 44% of men compared to 38% of women working from home at least some of the time.

Analysis by CEDA  [Committee for Economic Development of Australia] released in 2024, found that in jobs where people could work from home workforce participation increased for women with young children and people with a disability.

WFH works for employers and employees when basic supports are in place. Back during Covid, there weren't the supports, but this has changed.   Productivity and staff satisfaction rates have climbed.

CEDA  has recently reported that Australians are taking a pay cut to work from home. People who value working from home are making a trade-off between their wage and the benefits they see from the arrangement. In short, workers highly value working from home and are willing to forgo some of their wage to do so. CEDA suggests employers can also make a trade-off: choosing either to accept the cost savings from work from home arrangements or to pay a premium to mandate office attendance.

Because the pandemic forced all workers whose occupation could be done from home to do so, this allowed CEDA to separate the impact of working from home from the other individual characteristics of a worker. After accounting for these other factors that can influence a person’s wage, CEDA’s modelling found that since the pandemic, individuals who work from home have experienced 5.8% lower wages than those who do not. This would mean a worker on the average annual pay who works from home would earn around $4400 less than someone who does not.  

CEDA’s results show employers should think twice before issuing blanket return-to-office mandates.  WFH provides greater choice for both employers and employees, allows greater access to the labour market for those who previously faced barriers and alleviates cost pressures for employers. At a time of persistent skill shortages, this is surely a win-win.

The Gender Framework is a labour market and skills framework to embed and build capability in gendered and intersectional analysis across Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA). The Framework is like other government guides such as gender responsive budgeting and policy impact assessment guides that mandate a more focused gender analysis and offer best practice advice. It’s an evolving document open to feedback as the Gender Economic Equality Study progresses.

Analysing labour market and  skills systems through gendered and intersectional  lenses has now been established      as beneficial for developing effective evidence-based policy and making faster progress towards gender economic equality.   

To understand the complexity of current labour market dynamics,  we need to move beyond headline measures and explore cohort experiences, pathways and   trends within occupations, industries and regions.            This translates to better evidence for policy making  and government decisions.

The government released its 2025 Status of Women report card on International Women's Day.  It presents a one-page graphical scan of the most recent available data on the social and economic equality issues facing women in Australia, easily printed and shared with BPW club members.

The document highlights key data on gender-based violence, economic equality and security, unpaid and paid care, health, First Nations women, and leadership, representation and decision-making. It finds that women are diverse, educated and hardworking.

Key findings

·         Australia is ranked 24th for gender equality internationally.

·         Australians are increasingly rejecting problematic beliefs about gender equality

·         Australians’ understanding of violence against women has improved since 2013.

·         68% of employers now offer paid parental leave, up from 48% in 2015–16.

·         Women’s workforce participation reached a record high of 63% in January 2025, compared to 59% 10 years ago.

·         The national gender pay gap is 12%, down from a record-high of 19% 10 years ago.

·         On average, women do 32 hours of unpaid work and care a week, 9 hours more than men.

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency has published fresh employer gender pay gaps for 7,800 employers and 1,700 corporate groups. The data – available on WGEA’s Data Explorer – is a glimpse into the workplace experience of over 5.3 million Australians.

The pay gaps released cover the 2023-24 financial year and for the first time, WGEA has included CEO pay in its calculations, which has allowed for the publication of average employer gender pay gaps.

The good news is many companies are making progress: 

• 56% of employers improved their average gender pay gap in the last 12 months.
• The mid-point of median gender pay gaps dropped from 9.1% in favour of men to 8.9%.
• More than 1,100 employers (15%) are already in the target range of +/- 5% for both median and average gender pay gaps

But progress is still moving slowly:

• Almost 3 in 4 (72%) of employers have a gender pay gap in favour of men.
• 6% have a pay gap in favour of women.
• 50% of employers have an average gender pay gap larger than 12.1% in favour of men.

This is the second year the WGEA has published company gender pay gaps, responding to concerns that progress on gender equality had been stalling.  Pay gap transparency tackles the problem of “asymmetric information” where employers know where each worker sits on the pay scale, but employees don’t.

In this interactive graphic developed by The Guardian you can see the pay gap for every employer listed in the Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s newly released data.

What is DEI?  It is a generic label given to the wide-ranging diversity, equity and inclusion measures that aim to ensure people of all backgrounds – including marginalised groups – can gain a foothold and thrive at organisations.  BPW Australia has been advocating for fairness and equality of opportunity for decades, including for women, men, all races and all abilities.

In 2023, the US supreme court ruled against race-conscious admission programmes at colleges and universities, which emboldened conservatives and unleashed a flood of lawsuits aimed at dismantling policies designed to foster diversity, equity and inclusion.  They argued these anti-discrimination measures were discriminatory towards the groups that had historically dominated workplaces, including white Americans.  

President Trump railed against “woke” attitudes in his election campaign, and is determined to defund and stamp out all DEI programs in federal agencies and federally-funded programs.  His Executive order does not apply to state governments or to private businesses, but some large corporations are following his lead.  Apple is an exception.

In 2022, McKinsey & Company noted diverse, equitable and inclusive companies were better able to respond to challenges, win top talent and meet the needs of varied customer bases. The focus on diversity allowed them to find talent wherever it may be, while the focus on equity and inclusion helped minimise costly employee turnover. The finding was backed by a 2020 report that found companies with greater gender and ethnic diversity were more likely to significantly outperform their peers.

Ambassador for Women on Boards Lel Smits highlights three perspectives on DEI:

1.    Pro-DEI: Promotes innovation, fairness, and performance

2.    Anti-DEI: Viewed as overreach, divisive, and detrimental to meritocracy

3.    Reformers: Advocate for balance and focus on impact over optics.

As Kit McMahon so clearly explains, most of us benefit from DEI in our working and personal lives. Australia sees itself as the land of the fair go. Equality, inclusion and diversity is just that. It’s a skill and a profession that has been growing for years, but has its roots deeply in all our communities.

The world's richest man has withdrawn funds from programs that support the world's poorest women and children. 

USAid has been funding hundreds of highly regarded not-for-profit organisations that support women and children throughout the developing world, in crises and conflicts. Now those organisations, their employees and their activities are shuttered.  Many of us may be donating directly to those NGOs and be receiving emails desperately seeking our personal support.

USAID is an arm of the US government that responds to humanitarian emergencies and disasters and promotes international development in 177 countries and 29 regions around the world. The independent government agency, founded in 1961 by President John F Kennedy, has been the world's largest single aid donor ever since. USAID's main mission is to promote education, human rights, environmental sustainability, health initiatives and economic growth in countries affected by conflict and underdevelopment.

Donald Trump's move to freeze USAID has experts sounding the alarm, with warnings that millions of the world's most vulnerable people could die as medical and other aid is cut. USAid workers were ordered to immediately stop work, and cease communicating with the network of local organisations USAID had teamed up with. Their emails were frozen and websites shut down so they could not explain to the communities affected what was happening.

The freeze threatens life-saving programs in 50 countries, including 26 of the poorest nations in the world, including Afghanistan, Somalia,  Ethiopia and Uganda and projects battling against AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and maternal deaths. Trump's actionis currently being challenged in the courts. 

This tragedy is rolling out on multiple fronts, but women are worst affected. USAID has been a leader among nations in funding and providing reproductive health services globally. Its family planning programs have offered contraception, neonatal and childhood vaccinations, maternal health care, and HIV treatment to millions.  The abrupt cessation of these services is expected to lead to increased maternal mortality, unintended pregnancies, and the spread of sexually transmitted infections. 

A new report card shows inequality in Australia isn’t as bad as in the US – but we’re headed in the wrong direction.

Monash University’s newly released report card assesses Australia’s progress on 80 economic, social and environmental targets and models a range of policy shifts that could boost progress.  The report draws on the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to select a broad and balanced set of indicators and targets.  They report progress on more than half of these targets has either stagnated or is going backwards, and growing inequalities threaten the wellbeing of many Australians.

This report comes on the heels of America’s own State of the Nation report, which puts the US near the bottom of global rankings on inequality, violence, trust and polarisation.  The situation in Australia is not yet as dire, but Australian data signal a need to start thinking long-term and take bold action on inequality to avoid a similar fate.

The Centre for Future Work conducted a national survey of Australian workers in 2024 that showed the prevalence and impact of unpaid overtime, finding almost half of all employed workers are unsatisfied with their hours and many are losing significant income to unpaid overtime. The report looks at the gap between desired and actual working hours, highlighting the need to address employment polarisation and reduce unpaid overtime.

The report highlights the uneven distribution of working hours and the prevalence of unpaid overtime. By quantifying the financial cost of unpaid overtime across demographics and occupations, and underscores the significant economic impact of this issue. Additionally, the report discusses the implications of recent industrial relations reforms aimed at addressing insecure work and promoting fair working conditions. It emphasises the need for further action to reduce unpaid overtime and achieve a better balance between work and personal life for Australian workers.

And who is doing the majority of unpaid overtime?  According to the June 2022 report by Deloitte and Swinburne University of Technology – Reset, Restore, Reframe: Making Fair Work FlexWork – women are more likely to work unpaid overtime than men. Researchers found that 1 in 4 female health workers are not being compensated for overtime, compared to less than 1 in 5 male workers. Females are also working more hours each week. This disparity is also reflected in other sectors, where women often take on additional responsibilities and work longer hours without compensation.

Reasons for this include Australia’s workplace culture that values long hours and women feeling they need to work longer to increase their visibility for promotional opportunities.

Australian workers tend to work more unpaid overtime compared to workers in many other countries. According to data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Australia ranks among the countries with the highest average annual hours worked. This includes both paid and unpaid overtime.

Australia's workplace culture emphasises long hours, and there's a historical context to this. The decline of the traditional 38-hour work week and the ambiguity in defining "reasonable additional hours" under the Fair Work Act have contributed to this culture.

In comparison, countries like Germany and the Netherlands have shorter average workweeks and stronger worker protections, emphasising work-life balance. Scandinavian countries, such as Sweden and Denmark, are known for their progressive work cultures that integrate work and life, promoting higher job satisfaction and happiness.

Parents At Work is a leading social impact advisory and learning provider advancing workplace inclusion, gender equality and wellbeing outcomes for business and families. Parents At Work co-founded the Family Friendly Workplaces program with UNICEF Australia.

Emma Walsh is CEO of Parents At Work and Family Friendly Workplaces and, together with Georgie Dent, CEO of The Parenthood, they set up the National Working Families Survey in 2024.  The survey report can be downloaded and you can sign the petition in which The Parenthood is calling on every federal political representative to commit to:

1. One year of Paid Parental Leave to be shared between parents, at full pay including super.

2. Universal access to Early Childhood Education and Care and Outside School Hours Care delivered by a well-supported and properly paid workforce.

BPW Australia has been campaigning for better paid parental leave and Early Childhood Education and Care for many years, so supporting this campaign aligns with our aims and policy directions.

Pilot Deborah Lawrie won a historic anti-discrimination case in 1979 after Ansett refused to take her on.  The general manager of collapsed Australian airline Ansett described her as a “very nice person” who couldn’t possibly become a pilot because she was a woman.

Deborah had been flying since 16, aced the tests, outperformed her successful rivals, but when she first applied to Ansett in 1976, the airline had a policy of only hiring male pilots. Lawrie wanted that job, so she fought. She took the airline to court, while women around Australia held a 4 month “girlcott” against Ansett to support her.

BPW Australia did more than just boycott Ansett.  We stepped up in 1979 to support Deborah Wardley [her then married name] as an amicus curiae at her anti-discrimination case in the Supreme Court, which found Ansett Airlines could not discriminate against women pilots.

Deborah went on to enjoy a long career as a pilot including flying the Airbus A330, and was entered into the Hall of Fame – along with 50 men and handful of women.  Her citation for her AM in 2019 acknowledged: Deborah Lawrie AM is regarded as a trailblazer and standard bearer by all those women who have followed her lead.