Catherine Fox

As Australia faces a cultural reckoning on the treatment of women, concrete steps are taking the gender lens from a good idea to reality.

While Alan Jones’s radio program may not be regular listening for business executives, the publicity from his “Destroy the Joint” comments had an eerie familiarity for many women in the corporate world.

Any discussion about women’s progress through the ranks of business or onto boards inevitably includes a lament about the supposed low levels of confidence women exhibit.

You could almost see the boxes being ticked in the last few days as the major parties made or restated their election promises about childcare and maternity leave – that’s women’s workplace concerns checked off.

It’s great Tony Abbott saw the light about paid parental leave but it would have been much better if some more of the focus was applied to how the scheme would be funded.

Whenever I speak to audiences about the gender pay gap I can almost see the discomfort level in the room rise.

This week we heard that the new PM Tony Abbott was disappointed (with himself presumably) that there was only one woman in cabinet and then we learnt it was because these jobs were appointed on merit (that would be the male middle-class version).

When Julia Gillard made her farewell speech on the night of 26 June this year and declared she was “absolutely confident it would be easier for the next woman (Prime Minister) and the woman after that and the woman after that”, I simply wasn’t convinced.

It has always surprised me to hear children referred to as though they are some kind of consumer product or accessory.

At a recent forum on women and the workplace I spoke at, a woman in middle-management explained to the audience how her manager had become increasingly irate during a pay negotiation.

A few years ago I was interviewing a senior business leader about the lack of senior women in Australian business and what could be done to address this and boost retention.

We haven’t heard much from the Prime Minister on the topic of women’s issues lately so it was good to hear he is very supportive of the new Employer of Choice for Gender Equality citation according to Senator Michaelia Cash, the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women.