Baseline assessment of gender equality
Under section 16(1) of the Act, duty holders are required to make reasonable and material progress on the workplace gender equality indicators(opens in a new window).
You may have already completed your first audit, or this could be your first one.
The purpose of your first audit is to create a ‘baseline’: a starting point that shows the state of gender equality in your workplace. This gives you a clear picture of where your organisation is now, so you can track and show progress over time in future reporting.
This baseline audit is not about proving your organisation has already achieved equality. It’s about doing a thorough and honest analysis, showing a genuine commitment to understanding where things really stand.
If this is your first audit, it’s normal to have gaps in your data or challenges in analysing it. Your gender equality action plan(opens in a new window) should include steps to improve your data collection and address those gaps in the future.
Establish and respect privacy protocols to guide your analysis work
As you analyse your data, it’s important to protect privacy. Some of the information you use may be considered personal or sensitive under the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014. You must handle this information carefully to avoid legal or reputational risks.
To help protect privacy, your organisation might consider strategies such as:
- Generalisation – grouping data into broader categories. (For example, reporting ages 25–29 together, instead of listing each age separately)
- Suppression – removing or replacing sensitive information. (For example, hiding results from very small groups and using a symbol instead).
The Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner provides more detail in their resource: An Introduction to De-Identification(opens in a new window).
If you're working with small datasets, you may find useful insights about specific individuals or small groups. But even if names are not used, there are still privacy rules you must follow when sharing your analysis.
For example, minimum data thresholds are often used to decide whether it’s safe to publish results. This means you should not report on groups with fewer than a certain number of people, usually less than 10. This helps you reduce the risk that someone could be identified.
Be careful about drawing broad conclusions from small datasets. Findings from a small group may not reflect the experiences of the wider identity group.
Aim to understand your data first, before you respond to it
The main goal of your analysis is to understand what your audit data shows about the current state of gender equality in your workplace.
Your audit data includes:
- Workforce data
- Employee experience data
Avoid jumping to conclusions too early. Don’t let existing opinions or assumptions influence your analysis. If you assume you already understand the situation, you may overlook important evidence or insights in the data.
As you begin to see patterns in your results, take the time to ask why these patterns are happening. You can find more guidance on this in Step 2.2 of the GEAP guidance(opens in a new window).
Do your initial data analysis first, before exploring the reasons behind the patterns. You investigate further through activities like desktop research, stakeholder engagement, and consulting employees(opens in a new window).
Consider the connections between indicators
Your data is organised under the 7 workplace gender equality indicators. These indicators highlight key areas where gender inequality may exist in your workplace.
Understanding gender inequality through these indicators helps you:
- Use your GEAP to drive positive change
- Show progress (or lack of progress) towards gender equality in your organisation.
The indicators help you organise and make sense of your data. However, many of them are connected and can influence each other. This guide includes advice on how the indicators are linked.
Recognising these connections gives you a more complete understanding of gender inequality in your workplace. This helps you take informed, effective action to drive change.
Challenge your assumptions at every point in your analysis
Intersectional workplace gender equality is both a personal and professional issue.
Despite our best intentions, we all bring our own lived experience and unconscious biases into the analysis process.
We have personal experiences with things like recruitment and promotion, flexible work arrangements, pay equity, sexual harassment or gender-segregated workplaces. These experiences can affect how we interpret data.
As you analyse your data, try to consider it from different perspectives, by asking:
- Would someone of a different gender and background interpret the data the same way I do?
- What does the data show about how different groups of people experience discrimination or disadvantage? How can we use an intersectional lens(opens in a new window)?
- Are there gaps in the analysis because I or my team do not have relevant lived experience(opens in a new window)? How can we challenge those assumptions during consultations(opens in a new window)?
Don't let data gaps derail your analysis
If this is your first audit, you might not have all the data listed in the workforce reporting template(opens in a new window). Your organisation might not yet have the systems in place to collect or store this data. Or, you employees might not yet feel safe to provide data that is personal or sensitive.
Even if there are gaps in your data, you should still analyse the information you can collect.
Some key data gaps may affect your analysis, especially if you’re not yet collecting data beyond gender and age, such as:
- Aboriginality
- disability
- cultural identity
- religion
- sexual orientation.
Organisations that collect gender data may still have gaps in that data. Employees who are trans or gender diverse may not feel safe sharing their gender identity.
In the short term, the best approach is to clearly document any data gaps, using a consistent method. Over time, work to improve your data collection and consultation processes. This will help you better understand intersectional gender inequality, as it affects people of all genders.
The Commissioner encourages organisations to include strategies(opens in a new window) for improving data collection in your gender equality action plan(opens in a new window). This will help you:
- carry out more detailed and meaningful analysis in the future
- meet your legal obligation to show reasonable and material progress under the workplace gender equality indicators(opens in a new window).
Analysing data against self-described gender
Gender inequality can affect people of all genders. For your gender audit, the Commissioner collects data in three categories. These are: women, men, and people of self-described gender.
People who identify with a self-described gender may use terms such as non-binary, trans, gender diverse, agender, genderqueer, or genderfluid, among others. You can find advice about how to collect this data in the audit handbook, under ‘gender(opens in a new window)’.
If this is your first audit, your organisation may not be able to carry out detailed analysis on the experiences of employees with a self-described gender. This could be because of limited data. For example, if only a small number of employees identify (or feel safe to identify) as non-binary or gender diverse.
To strengthen your understanding, you could use consultation findings and employee experience data. This can supplement the workforce data you have for people with a self-described gender.
Recognise the limitations of your analysis
Your audit analysis alone won’t give you the full picture of gender inequality in your workplace. Once you’ve analysed your data, it’s important to consult with key stakeholders to better understand what the data is telling you(opens in a new window).
Consultation(opens in a new window) can help you hear from people whose experiences might otherwise be overlooked or minimised. You can also improve your understanding by using multiple data sources(opens in a new window). Seek input from subject matter experts to explore and explain the findings more deeply.
Ensure psychological support is available
As you analyse your data, you may find both positive results and evidence of ongoing gender and intersectional inequality. Gender equality work can bring up difficult issues for people in your organisation.
Some employees may have experienced:
- pay inequity
- sexual harassment
- barriers to career progression
- gender stereotypes
- lack of flexible work arrangements.
Others may have faced gender inequality in their personal lives, including gendered violence.
During consultation, you may also encounter resistance to gender equality. This can be challenging for both facilitators and participants.
To support your people:
- remind staff about the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and other local support services
- ensure that trained staff are available to handle any disclosures. They can also connect people with appropriate support.
- support participants to feel safe during consultations(opens in a new window). For example, offer debriefing sessions or have clear escalation procedures in place.
Don’t underestimate the impact of this work on staff, especially those analysing sensitive information. Think about what psychological supports might be needed. This could include:
- internal or external debriefing opportunities
- access to specialist support services, if required.
Providing care and support throughout the process is essential to ensuring a safe and respectful workplace.
Relevant services
- 1800Respect(opens in a new window): 1800 737 732
- Safe Steps(opens in a new window): 1800 015 188
- The Orange Door(opens in a new window) services
- Sexual Assault Crisis line(opens in a new window): 1800 806 292
- Men’s Referral Service(opens in a new window): Phone: 1300 766 491
- Rainbow Door(opens in a new window): 1800 729 367 or text 0480 017 246
- InTouch Multicultural Centre Against Family Violence(opens in a new window): 1800 755 988
- Djirra(opens in a new window): 1800 105 303
- Yarning SafeNstrong(opens in a new window): 1800 959 563
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