Australian firms named best in world for gender equality

gender NAB westpac

4 October 2019
| By Laura Dew |
image
image
expand image

National Australia Bank (NAB), Medibank and Westpac are among Australian financial services companies praised for their gender equality as the annual Equileap gender survey found a quarter of the top 100 most gender-equal companies in the world were Australian.

The annual Equileap survey researched over 3,000 companies in 23 countries on their gender balance at board, executive, senior management and workforce level. Companies were ranked on factors such as gender balance, policies promoting gender equality, and equal compensation.

It found 25 of the top 100 companies were located in Australia, including half of the top 10 companies, more than any other country.

All of the Big Four banks were featured plus another 10 financial services firms.

The five firms in the top 10 were Mirvac, Telstra, Stockland, Origin Energy and Medibank.

This was followed by Westpac, NAB, BHP, ASX, Suncorp, Transurban, Caltex, Commbank, Lendlease, AGL Energy, Fortescue, Qantas, ANZ, GPT, South32, REA Group, Challenger, Coca Cola Amatil, Dexus, Vicinity Centre.

Equileap said: “Australian companies have consistently climbed in the Equileap rankings over the past few years and are now taking half of the top 10 spots. This can be credited to mandatory annual reporting on corporate gender equality and thorough gender audits facilitated by the Australian Government”.

Looking at the financial services sector specifically, Equileap said seven of the top 10 financial services companies were Australian. The sector had the highest percentage of women in the workforce, reaching 53% for banks.

But, the report said, women were struggling to reach higher levels of management with representation at executive level being only 17%.

Top 10 gender-equal firms

Company

Country

Diageo

UK

Mirvac

Australia

Bank of America

USA

L’Oreal

France

Telstra

Australia

Stockland

Australia

Air New Zealand

New Zealand

DNB

Norway

Origin Energy

Australia

Medibank

Australia

 

Read more about:

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest news and developments in wealth management industry

MARKET INSIGHTS

This verdict highlights something deeply wrong and rotten at the heart of the FSCP. We are witnessing a heavy-handed, op...

5 hours ago

Interesting. Would be good to know the details of the StrategyOne deal....

4 days 10 hours ago

It’s astonishing to see the FAAA now pushing for more advisers by courting "career changers" and international recruits,...

3 weeks 2 days ago

Insignia Financial has made four appointments, including three who have joined from TAL, to lead strategy and innovation in its retirement solutions for the MLC brand....

2 weeks 4 days ago

A former Brisbane financial adviser has been charged with 26 counts of dishonest conduct regarding a failure to disclose he would receive substantial commission payments ...

3 days 8 hours ago

Pinnacle Investment Management has announced it will acquire strategic interests in two international fund managers for $142 million....

2 days 11 hours ago