Gender equality isn't hard

I am often confused about the lack of progress on gender equality.

Hitting the targets and finding capable and qualified women to fill leadership roles just isn't hard for me and my network.

Earlier this year for a non-profit I chair I was asked to find some candidates for a vacancy on our board. Ideally, this person would have a background in accounting and finance.

I made some calls to my network across the big four accounting firms and banks to give me some names. The qualifications I asked for were that we were looking for someone with a growing corporate network, preferably on the younger side but also had some seniority within their work.

We mostly wanted someone ambitious and who would fit our culture.

60 per cent of the names given to me were women. We ended up appointing a woman.

Chasing gender equality was not hard for us, but chairing the board of a major listed corporation is probably different.

Last month I met with a CEO who was looking for more capable women in his organisation. I asked him a simple question: why has it taken you so long to consider this?

He said it had fallen by the wayside, while he recognised it was important he could not see the direct relevance to his business. The industry he operates in is facing market adversity and everyone is looking for a different way to either stay solvent or get that tiny bit ahead.

He has realised that talent is not gendered. The level of women attaining commercially strategic education passed 50 per cent long ago, he is one of a growing number of men who realise that women and their contributions must be elevated.

Equal, or near-on equal, levels of men and women in leadership should be the norm.

Take earlier this week, when the chairman of Mirvac John Mulcahy announced that Christine Bartlett and Samantha Mostyn were being appointed to the board. Reading their bios it is easy to see why they were appointed.

These appointments realise gender equality on the Mirvac board – a 50/50 split.

A lot of attention is paid to the ASX200 on this issue. These are some of the large employers and organisations with significant clout.

It is the businesses further down the list, or not on the Exchange, that need to pull their weight.

When the Workplace Gender Equality Agency releases data on women in listed companies the focus is on the market leaders. Often the organisations I get most concerned about are far lower. Look at the companies between the ASX1000-200, a failure to do much on gender equality.

Progress on gender equality is not a game of soloists, we all must push forward.

No, finding women to sit on boards or to undertake leadership roles is not difficult. It merely requires that recruiters and managers undertake a broad search and tell the market that is what they want.

Gender equality can easily be achieved, it just takes some drive.

Pursuing diversity is not a 'nice thing' to do, it is the right thing. It is the right thing for organisations, shareholders and the economy at large.

I am bored of the discussions that put gender equality and diversity in the too-hard pile.

Gender equality can be achieved, but it will only come to fruition when we want it.

This desire must be accomplished – without women being fully involved in the workforce our economy can only be so strong. We will not be as innovative and productive as we need to be in an increasingly complex global economic environment.

The most frustrating thing though is that it is entirely achievable. Organisational and civic leaders need to stand up and prioritise this.

Yes, sometimes concession will need to be made to rectify this. Support systems and quotas have a role here to combat the pervasive and persistent challenges here.

That may not be ideal, but we cannot sit here and think that the sum of all intelligence, innovation and wisdom sits in the hands of university-educated white men – an increasingly small part of the population.

If John Mulcahy can achieve this, all corporations can.

There are a bevy of talented and willing women who want to and can step up.

It might be a bit harsh, but those recruiting should try harder to support gender equality. Because if you cannot find a suitable woman, you are not trying hard enough.

The excuses against supporting women are stale and flop in the face of logic.

The Prime Minister and captains of industry must use these quieter weeks to consider what they can do to support women next year.