The 100% Project Launch
The Australian Census of Women in Leadership released by the Equal Opportunities in the Workplace Agency in October 2008 revealed that the number of women on boards and in executive management positions had declined since 2006, and in some cases reverted to pre-2004 levels, leaving Australia trailing behind the USA, UK, South Africa and New Zealand.
At the board director level there are more than ten men to every one woman, and at the CEO level there are 49 male CEOs for each female CEO in the ASX200.
We have all heard the arguments, ‘women make different choices’, or ‘women are less ambitious than men’, but a survey conducted in 2008 of 1,620 men and women found that:
- women want promotion and advancement - just like men;
- women generally want to move into a job involving more responsibility, not less – just like men.
However:
- both women and men do not believe that women are treated equally to men in their workplace, and believe that men in their workplace progress more quickly than women.
Therefore, at The 100% Project we believe that we need to change the organisations we work in and the society we live in, NOT the woman.
Men are on our agenda as well - the difficulties experienced by women to get true representation at the highest levels of corporate leadership, affects choices open to men as well.
A recent survey of 1,000 Australian fathers showed that 68% of respondents believed they did not spend enough time at home, while another survey indicated that 60% of fathers felt that their jobs caused them to ‘miss out on some of the most rewarding aspects of being a parent’.
Despite these findings, such issues are traditionally seen as career limiting for men. Speaking up incurs the risk of being type cast as a non-team player, with men often feeling pressured to remain silent in the interest of their career.
We require a new solution to an old problem. Women and men both need to be part of the dialogue and be involved with the change.
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what others thought
I’ve been at some fantastic launches recently. The National launch at the State Library of NSW of the Melbourne based 100% Project featured here, is one really important one. The 100% Project’s mission is to challenge organisational leaders to change the practices and mindsets within their organisations to fully realise the leadership potential of women and men. The Project believes that it’s organisations that need to change, NOT the women and that both women and men need to be part of the dialogue driving the change.
On stage in the Metcalfe Auditorium provided to the Project free by the Library was the Federal Minister for the Status of Women, the Hon Tanya Plibersek, and the most amazing set of scales I’ve seen in a long time.
Tanya’s final launch act was to place a pair of red stilettos on the scales to balance the numbers. It made for a highly satisfying visual.
Larke Riemer, Head of Women's Markets Westpac
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