Question Time

Equal Pay Day

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA (14:35): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for the Status of Women a question about gender equity.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA: Equal Pay Day recognises how much longer women have to work to earn the same as men in one year. For every 12 months that men work, women have to work approximately an extra 60 days, and that is Equal Pay Day. Can the minister inform the chamber about the Chiefs for Gender Equity Equal Pay Day event?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (14:35): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. In 2011 the Commissioner for Equal Opportunity convened a group of key South Australian business leaders to help tackle equity challenges. The Chiefs for Gender Equity recruits male CEOs and managing directors of prominent South Australian companies across key industry sectors to actively advance gender equity across those sectors.

The aim is to lead attitudinal change and to increase the participation of women in senior positions as well as on boards and committees. The chiefs represent a broad range of industries, including banking, legal, engineering, property, resources, media, accounting, consulting, and the list goes on. On 16 July this year SA Chiefs for Gender Equity announced its commitment to the Women's Empowerment Principles. This is a joint initiative of the UN Women and the United Nations Global Compact, which is a framework for delivering gender equity.

I was extremely pleased to be able to attend a formal signing ceremony and witness the Chiefs for Gender Equity signing the empowerment principles. The signing had added significance, as it was held on Equal Pay Day. As the Hon. John Gazzola stated, it is a day that marks the period of extra days in the current year that women need to work to achieve the same wages that men earned during the previous financial year. The signing dovetailed well into two of the government's priority areas: improving women's economic status and increasing women's leadership and participation.

This is a government commitment to improving the interests of women. In 2004, we set ambitious targets to assist women gain board and high level management experience. We believe in setting ourselves ambitious targets. South Australia continues to be the leading jurisdiction in Australia for the inclusion of women on government boards and committees. On 1 July 2014, women held 48 per cent of positions on government boards and committees, the highest percentage of women members to date and an increase of 33 per cent from 2004, when we set this target for ourselves. Also, on 1 July this year, women held 40 per cent of chair positions on state government boards and committees, and that constitutes an increase of 23 per cent since 2004.

In 2009, our Public Sector Act embedded flexible working conditions in legislation for the very first time. As part of our 2014 election campaign, we announced that public sector chief executives would be made personally responsible for ensuring that those flexible work options are available to staff who need them and that they are actually taken up by staff. We have also publicly stated that the chief executives will have a new imperative to increase the number of women in executive positions within the public sector.

This year, I was also pleased to be able to provide the Australian Institute of Company Directors scholarships to a further 25 South Australian women. We again received an overwhelming response to this scholarship program. I am advised that 113 or so really high-level applications were received from some truly exceptional women. So, I am very pleased to advise that the scholarships have now been awarded and the training was held on 22 August 2014, in my office, providing the women with practical experience in a boardroom setting. It was great to be able to drop in on the participants on their training day and meet them and chat about their experiences and their ambitions. They were quite a remarkable group of quite amazing women.

This scholarship program is a great way to help women secure the skills and confidence that they need to boost their career prospects. It is especially important that we can continue to help women who may otherwise not have that opportunity to partake in such a program. I welcome the commitment made by the Chiefs for Gender Equity and the Commissioner for Equal Opportunity, Anne Gale, and encourage them to continue to show leadership for other South Australian businesses. I look forward to seeing how they put those women empowerment principles into practice in those South Australian workplaces.