The federal government's Workplace Gender Equality Agency has urged Australian employers to make management roles more flexible, including through part-time arrangements and co-CEO positions, warning that women's higher resignation rates from senior jobs are widening the gender pay gap.
Research released on Tuesday by WGEA and Curtin University found women were reaching senior positions but were more likely to leave, widening a pay gap in which women earn $0.79 for every $1 earned by men on average.
The agency warned that resistance to gender equality was growing and urged employers to make management more flexible.
The report's analysis of WGEA data covering 5.4 million employees found full-time women were promoted more often than men in 2024-25. However, men were slightly more likely to be promoted into management, and women who reached management positions resigned at a higher rate than their male counterparts: 13.8% compared with 12%.
WGEA chief executive Christine Castley said uneven caring responsibilities combined with a lack of flexible work options had prevented women from staying in senior positions.
"There is very much an embedded idea that management roles can never be part-time, and probably what flows from that is most flexible arrangements don't apply to management roles," Castley said.
Most women still either stop working or move to part-time work after having their first child, according to the report's analysis of Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (Hilda) data.
The report found leadership could remain male-dominated even in industries where most workers were women. In health care and social assistance, women made up three-quarters of the workforce but about half of CEO positions. Women held just one in five board chair or chief executive roles at Australian companies.
Castley suggested employers consider reforms such as allowing grandparents access to carer's leave or rostering to fit school drop-off and pickup. She said employers were increasingly using co-CEOs, who effectively job-share a role.
The report found only 13.2% of organisations designed management roles for part-time work, but those that did saw significantly higher promotion rates for female part-time non-managers. Employers with flexible work strategies tended to employ more women at every level of senior management.
Dr Silvia Salazar, a report co-author, said parents sharing care responsibility would also play a role.
Analysis
Why This Matters
- Women earn on average $0.79 for every $1 earned by men, a gap the agency says is widened when women leave senior roles.
- Promotion alone is not fixing the problem: women who reach management are resigning at higher rates than men.
- With resistance to gender equality reportedly growing, the debate over flexible management will shape workplace policy and employer practice.
Background
WGEA is the federal agency responsible for promoting gender equality in Australian workplaces and collects data on employer performance. The new report, produced with Curtin University, draws on WGEA data covering 5.4 million employees as well as the Hilda household survey, and is the latest in a series of examinations of how women progress through the workforce.
Key Perspectives
WGEA, Christine Castley: Argues management roles are still widely assumed to be full-time, and that redesigning them, including job-sharing arrangements such as co-CEOs, would help keep women in leadership and narrow the pay gap.
Employers with flexible strategies: The report finds organisations that design management roles for part-time work see higher promotion rates for part-time female staff, and tend to employ more women at every level of senior management.
Researchers (Dr Silvia Salazar): Says parents sharing care responsibilities would also play a role, pointing to caring duties as the underlying driver of women leaving work or shifting to part-time hours after having children.
Critics and sceptics: WGEA says resistance to gender equality is growing, and the low share of organisations offering part-time management roles, 13.2%, suggests many employers remain doubtful that senior roles can be done flexibly.
What to Watch
- Whether more employers redesign management roles for part-time work in response to the report.
- Future WGEA data releases measuring the promotion and resignation rates of women in management.
- Any policy discussion of expanded carer's leave, including access for grandparents.