by awardsadmin | Jan 21, 2026 | Uncategorized
Begin with the outcome. From 1 July 2025, parents who receive the Australian Government’s Paid Parental Leave will also receive a superannuation contribution. This is a structural fix that grows retirement balances and narrows the super gap, recognising that care is part of the real economy, not time out from it.
Why this mattered to Her Excellency the Honourable Ms Sam Mostyn AC, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, is straightforward. Before her vice regal appointment, Ms Mostyn chaired the Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce. The Taskforce argued that unless policy values the months that matter for families, the lifetime gaps will never close. Paying super on government Paid Parental Leave became a headline recommendation, then a government decision, aligned with Australia’s gender equality strategy, Working for Women. It is expert advice turning into household impact, one contribution at a time.
The reform sits inside a larger shift. Working for Women sets a ten year lens linking paid leave, affordable early education and care, flexible work, and education pathways. Super on Paid Parental Leave is the keystone that signals a principle, value the care, fund the future, lift participation, and allow prosperity to compound across a lifetime. Policy is catching up to real lives, and budgets are starting to invest in the workers who hold the country together, at home and at work.
What this looks like in a family budget
From 1 July 2025, Parental Leave Pay is paid at a set weekly rate. At the same time, the super guarantee rate reaches 12 percent. That means a parent receiving the government payment across the standard period will also see a super contribution at the 12 percent rate flow into their fund. Even modest amounts now build into meaningful amounts later, because contributions compound over decades. The exact dollars depend on the weeks taken, the rate at the time, fund performance, and fees, however the shape of the benefit is clear, balances do not stall during care, they keep moving.
For many women, the timing is pivotal. Paid hours often drop when babies arrive, which is exactly when retirement saving can flatline. A government contribution during leave keeps momentum in the account, which is how a system quietly signals respect, not in speeches, in statements and balances.
How leadership turned into policy
The Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce pressed for care-conscious settings across the decade, legislate super on paid parental leave, extend leave toward six months, and design incentives so men take leave and care is shared. In March 2024 the Government announced super on Paid Parental Leave and placed it inside a broader gender equality strategy. This is the path from evidence, to recommendation, to budget measure, to money in accounts.
What success looks like today
Success is simple and specific. From 1 July 2025, when a parent takes government Paid Parental Leave, a super contribution follows at the super guarantee rate. Employers and payroll providers have updated guidance, Services Australia has published rates and processes, and families can plan with confidence. It is one policy, it is also a signal, Australia values care as economic work.
Why this reflects Sam Mostyn’s leadership
Leadership is not only about the destination, it is about the route that others can follow. Ms Mostyn’s public service shows a consistent pattern, name the problem clearly, design practical fixes, bring partners along, and land change where people live. On this reform, that meant centring care in the prosperity story, arguing for the economics as well as the equity, and helping turn a principle into a payment. It is the kind of steady, skilled leadership that moves a national conversation, then a national budget, then a nation.
And that is why, Her Excellency the Honourable Ms Sam Mostyn AC has been recognised in the Recalibrate Gender Equity Awards Hall of Fame. We are recognising a body of work that shows up in the decisions of governments, in the policies of workplaces, and in the balances of families. The super on Paid Parental Leave reform makes Australia fairer, and it makes Australia smarter. It is care at the centre, prosperity as the outcome, and it is a legacy that will compound for years to come.
by awardsadmin | Dec 18, 2025 | Uncategorized
Recognising the 2025 Gender Equity Awards Individual Winners
Policies and strategies set the frame, people bring them to life.
At the 2025 Gender Equity Awards we celebrated not only organisations, we also recognised the individuals who turn principles into everyday practice. These leaders call out bias, redesign processes, support colleagues and keep equity on the agenda when it would be easier to look away.
Here are the individuals honoured this year, and why their roles matter.
Individual winners
- Best CEO or Board Member, Sarah Hunter
- Best Diversity and Inclusion Manager, Jack Meehan
- Best Executive Manager, Hayley Crimmins
- Best Manager, Devina Chatterji
- Best Employee, Zuli Posada
Hall of Fame honourees
- Lisa Annese, CEO, Chief Executive Women
- Her Excellency the Honourable Sam Mostyn AC, Governor General of Australia
Best CEO or Board Member, Sarah Hunter
A CEO or board member can either be a bottleneck or a force multiplier. Sarah Hunter was recognised for using her position to accelerate, not stall, progress.
From the nominations it is clear that Sarah does more than sign off policies. She visibly backs gender equity, listens to employee voice and supports the teams doing the hard work of implementation. She treats equity as part of organisational performance, not just an item in the annual report.
Her leadership sends a simple message, this matters here. When the most senior leaders are prepared to be held accountable for progress, other leaders follow.
Best Diversity and Inclusion Manager, Jack Meehan
Diversity and inclusion managers often sit at the point where ambition meets reality. Jack Meehan was recognised for building structures that make inclusion part of how the organisation operates, rather than a series of one off initiatives.
Jack’s work spans strategy, governance and culture. It involves translating research and legislation into practical frameworks, partnering with HR, safety and legal teams, and working alongside employee networks to ensure that lived experience shapes decisions.
The impact of this kind of role is often felt in the details, the language in a policy, the questions added to a recruitment process, the support put around someone returning from leave. Jack represents the many practitioners quietly making workplaces safer and fairer, one decision at a time.
Best Executive Manager, Hayley Crimmins
Executive managers sit at the critical layer between strategy and frontline. Hayley Crimmins was recognised for making equity a lens for every decision, not a separate agenda.
From budgeting and workforce planning to team structures and project allocation, Hayley models how to embed equity into day to day leadership. She lifts others into stretch opportunities, backs flexible work arrangements and insists that inclusion is part of what “good performance” means.
Executives like Hayley prove that inclusive leadership is not at odds with commercial outcomes, it is a pathway to better results and more sustainable teams.
Best Manager, Devina Chatterji
Most people experience their organisation through their immediate manager, which makes this category especially important.
As Best Manager, Devina Chatterji was recognised for creating a team environment where people feel safe to speak up, share caring responsibilities and be themselves. She pays attention to who is heard, who gets credit and who is overlooked, and she course corrects when needed.
Managers like Devina turn organisational intent into lived experience. When frontline leaders get equity right, everything feels different, recruitment, retention, innovation and wellbeing all improve.
Best Employee, Zuli Posada
You do not need a big title to have a big impact.
Best Employee winner, Zuli Posada, shows how individual contributors can be powerful changemakers. Whether it is noticing when someone is excluded, suggesting a better way to run a process or volunteering to support a new initiative, these actions add up.
Employees like Zuli often act as informal connectors and culture carriers. They model allyship, mentor peers and bring ideas forward with courage. Their influence reaches far beyond their job description.
Hall of Fame, Lisa Annese
This year, Lisa Annese, CEO of Chief Executive Women, was inducted into the Gender Equity Awards Hall of Fame.
Over many years, Lisa has built a strong evidence base for diversity and inclusion, translated research into practical tools and kept the spotlight on the structural barriers that hold women back. Through her leadership she has helped organisations understand that diversity is not just about representation, it is about how decisions are made, who gets access to opportunity and how we share care.
At Chief Executive Women, she leads a membership of senior leaders who have the power to reshape workplaces across Australia. Her work continues to influence policy, practice and public conversation.
Hall of Fame, Her Excellency the Honourable Sam Mostyn AC
Her Excellency the Honourable Sam Mostyn AC, Governor General of Australia, was also inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Sam has long been a champion for gender equality, climate action, the care economy and inclusive leadership. Across her corporate, community and public roles she has consistently used her influence to lift others, particularly women and marginalised groups.
Her advocacy has helped reframe care and flexibility as economic issues, not just personal choices, and has encouraged organisations to see gender equity as central to national prosperity. Her induction acknowledges a sustained contribution over many years and her ongoing role as Governor General.
Why individual recognition matters
It is tempting to think that change is all about systems and policies. They are vital, and the organisational winners show that. However nothing shifts without people who are prepared to act differently.
These individual winners remind us that:
- CEOs and board members set the tone and the pace
- Diversity and inclusion practitioners turn ambitions into frameworks
- Executive and line managers make or break the everyday experience
- Employees at every level can influence the culture around them
If you recognise people like this in your own organisation, tell them. Nominate them. Support them. They are the ones who make equity real.
by awardsadmin | Dec 18, 2025 | Uncategorized
Lessons from the 2025 Gender Equity Award Winning Organisations
The 2025 Gender Equity Awards shone a spotlight on organisations that are not just talking about gender equity, they are redesigning how work gets done.
From engineering to legal services, financial services and global consulting, this year’s organisational winners show that equity is not a side project, it is core business. Here is what they are doing differently, and what you can borrow for your own workplace.
The organisational winners at a glance
- Best Enterprise Organisation, 1500 plus employees, AECOM Australia
- Best Large Organisation, 500 to 1499 employees, Dentons Australia Ltd
- Best Medium Company, 100 to 499 employees, TelstraSuper
- Best SME Company, Coulter Legal
- Best First Nations Business, Ilan Style
- Best Intersectional Company, Capgemini Australia
AECOM, Engineering equity into the system
AECOM Australia shows what it looks like when equity is deliberately baked into every layer of a large enterprise.
Flexible work is available to all employees, with no gender based targets, and ninety five percent of people agreed in the last survey that they have the flexibility to manage work and life commitments. Additional leave includes twenty days paid family and domestic violence leave and the option for all employees to purchase up to six weeks of annual leave.
Externally, AECOM has been recognised through thirteen consecutive years as a WGEA Employer of Choice for Gender Equality, Work180 Endorsed Employer status and a 2025 Work180 workplace equity award for gender diversity strategy.
Internally, they have invested in an Advocate Sponsorship Program that has connected more than seventy high potential women with senior leaders, and mCircles peer led discussion groups that help women build confidence, visibility and connection. A clear equity, diversity and inclusion strategy with defined pillars, policy, purpose and targets underpins everything, supported by learning on unconscious bias, LGBTQI inclusion and First Nations knowledge.
The results are measurable. Median base and total remuneration gender pay gaps have reduced over three years, more than forty percent of the ANZ leadership team are women and senior female representation has grown by five percent over five years. Partnerships with Where Women Work, Champions of Change, CareerTrackers, Engineering Aid Australia and progress toward a Stretch Reconciliation Action Plan round out a picture of serious, sustained commitment.
Capgemini, Intersectional inclusion at scale
Capgemini Australia demonstrates what intersectional inclusion looks like inside a global organisation.
The company embeds employee led, intersectional inclusion across recruitment, leadership and community impact. Nine employee Communities operate in a hub and spoke model with an Intersectional Community at the centre, ensuring that lived experience drives strategy.
Initiatives include Women at Capgemini Month with events exploring surrogacy, neurodiverse women and intergenerational experiences, inclusive leadership training for all managers focused on bias and psychological safety, and equity frameworks for pay, performance and promotion.
The Relaunch program provides a three month re entry pathway, with more than twenty six participants and a ninety six percent retention rate. Targeted learning such as Confidently Going for Promotion and unconscious bias in hiring, along with gender affirmation leave, reinforce the message that everyone belongs.
Capgemini has redesigned recruitment, used gender neutral job ads, and built tailored pathways for trans, gender diverse, First Nations and neurodiverse candidates. Externally, they hold AWEI LGBTQ inclusion Platinum Employer status for four consecutive years and Employer of the Year awards, while internally gender representation has risen by nine percentage points overall and fifteen points in senior leadership.
Dentons, Treating equity as infrastructure
Dentons Australia treats equity as infrastructure, not an add-on.
Through its Gender360 strategy, launched in June 2022, Dentons has reduced the median gender pay gap from fifteen percent to zero by 2025, and more than sixty three percent of the workforce is now women. Women in equity partnership increased from twelve to thirty one percent, women in non-equity partnership rose to forty three percent in two years, and men in support roles have quadrupled.
Gender360 is a whole of firm strategy spanning recruitment, promotion, benefits, culture and data. Recruitment has been redesigned with gender neutral job titles, and leadership roles are actively marketed to underrepresented groups. Annual remuneration reviews are led by HR and Social Impact with quarterly reporting to the board, embedding transparency and urgency.
Benefits are co-designed with employees, including twenty-six weeks of parental leave for all carers, domestic violence recovery leave, wellbeing leave and volunteer leave. A flexibility strategy co-created with women and carers has delivered a significant improvement in work and life balance and a fifty percent emissions reduction since 2019, while headcount grew by thirty seven percent.
Inclusion has shifted from being network-led to centrally owned and expert-led, with mentoring and events that achieve high participation rates, including from white men as allies. Culture and safety have been strengthened, with the majority of staff reporting they do not see bullying or harassment, and the firm has launched Australia’s first gender diverse law clinic with community partners.
TelstraSuper, Closing the retirement gap
TelstraSuper is a powerful example of how to connect gender equity to long-term financial outcomes.
The company goes beyond compliance and treats equity as an everyday practice. Equal paid parental leave is available for all parents, regardless of gender or family structure, normalising care and disrupting traditional expectations.
Superannuation is paid for up to two years after return from parental leave at full-time equivalent salary, which directly tackles the retirement gap that usually affects women. Grandparents Leave recognises modern caregiving roles, and both the CEO and CFO have taken it and shared their experiences as role models.
There are ongoing gender pay equity reviews that look at like-for-like roles, promotions and progression, with targeted adjustments driving the gender pay gap down to ten point seven percent, well below the finance sector midpoint. A gender balanced executive team and board, and a diversity and inclusion strategy reviewed quarterly by executives and a cross-functional working group, keep equity on the agenda.
Strong support is provided for people experiencing domestic and family violence, alongside a leading gender affirmation policy that also provides leave for loved ones. Flexible work, part-time roles, job sharing and flexible hours are positioned as structural enablers of participation, not individual exceptions. Regular engagement and inclusion surveys, with visible action on feedback, and storytelling campaigns, reinforce a culture where ninety four percent of people agree TelstraSuper values inclusion.
Coulter Legal, People first in practice
Coulter Legal shows what is possible for an SME when people truly come first.
For nearly a decade, the firm has built a flexible, people first culture and is certified as a Family Friendly Workplace through Parents At Work. An eighteen week gender neutral paid parental leave policy with superannuation on paid and unpaid leave for twelve months is supported by additional paid IVF and fertility leave, pregnancy loss and stillbirth leave, grandparents leave, kinship and foster care leave and short-term care leave.
There is a clear commitment that parental leave does not restrict careers. Women are promoted while on leave, returning from leave and while pregnant. Comprehensive family violence leave goes beyond the legal minimum, and there are processes to address employees who perpetrate violence, taking a whole of community stance.
Flexible working is deeply embedded. Very few people work standard hours. Part-time roles, compressed weeks and working from home are normalised across all levels. Floating public holidays allow people to swap Victorian public holidays for religious or cultural days, including alternatives to Australia Day.
Workplace behaviours training and a Preventing Workplace Violence policy equip staff to manage disrespectful and aggressive client or third-party conduct. In 2025, all new director appointments were internal, including one person on parental leave and one non-lawyer, modelling diverse pathways to leadership. The workforce is eighty five percent women and fifteen percent men, with a fifty-fifty gender balance at the Director level and sixty percent women at the Leadership level, showing a strong pipeline of female talent.
Ilan Style, Recognising First Nations leadership
Ilan Style is a 100 percent Indigenous owned, women-led business that treats gender equality, cultural safety and community empowerment as its core purpose, not a compliance exercise. Led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, the company redesigns work around real lives with a four-day work week, remote options and culturally safe structures that honour family and community responsibilities while supporting career growth. Every product sold helps fund the Ilan Style Fellowship, investing in First Nations women creatives and language revitalisation, and profits are reinvested into projects led by women and elders. With transparent, bias-free pay and progression, mentoring pathways for Indigenous staff and storytelling that celebrates the strength of First Nations women, Ilan Style is modelling a powerful new standard for what ethical, gender equal and Indigenous-led business can be.
Five moves any organisation can make next
Looking across all the winners, five clear themes emerge.
- Design parental leave for shared care
Make leave gender neutral, remove primary or secondary labels, pay superannuation during leave and celebrate men who take extended leave.
- Treat flexibility as standard, not special
Move beyond ad hoc arrangements. Use policy, technology and leadership modelling so flexibility becomes the norm across roles and levels.
- Combine policy with sponsorship and community
Policies matter, however, careers move through relationships. Sponsorship programs, peer circles and employee communities accelerate change.
- Measure pay, then close the gap
Regular, transparent pay equity reviews, targeted adjustments and board level reporting are non negotiable if you want to close the gap.
- Anchor equity in leadership accountability
When executive teams, boards and managers are responsible for equity outcomes as part of their performance, things move quickly.
These organisations prove that gender equity is not just the right thing to do, it is a smart way to build a resilient, high performing business.
If you would like to dig deeper, download the finalists booklet or get in touch to explore how your organisation can get ready for the next round of the Gender Equity Awards.
by awardsadmin | Nov 6, 2025 | Uncategorized
Lisa Annese has spent her career turning research into results. Her influence is embedded in the systems now pushing Australian workplaces toward genuine gender equity. What began as analysis and advocacy has become a national infrastructure of transparency, accountability, and real opportunity for women in leadership.
Her impact took root early in her career when she worked with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency and its predecessor. There she contributed to the policy framework that underpins the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999 and helped create enduring accountability tools including Australia’s first census of women in leadership, the Business Achievement Awards, and the Employer of Choice for Women citation. These initiatives did more than recognise progress. They shaped the expectations now placed on employers, that leadership equality requires proof not promises.
This pursuit of evidence that drives meaningful change defined her next decade as CEO of Diversity Council Australia. Under her leadership the organisation expanded to support approximately 1,400 member organisations and delivered research that shifted the national conversation. Studies on pay equity made the economics of fairness impossible to ignore. The Inclusion at Work Index gave organisations a benchmark to measure inclusion as a business priority rather than a side project. Work on mainstreaming flexibility reframed it from a personal accommodation to an operational advantage, improving retention and performance for everyone.
Annese champions practical change. Her work has helped leaders understand that structural barriers, not women’s ambition, limit advancement. She influenced employers to redesign cultures so that diverse leaders can thrive, not simply be invited in. Every program she backed connected the right thing to do with the smart thing to do, balancing values with economic outcomes.
In 2025 she stepped into a new chapter as CEO of Chief Executive Women. The timing was symbolic and strategic. CEW marked forty years of advocating for women in senior leadership, and Annese arrived intent on accelerating progress. She has strengthened CEW’s public voice, bringing its Senior Executive Census into the national spotlight. Through media and advocacy she has been clear that targets must be backed by accountability. If leadership pipelines are not moving, then remuneration should. If inclusion is the objective, then leaders must be rewarded for outcomes not intent.
Her message resonates because it is grounded in a career spent showing what works. The systems she helped design at WGEA built transparency. The insights she amplified through DCA built capability. Now, through CEW, she is pushing for the last piece of the puzzle, consequences that match commitments.
Annese’s leadership is characterised by steadiness and optimism. She asks bold questions without theatrics. She brings people along without diluting the urgency. She knows that equity cannot rely on goodwill alone and yet she remains confident that most leaders want to create workplaces where women succeed without conditions or trade offs.
Her legacy is not a single program or milestone. It is the cumulative shift in how organisations make decisions. Today boards, executives, and investors routinely interrogate gender data. They understand the cost of attrition and missed female talent. They expect visibility of progress and clarity when progress stalls. That mindset change is permanent. It continues to rise because her work made it measurable.
Leadership equality is not achieved, but the runway is undeniable. More women are studying, entering professional roles, and leading teams. Flexible work, once framed as an exception, is now a competitive differentiator. Gender data is public, policy settings are stronger, and community expectations have sharpened.
Lisa Annese helped build the architecture that supports these shifts. She turned insight into action, information into systems, advocacy into accountability. Her legacy is a better set of rules for leadership in Australia, and a more ambitious future for the women who will shape it.
by awardsadmin | Oct 21, 2025 | Uncategorized
Lift standards, build respect, widen the pathway. That is the frame Sam Mostyn AC (Her Excellency the Honourable Ms Sam Mostyn AC, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia) brought into Australian football, a code that was still finding language for safety, equity, and the talent of girls and women. The idea was simple: set respect as a policy, not a vibe; create clear education, clear complaint pathways; develop a culture that says women belong on the field and in the boardroom.
The journey began in 2005 when Mostyn became the first woman appointed to the AFL Commission. Resistance was real , “there were 16 clubs back then and only 13 supported the appointment of a woman” she recalled. ABC+2ABC+2 Yet the work pressed on. The Respect & Responsibility policy followed: a lean but practical scaffold that shifted behaviour for players, coaches and clubs. It embedded prevention of violence against women, education for men and boys, and avenues for reporting. That’s how cultural change becomes daily practice rather than annual slogans.
Success today looks like visibility with depth: community girls’ teams that feel normal; leaders who speak to respect before they speak to tactics; a code that keeps learning. For instance, the growth in women and girls’ participation in community Australian Rules football has been dramatic. The change didn’t happen by accident. It came through governance that paired courage with detail, and a commissioner who kept the door open for the next generation to step through.
Case Study 1: Community club environment shift
One concrete example: the East Geelong Football Netball Club in Victoria committed to the Women & Girls Community Football Charter. In 2023-24 the club ran U10 and U12 girls teams and announced growth toward U14 for 2025. eastgeelongfnc.com.au By publicly signing the charter the club mapped its intent around the four principles: opportunity, visibility, access and investment. Play AFL
What changed: girls don’t have to ask “is this for me?” anymore; they see pathways, feel welcome, see club leadership acknowledge them. The infrastructure around optimism is now there.
This is exactly the kind of “standards built-in” approach Mostyn’s frame supports.
Case Study 2: Leadership and boardroom impact
On the elite governance side: Sam Mostyn herself has spoken about the necessity of purposeful appointment of women in leadership, not simply a token gesture. She said:“Hoping, wishing and praying for change when you’re in the minority of an industry is not going to work … You need a purposeful set of appointments and processes.” ABC+1
Her appointment to the AFL Commission triggered not just representation, but a shift in norms: women in governance, women in decision-making roles, women in the room where standards are set. afl.com.au+1
This matters because standards drop from the top; culture flows downstream. And the boardroom becomes as important as the playing field.
Wrap – still more work to do
Even with these steps forward, the journey is far from complete. Research shows women and girls still face structural barriers: facilities that aren’t female-friendly, lower pay, fewer leadership roles, ongoing harmful attitudes. Taylor & Francis Online+1
In her words, her early appointment came with “hate mail … I knew there were three clubs not happy about this direct appointment of a woman.” Risky Women The push now is to ensure respect isn’t only set at policy but lived in every committee meeting, every locker room, every junior club.
So: yes, the pathway is clearer, the standards higher, the possibility stronger. But the next chapter demands vigilance. We must keep widening access, investing in infrastructure, lifting leadership, and embedding respect so that everyone sees the field, the boardroom and the pathway as belonging.
