Gender equality in leadership: a public policy failure?

Abstract

The role of government policies in achieving gender equality in leadership is increasingly being questioned. Scholars argue public policies often fail to overcome such adversities because of lack of understanding of the ‘sexual politics’ within organizations where gender is ‘relational, contested and always political’. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to determine the effectiveness of Australian policies with regard to promoting more women into key managerial/executive personnel positions. The paper involves a cross-country review of literatures regarding the interrelationship between public policy interface and the gender order of a society. It has also utilised unrefined primary data gleaned from interviews with Australian working women aged between 25 and 45. The findings suggest gender equality legislation and work/life balance policies are not proving effective in developing more gender equal dual earner/carer household model. Moreover, equal opportunity is yet to be universal. The consequences, thus, are a thicker glass-ceiling, wider gender pay gap and slipping or stagnant growth of female participation in leadership roles. The paper argues that persistent stereotypical gender division of labour as well as societal attitude towards ‘legitimate differences’ between men and women; and a lack of long term comprehensive policy initiative are primarily to blame. Therefore, the paper advocates for policy reforms in which gender, not just women, is mainstreamed through the promotion of both men and women as ideal workers and carers.