Assessing progress in implementing the Gender Equality Act 2020 – RMIT University 2022

Assessing progress in implementing the Gender Equality Act 2020 – RMIT University

The research team

• Dr Aida Ghalebeigi
• Professor Victor Gekara
• Dr Karen Douglas
• Mr Salvatore Ferraro
• Dr Lena Wang
• Dr Maryam Safari

How was the research conducted?

The research included:

• analysis of state and federal policies
• analysis of internal policies
• analysis of workforce data
• interviews with key executives
• staff focus groups.

The researchers reviewed gender equality legislation in Australia and national workforce data. They reviewed Department of Transport’s gender equality policies. Qualitative data included interviews with 22 senior leaders and 4 focus groups. In the focus groups, staff members from a mix of roles and genders discussed challenges, opportunities and progress.

Since the research was first released, the department has been renamed the Department of Transport and Planning.

What did the research find?

Gender and workforce

• More women are working at the Department of Transport since it merged with Public Transport Victoria and VicRoads in 2019.
• Most women work in human resources and administration.
• There is a lack of women in operational and engineering roles.
• Few women are in senior management and executive roles. This suggests a lack of systems and structures for supporting women to senior roles.
• Women are more likely to work part time. This can affect job security, career progression and the gender pay gap.

Causes of workplace gender inequality

• The analysis shows strong executive commitment to achieving gender equality.
• This did not filter down to individual managers who didn’t see gender equality as a priority.
• Gender based stereotypes and unconscious bias rewarded ‘masculine traits’.
• Job descriptions used language aimed at men.
• Unconscious bias meant female colleagues were ignored, and some felt overlooked for promotion.
• Because of this culture, fewer women sought jobs and were more likely to leave than men.

Strategies and policies

• The Department of Transport has policies and strategies for gender equality.
• The department has Executive Champions, which creates accountability within leadership.
• Executive champions report to the Secretary on progress, challenges and resources.
• The Women in Transport strategy is the main gender equality policy. This applies to the department as well as the private transport sector. This can drive broader change but could undermine targeted action within the department.
• There was no common approach to gender equality by managers.

Targets

• The department set a target that 50% of the workforce will be women by 2023.
• It also has a target for women to make up 50% of those in leadership roles (VPS5 and above) by 2023.
• It is not clear how these targets were set, or how they can be achieved.
• Based on workforce modelling, this would need 70% of new hires to be women.

Recommendations

The research made recommendations for the Department of Transport.

1. Resource and support culture change, and a workplace gender equality mindset
2. Build structures and processes to remove biases in recruitment, promotion and role assignments
3. Set realistic targets and create plans for how to meet them
4. Help managers to support flexible work arrangements for women and men
5. Increase understanding of intersectionality.

Read the full report

Citing this research

Ghalebeigi et al., ‘Assessing progress in implementing the Gender Equality Act 2020’, RMIT University, 2022