This report collates the insights on the value of achieving gender diversity on boards from members of the 30% Club - chairs of ASX 200 companies that have at least 30% women on their boards.

Catherine Brenner, Chair of the AMP Board, observes that diversity is the insurance policy against group-think; it is how we ensure we make the best decisions to take the organisation forward.

http://aicd.companydirectors.com.au/~/media/cd2/resources/advocacy/board-diversity/pdf/30-club-interviews-with-asx-200-chairs-with-30-female-directors.ashx  [copy and paste link]

Wendy McCarty has been a strong advocate for accessible, affordable child care for 40 years, and is currently the Deputy Chair of Goodstart Early Learning.  Her analysis of the childcare funding changes was published on Women's Agenda. She acknowledges that the workforce participation objectives are well and truly met, but the new package falls short on meeting early learning objectives.  https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/soapbox/wendy-mccarthy-3-steps-forward-1-back-child-care-early-learning/ 

The 61st session of the Commission on the Status of Women took place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 13 to 24 March 2017.  Representatives of Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited NGOs from all regions of the world attended CSW61 this year. The draft report of the agreed conclusions can be accessed at  http://www.unwomen.org/en/csw/csw61-2017 and here: CSW61 agreed conclusions 2017.pdf

The CSW61 Theme was Women's economic empowerment in the changing world of work, which aligns strongly with the Aims and focus of BPW International.

BPW can be very proud of the contribution our members made throughout CSW, including our BPW Australia Director of Policy Elena Rorie who was one of BPW International's accredited representatives at the CSW61 session. Our BPW Asia Pacific Regional Coordinator Susan Jones extends her congratulations to all of those BPW members who contributed to this final document and especially thanks those members from the Asia-Pacific region who attended, many of whom spoke at both the parallel and side events and contributed directly to the language in the final document. 

A short summary of the Agreed Conclusions is provided here: CSW61 summary of conclusions.docx

Women's equality won't just happen — not unless more women are put in positions of power, says Sandi Toksvig. In a disarmingly hilarious talk, Toksvig tells the story of how she helped start a new political party in Britain, the Women's Equality Party, with the express purpose of putting equality on the ballot. Now she hopes people around the world will copy her party's model and mobilise for equality.  https://www.ted.com/talks/sandi_toksvig_a_political_party_for_women_s_equality

It's not personal. Women don’t need fixing. It’s men who need to change the system – and themselves

An article in The Deal, a magazine of The Australian issued 17 March 2017, provides a good summary of the gender equity argument extracted from the book by Catherine Fox: Stop Fixing Women.  Accessible online at http://specialreports.theaustralian.com.au/727000/its-not-personal/

The unpaid economy - encompassing volunteering, domestic household tasks (such as cooking and cleaning), care of adults (the elderly or people with disability, both within and outside of immediate family) and childcare - is one third bigger than the economy formally reported in the national accounts.   The report reveals that the bulk of the value of unpaid work in the economy is unpaid childcare, and  72% of unpaid work is conducted by females. http://www.pwc.com.au/australia-in-transition/publications/understanding-the-unpaid-economy-mar17.pdf

A new report from the OECD recognises that Australia’s strong economy has helped drive a healthy job market, but recommends Australia needs to help older women, indigenous Australians and mothers with young children into work to avoid a future labour shortage as the population ages. 

Statistics reveal that the employment rate of women aged 25-54 years stands at 72.5%, in the lower third of OECD countries, with a high proportion of women working  part-time [exceeded only by Switzerland, Netherlands, Austria and Germany] . The employment rate of single mothers was 50.8% in 2014, the third-lowest in the OECD after Ireland and Turkey.

Despite some media headlines,  the OECD report does not consider stay-at-home mums a drain on the economy but rather an untapped resource that could be harnessed if barriers such as expensive childcare and the lack of flexible work options were removed.

http://www.oecd.org/australia/australia-should-help-more-women-and-other-underemployed-groups-into-work.htm 

The Women’s Agenda Ambition Report 2017 tells us women want to earn more, and they need pay equity and fair opportunities for promotion to achieve their potential.  Building women's competence and capacity helps but they also need to build confidence - which is where belonging to BPW comes in.  Our members gain confidence from the safe mentoring environment of their BPW club, the role models they find there, the opportunities to contribute their experience to our advocacy and lobbying, and the information we share that increases their knowledge and understanding of government policies and programs and more flexible working options that are available to them. 

https://womensagenda.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Ambition-Report.pdf

The latest Gender diversity progress report  for December - February 2017 confirms that the AICD’s target of 30% women on ASX 200 boards is on track to be met by the end of 2018.

http://aicd.companydirectors.com.au/advocacy/board-diversity/30-per-cent-women-on-boards-target-on-track

The Gender Diversity Progress Report  confirms that women now account for 25% of ASX 200 board positions, up from 8.3% in 2009 when the AICD began reporting on gender diversity. The ASX top 20 is leading the way, with 31.1% women, and the ASX 50 is close to reaching the target with 29.2% women.  AICD Managing Director and CEO John Brogden said that while the increase in companies with at least 30% women was great news, the ASX 50-200 companies needed to significantly improve the appointment rate of women to their boards. 

This International Women’s Day the AICD asked nine prominent female directors to read out some of the feedback we received when we asked if there should be more women in Australian boardrooms, proving that the diversity conversation still matters. Watch the video here:

http://aicd.companydirectors.com.au/advocacy/board-diversity/international-womens-day-2017

There was no escaping the cost of abandoning this obligation, as demonstrated clearly by more than fourteen International and Australian speakers at the JERA International Who Cares! National forum in Melbourne on Monday 20 February 2017.

economic Security 4 Women (eS4W), one of five National Women’s Alliances funded through the Federal Government, partnered with JERA (Justice Equality Rights Access ) International to put the spotlight on this critically important topic. According to Ms Roselynne Anderson, Chair of eS4W, “As a society, Australia has a social and moral obligation to all our citizens, including the Care Economy; that is, those who receive and those who deliver care, in all its forms and stages, from birth to death.”

Invited guests and participants included an international delegation from Sri Lanka, representatives of the academic, government, non-government, not for profit and community sectors – all of whom were unanimous in their agreement. Australia MUST have a professional debate on the themes and priorities identified at the forum, particularly in the context of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. “A life course approach to care is essential; ensuring work and employability, and creating fair and equal access to skills development and lifelong opportunities”, concluded Ms Anderson.

eS4W will be actively engaging with the wider Care community to ensure increased awareness and understanding, by both the public and the media, of the priorities, problems and in many cases devastating issues faced by many in the sector. This will result in greater consensus on how to effectively address the Care Economy and related matters.

eS4W believes that a collective effort towards a coordinated solution for the Care Economy is the best way forward for Australia to meet its human rights obligations for all Australians.

Media contact: Roselynne Anderson, eS4W Chair, M: 0418 715 359 chair@security4women.org.au

The WGEA has released their report The Gender Equity Insights 2017: Inside Australia’s Gender Pay Gap, which indicates a measurable link between a gender- balanced leadership team and reduced gender pay gaps. The report can be accessed at https://www.wgea.gov.au/sites/default/files/BCEC_WGEA_Gender_Pay_Equity_Insights_2016_Report.pdf

There is an excellent summary of the report's findings accessible at Women's Agenda 

https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/top-tier-female-managers-earn-93000-less-than-their-male-peers/