Equal opportunity for women in the workplace

Australian federal legislation

The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999 (Commonwealth) aims to:

• promote merit in employment;
• promote equal employment opportunity and eliminate discrimination; and
• encourage consultation between employers and employees on these issues.

The Act covers the following areas:

• recruitment and selection.
• promotion, transfer and termination.
• training and development.
• work organisation.
• conditions of service.
• arrangements for dealing with sex-based harassment.
• arrangements for dealing with pregnant and potentially pregnant employees, and employees who are breastfeeding.

Under the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace legislation, all non-government and not-for-profit organisations that employ a total of 100 or more staff are required to develop a workplace program (which strategically eliminates discrimination and contributes to equal opportunity for women in the workplace) and report annually on that program retrospectively.

Did you know?

• women represent nearly half the workforce (45.3%).
• women working full time receive on average 84% of men's full time weekly earnings.
• nearly 90% of top management roles are occupied by men.
• there are approximately 32 male CEOs for every female CEO within the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) 200.
• at Board Director level, there are over 10 men to every woman.

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