Investing in women means investing in flexibility

As another International Women’s Day passes, we are once again confronted with cold, hard data that confirms how far we still have to go to achieve true gender equity in Australia.

This month, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) revealed a gender pay gap of 21.7%. Only 22% of CEO roles are held by women. And just 7% of management roles are offered part time.[1] While the media and advertising industry may fare marginally better, we still struggle to retain, promote, and reward women equally.

Equal pay for equal work has been enshrined in law since the Workplace Gender Equality Act of 2012. Yet the persistent pay gap is largely driven by the lack of women in senior management and board positions.[2] One key contributor is the motherhood penalty: women’s earnings drop by 55% in the five years following childbirth, while men’s remain unchanged.[3]

One of the most effective steps we can take is to ensure that women, particularly mothers and caregivers, can participate in the workforce on equal footing. That means embracing flexible work not as a perk, but as a path to parity.

In the post-pandemic world, debates around remote versus in-office work are heating up. Calls for a mandatory full-time return to office, while presented as fair or universal, often disproportionately disadvantage women — affecting mental health, physical wellbeing, and workforce participation.

In Australia, women spend 64.4% of each day on unpaid care work, compared to 36.1% for men. In New Zealand, it’s 65.4% vs. 29.4%, and in Sweden, 43.5% vs. 32.4%.[4] The more unpaid care women carry, the lower their workforce participation — currently 68.9% in Australia, compared to 71.8% in New Zealand and 76.2% in Sweden. This imbalance underscores the critical need for flexible work arrangements. Without flexibility, women are more likely to shift to part-time roles or leave the workforce altogether. With only 7% of management roles offered part time, this not only limits individual opportunity and deepens structural inequality.[5]

Many women, especially mothers of young children, know that the ability to engage meaningfully in the workforce is dependent on whether employers continue to support flexible working. Whether through hybrid models, asynchronous schedules, or job-sharing, these arrangements are a cornerstone of true inclusion. It’s also important to acknowledge the benefits of in-person collaboration for team dynamics, creativity, and culture. We’re not advocating for disconnected workforces. Even fully distributed global businesses prioritise in-person connection — they just do so with intentionality and flexibility that reflects the needs of their people and their business.[6]

What must change is the rigid expectation that leadership roles must be full-time and office-based. Challenging this assumption should become muscle memory for leaders, hiring teams, and boards.The business case for flexibility is strong. McKinsey research shows that organizations with flexible work policies report greater productivity and employee satisfaction.[7] And companies with diverse leadership teams, including gender-diverse teams, consistently outperform on profitability and innovation. Investing in women is more than an ethical imperative — it’s a strategic advantage.

Change will come from people policies, operational practices, and leadership posture that reflect the lived realities of women and girls. It will come from embedding flexibility into the DNA of our workplaces not just for some, but for all.

[1] https://www.wgea.gov.au/data-statistics/data-explorer

[2] “Gender pay gap data revealed: The ‘startling’ state of the media and advertising landscape”. https://mumbrella.com.au/gender-pay-gap-data-revealed-the-startling-state-of-the-media-and-advertising-landspace-817176

[3] Children and the Gender earnings gap: Evidence for Australia. https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-03/p2023-372004.pdf

[4] Unpaid care work and the labour market. https://www.wgea.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/australian-unpaid-care-work-and-the-labour-market.pdf

[5] Emma Harrington & Matthew E. Kahn “Has the Rise of Work-from-Home Reduced the Motherhood Penalty in the Labor Market?”

[6] Matt Mullenweg. https://distributed.blog/2019/11/26/episode-15-inside-the-grand-meetup/ https://www.outsourceaccelerator.com/articles/distributed-work-five-levels-of-autonomy/

[7] How hybrid work has changed the way people work, live, and shop. https://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/our-research/empty-spaces-and-hybrid-places-chapter-1