The founders of YPWA and Pearman & Partners, Kate Boorer and Fiona Pearman have worked with women and organisations as consultants, coaches and over the duration of their corporate careers for decades. During this time they have experienced and witnessed many challenges within Australian workplaces related to gender balance, including career progression, leadership development, influence and confidence, pay parity & the blocks and leaks present when it comes to the pipeline of female talent in organisations. This together with a deep interest in the subject led to the publication of Core Confidence, a how-to guide for professional women wanting to reconnect with their confidence in the workplace. This work was the background for creating the Australian Women@Work survey, the results of which are included in this document.
The Women@Work Research, examines the current state of the Australian workplace experience, through the eyes of women. The results concur with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s (WGEA) data; while some progress is being made, there is still a long way to go in creating an equal playing field for men and women, where women are well represented at every level within organisations.
This report details the experiences of nearly 1000 professional Australian women, across four areas:
- Career Progression
- Gender Pay Gap
- Bullying & Harassment
- Flexibility
It looks at the deeper issues at play and unpacks some of the underlying tensions that impact women’s progression in their workplaces. By examining the data and our direct experiences with women navigating their careers we have identified three key areas for organisations and the women in them to focus on in order to create greater gender equality, and address the disturbing levels of bullying and harassment that women experience at work.
Hear Kate & Fiona talk about the W@W Findings
About YPWA and Pearman & Partners
The Young Professional Women Australia (YPWA) Community was born out of a recognised need to establish a peer-to-peer networking community for like-minded professional women under the age of 40.
Our focus is to support women to be their own best advocates, career enablers and drivers for success. We help them get clear about what they want, develop a plan to make it happen and support them to step up and create the life they deserve, doing what they love, earning what they are worth.
We are active within our society to advocate for change on the issues affecting our members by conducting research, contributing to current discussions on panels, publishing articles and supporting the development of internal women’s groups in organisations to drive change.
Pearman & Partners are thought-leaders who support organisations to create inclusive cultures, where everyone thrives. Many organisations hold good intentions when it comes to treating women and men equally, yet entrenched cultural norms, unconscious bias and blind-spots often mean the workplace experience of women is compromised. Our focus is on gender equality initiatives, that enable the career advancement of women. We are unafraid to have the difficult conversations that tackle tough issues and entrenched patterns that are potentially holding women back.
We are well known for our coaching and development programs for women which are focused on clarity, confidence and empowerment. Clients engage us to conduct gender pay gap and pipeline analysis to understand where and how their organisation may have blocks or leaks of talent. Our work includes examining the possibly unconscious barriers to female progression and unpacking the systemic causes of issues such as bullying and harassment. We conduct Culture Audits and Focus Groups to hear the voices of all stakeholders and work with clients, to develop strategies to meet the issues identified.
