Women leading the way in public sector

Progress is being made but more work is needed to make jobs more flexible.

Victoria Police deputy commissioner Wendy Steendam Wendy Steendam. Picture: Hamish Blair

Elizabeth Cosson is a name that should long be remembered in Australian history.

Last month, Cosson was named secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, heralding the ­realisation of what had been a dream for many: gender parity in the upper echelons of the Australian Public Service.

“We now have achieved gender parity at the most senior level of the APS, with nine women and nine men serving as commonwealth secretaries,” Malcolm Turnbull announced at the time.

It is a laudable achievement, but disappointing that achieving gender parity in senior positions within the APS continues to be newsworthy or even notable.

Female representation drops off between middle management and executive levels in our public sector at local, state and federal level, and there needs to be a more concerted effort to redress this.

And while we should rightly acknowledge achieving gender parity at such a senior level, there is still much that needs to be done for this to be realised at all levels of government.

Data released in March by Local Government NSW reveals that in NSW’s 128 local councils, women hold just 18 (14 per cent) of chief executive or general manager positions. Women hold less than a third of mayoral roles (29 per cent), and some NSW councils have no female elected representatives.

Women make up 64.4 per cent of the NSW public sector workforce but hold just 37.4 per cent of leadership positions (a year-on-year increase of 1.3 per cent), the NSW Public Service Commission Workforce Profile 2017 says.

A report in January last year from the Victorian Public Sector Commission shows women account for 67 per cent of the public sector workforce but hold only 44 per cent of executive level positions. So why does female representation consistently drop off between middle management and executive levels across all levels of government in Australia?

Victoria Police deputy commissioner Wendy Steendam says: “It is down to a combination of issues. The biggest is unconscious bias in individuals as well as systems or institutional bias.

“One of the biggest challenges for police and the public sector is the opportunity for flexibility of roles. We need to constantly look at how we adjust roles to accommodate obligations outside work.

“Creating opportunities for part-time policing and having flexibility makes a difference to whether women stay in the organisation when trying to balance home life with work and ultim­ately consider executive positions. We are continuing to improve this every day, looking at ways to support an ‘All Roles Flex’ ­approach.”

Steendam says about 33 per cent of sworn candidates in Victoria Police are women and this number steadily decreases through the ranks of the service.

“As at March 31, there were 4159 policewomen in Victoria Police,” she says. “This represents 28 per cent of sworn members. In terms of leadership roles, in 2006, women held 5 per cent of positions at the rank of inspector. By March 31, that had increased to 18 per cent, and in total, women hold 17 per cent of commissioned officer ranks.”

Wyndham City Council chief executive Kelly Grigsby says while setting gender quotas is a step towards achieving workplace equality, cultural change is needed if equality is also to be retained.

“There is some value in setting targets. However, the danger is that they become tick-the-box exercises,” she says. “Cultural change is a lot less overt but, in my view, a lot more powerful, with better ability to address systemic ­issues and provide longer-lasting benefits.

“This requires a strategic intent to developing a narrative around the type of change you want to see and then putting in the effort to embed that in the organisation.

“We need to consider change processes that take the time to listen to women talk about their experiences, their aims and goals, the type of organisational culture that exists and the type that they want to develop.

“In this way we can develop the type of organisational and even societal culture that achieves the aim of gender equality, but in a way where the practice and process is as transformational as the outcome itself.”

NSW Health secretary Elizabeth Koff is an advocate of women leading by example. She says women respond well to seeing other women in executive roles and their success encourages other women to strive for executive level positions.

She says initiatives such as the NSW Premier’s Driving Public Sector Diversity, developed to increase the proportion of women in senior leadership roles in the state’s public sector from the current 33 per cent to 50 per cent by 2025, are positive steps.

“Women need to be recognised for the important contribution they make to the public service,” Koff says. “It offers them the ­opportunity to be role models for other women.”

Koff is the lead judge for this year’s inaugural Top 50 Public Sector Women (NSW) Initiative. The top 50 list was launched in Victoria last year to recognise and honour the work of women working in the public sector.

“This is an excellent opportunity to shine a spotlight on exceptional leaders, highlighting their work and creating role models for other females in the public sector,” Koff says.

The response to last year’s Top 50 Victoria list, organised with IPAA (Victoria), was so positive it was extended into NSW this year. The NSW list will be announced on July 2. Applications for the Victoria Top 50 list close June 11. Those listed will be named on August 18.

The Top 50 Public Sector Women lists are one step to supporting women on their journey to leadership roles. What else should we be doing?

Clare McCartin is group general manager, executive and boards at Davidson.