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Below is a list of resources that may help organisations to progress gender equality. The resources include research, tools and guidelines across a range of areas.
Visit the Data sources for conducting a gender impact assessment page for resources and statistics that may help when completing gender impact assessments.
Please note that these resources were not created specifically to support the Gender Equality Act 2020. For targeted information on meeting your obligations under the Act, read more:
General gender equality resources
Safe and Strong: A Victorian Gender Equality Strategy
Safe and Strong, Victoria's Gender Equality Strategy, sets out a framework for enduring and sustained action over time. We aim to progressively build the attitudinal and behavioural change required to reduce violence against women and deliver gender equality.
Our Watch Workplace Equality and Respect tools
Our Watch has created a set of tools and guidelines to help organisations create an environment where women are not only safe but also respected, valued and treated as equals.
Workplace Gender Equality Agency
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) is an Australian Government statutory agency, created by the Commonwealth Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 in order to promote gender equality in Australian workplaces. Their website has a range of resources and data on workplace gender equality in Australia. Specific resources are linked below.
Workplace gender equality: The business case
An overview from WGEA of why gender equality makes good business and economic sense for organisations and Australia.
Gender equality diagnostic tool
This tool from WGEA can help organisations analyse the status of gender equality and pinpoint gender equality gaps. Please note that this resource has been developed to support the Commonwealth Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012, which applies to private sector organisations with 100 or more employees.
Framing Gender Equality - Message Guide
This messaging guide from VicHealth contains recommendations that will help organisations boost support for gender equality initiatives. It is based on extensive research and provides four evidence-based tips for telling a more persuasive story about gender equality in Australia.
Gender equality strategy guide
This guide from WGEA supports organisations to start or continue the change process towards greater gender equality, evaluate the current status of gender equality, plan future gender equality objectives and actions and track progress over time. Please note that this resource has been developed to support the Commonwealth Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012, which applies to private sector organisations with 100 or more employees.
This resource from WGEA includes a guide to setting gender targets and target-setting calculator, to help organisations determine realistic goals to accelerate progress towards gender equality. Please note that this resource has been developed to support the Commonwealth Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012, which applies to private sector organisations with 100 or more employees.
(En)countering resistance: Strategies to respond to resistance to gender equality initiatives
This resource from VicHealth draws together effective tools and strategies to prepare for and respond to backlash and resistance to gender equality initiatives.
Backlash & Buy-in: Responding to the challenges in achieving gender equality
This resource from the Chief Executive Women and Champions of Change Coalition is targeted to leaders. It explores a range of responses to change and provides insights to continue progress towards gender equality in the workplace.
Facing resistance in your work
This resource by Safe and Equal provides practical guidance to support organisations in understanding and planning for resistance to work to prevent violence against women and promote gender equality.
Resources by workplace gender equality indicator
Gender Pay Equity Principles
Developed by the Equal Workplaces Advisory Council, these principles set out the best practice approach for improving gender pay equity.
- Establishing equal pay for work of equal or comparable value: Equal or comparable value refers to work valued as equal in terms of skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions. This includes work of different types.
- Freedom from bias and discrimination: Employment and pay practices are free from the effects of unconscious bias and assumptions based on gender.
- Transparency and accessibility: Employment and pay practices, pay rates and systems are transparent. Information is readily accessible and understandable.
- Relationship between paid and unpaid work: Employment and pay practices recognise and account for different patterns of labour force participation by workers who undertake unpaid and/or caring work.
- Sustainability: Interventions and solutions are collectively developed and agreed, sustainable and enduring.
- Participation and engagement: Workers, unions and employers work collaboratively to achieve mutually agreed outcomes.
Best practice guide: Gender pay equity
This resource from the federal Fair Work Commission provides some information and guidance on ensuring pay equity within your organisation.
An overview from WGEA of the gender pay gap in Australia, what drives it, and why it’s so important to address it.
This guide from WGEA will help you diagnose the status of pay equity in your organisation, set goals, and take practical steps to improve pay equity as part of your gender equality strategy.
She’s Price(d)less – 2022 Update Report
She’s Price(d)less analyses the contributing factors of the gender pay gap to explain why it exists, and how it should be addressed. Using data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, WGEA and ABS, the report explores how the gender pay gap impacts five different industries.
Australia’s Gender Pay Gap Statistics
This resource from WGEA uses the latest data from the WGEA dataset and Australian Bureau of Statistics to detail the gender pay gap by states, territories, industries, occupations, sectors and age.
Wages and Ages: Mapping the Gender Pay Gap by Age
This resource from WGEA highlights how gender pay gaps favouring men exist in every age group, increasing with age at a constant rate. It explains the importance of workplace policies and practices enabling equality within the workplace.
This resource from WGEA includes tools and information to help organisations increase the representation of women in leadership roles.
Safe Work Australia: Workplace sexual harassment
Resources on managing the health and safety risks of workplace sexual harassment between workers and from other people at the workplace, like customers and clients. Includes infographics, supporting information, and a keynote presentation from Safe Work Australia CEO, Michelle Baxter.
Fair Work Commission: Sexual harassment benchbook
A benchbook prepared to assist parties lodging or responding to applications to stop sexual harassment at work under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). Information is provided to parties to assist in the preparation of material for matters before the Fair Work Commission.
Guideline: Preventing and responding to workplace sexual harassment
This guideline from the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission provides essential information and recommendations for small, medium and large organisations. It applies to diverse workplace settings and across a range of sectors and industries.
WorkSafe: Work-related gendered violence including sexual harassment
A guide for employers on preventing and responding to work-related gendered violence and work-related sexual harassment. This guide focuses on gendered violence and sexual harassment as an occupational health and safety issue.
VPSC: Prevention of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
The Victorian Public Sector Commission (VPSC) has developed a model policy and guide for the prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace. The model policy and guide will help organisations to ensure that they are working to prevent sexual harassment and support survivors.
Respect@Work: Sexual Harassment National Inquiry Report
This report from the Australian Human Rights Commission outlines the findings and recommendations from a major inquiry into sexual harassment in Australian workplaces. The inquiry aimed to improve how Australian workplaces prevent and respond to sexual harassment.
Gender-equitable recruitment and promotion: A guide for organisations
This guide from WGEA provides evidence-based suggestions for creating more equitable hiring and promotion systems.
Gender equitable recruitment and promotion: Research
This resource from WGEA complements the guide, using research and evidence to explain how gender bias is pervasive within organisations, creating gender-based inequalities at every stage of the employment cycle.
Gender segregation in Australia’s workforce
This WGEA publication discusses how the Australian labour market is highly gender-segregated by industry and occupation, highlighting the unequal distribution of people of different genders across industries and occupations.
These ANZSCO coding guides provide a refined list of ANZSCO classifications and codes for:
- roles related to the relevant industry
- roles common to public sector agencies
- management level roles
- information technology occupations
This may support collection of data against the workplace gender segregation indicator.
Mainstreaming Flexibility Across the VPS Resources
These VPSC resources are developed with a VPS audience in mind, but include some useful prompts and tools that any organisation can apply to mainstream flexibility.
Case study: Flexible work reduces the gender pay gap and saves money
The report Flexible work, good for business?: Modelling the bottom line impact of flexible work shows that organisations actually save on costs by implementing flexible work practices. Organisations can access a modelling tool to calculate the potential return on investment in their own settings.
This resource from WGEA includes a range of tools and information to help embed a flexible working culture.
This resource from WGEA highlights some of the gendered-impacts of COVID-19 and explains how providing workplace flexibility has the potential to boost gender equality in the workplace. It also provides actions for employers to embed flexibility into workplace culture.
This resource from WGEA includes a guide to gender-equitable parental leave and an insights paper into parental leave.
This resource from the Australian Human Rights Commission provides a range of information and tools to help employers support employees who have caring responsibilities.
Supporting staff: family violence leave policy considerations
This guidance will help your organisation identify appropriate content for a family violence leave policy, provide support to managers, and develop a workforce safety plan.
WorkSafe: Addressing family violence in the workplace
This page can help employers understand how family violence affects the workplace, explains employers' duties and also helps employers respond to family violence.
Special measures provisions under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984
This resource from the Australian Human Rights Commission explains how positive actions are used to promote equality for disadvantaged groups, providing summaries, practical examples, and answers to frequently asked questions.
Special measures provisions under the Victorian Equal Opportunity Act
The Victorian Equal Opportunity & Human Rights Commission explains how the Special Measures of the Act promote substantive equality by allowing and encouraging the different treatment of people in specific situations, as long as it promotes genuine equality for disadvantaged groups.
Sex-based discrimination and harassment
WGEA explains the gender inequalities stemming from gender bias which can be seen during the recruitment and promotion cycles in the workplace, and the negative impacts this has on both employees and employers.
This resource from Victorian Equal Opportunity & Human Rights Commission explains how outdated gender stereotypes can lead to sexist attitudes and discriminatory behaviour within the workplace, and provides examples and resources to correct this.
The Australian Human Rights Commission explains the various forms of direct and indirect discrimination based on gender, as well as discrimination regarding pregnancy, breastfeeding, family responsibilities and marital or relationship status.
Applying an intersectional approach
This video by The Equality Institute talks about what the concept of intersectionality can mean in practice.
Intersectionality resources to strengthen gender equality in the workplace
These resources, developed by the Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health, have been developed to help defined entities understand the intersectional approach that the Gender Equality Act takes, and how it can strengthen their gender equality planning and action in the years to come.
Gender equality and intersecting forms of diversity
This WGEA resource provides explains how different dimensions of identity can intersect with gender identity and influence experiences and outcomes in the workplace. It provides further information and resources to help defined entities understand these different dimensions of identity and how they can compound.
Person-first and identity-first language
This Victorian Government resource provides insight regarding how to use language respectfully and inclusively when working with people with disability, neurodiverse and autistic people, and the deaf community.
This toolkit from the Australian Government’s Job Access site includes short video guides and downloadable resources with practical advice on disability and employment - from inclusive policies and recruitment, to workplace changes and managing staff.
Communicate and consult with people with disability
When conducting consultation and engaging with the community, it is important to actively include people with disability. This is important for conducting gender impact assessments and for developing a Gender Equality Action Plan. This resource provides guidance to ensure the voices of people with disability are heard.
Barring Djinang Aboriginal Cultural Capability toolkit
This toolkit from the VPSC supports public sector workplaces to build their capability to attract, recruit, retain, support and develop Aboriginal staff at all levels. Its aim is to strengthen the cultural capability of managers and staff, as well as the cultural safety of public sector workplaces for Aboriginal employees.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural safety framework
This framework from the Department of Health and Human Services has been developed to help organisations create culturally safe environments, services and workplaces. It is targeted to mainstream Victorian health, human and community services, but its principles can be applied in other sectors.
LGBTIQ+ Inclusive Language Guide
This Victorian Government guide explains how to use language respectfully and inclusively when working with and referring to lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse, intersex, and queer and questioning people. It's for Victorian public sector employees.
Guideline: Transgender people at work
This Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission guideline outlines obligations under the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 regarding discrimination against transgender people in employment. It provides practical guidance for employers on how to be proactive in preventing discrimination against transgender employees.
Let’s talk race: A guide on how to conduct conversations about racism
The Australian Human Rights Commission has developed this guide to assist Australian organisations in conducting meaningful and productive conversations about racism.
Leading for Change: A Blueprint for Cultural Diversity and Inclusive Leadership Revisited
This report from the Australian Human Rights Commission provides an overview of the representation of cultural diversity in the senior leadership of Australian organisations and aims to provide some guidance to organisations in advocating for cultural diversity.
This report from the Australian Human Rights Commission includes findings from a survey of older workers about their experiences at work.
Wages and Ages: Mapping the Gender Pay Gap by Age
This resource from WGEA highlights how gender pay gaps favouring men exist in every age group, increasing with age at a constant rate. It explains the importance of workplace policies and practices enabling equality within the workplace.
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