The National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) is calling on the Federal Government to exclude companies from benefits and assistance if they are found to be non-compliant with the Workplace Gender Equality Act (WGEA) of 2012.

The organisation has come out in force in the wake of the publication of the 2020-2021 WGEA Report card, as well as the release of a report issued by the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership that examined the effectiveness of government reporting through WGEA and whether it was time for an upgrade.

Private companies with over 100 employees are required to report their financial and employee data which forms much of the info for the WGEA Report. Those who are not complying with the act are then named and shamed in the report.

The act and subsequent requirement for companies to report on their data gives the Federal Government the ability to enact sanctions through the withholding of eligibility for government support or contracts to reaffirm Federal government commitment to gender equality and deter further slippage in compliance rates.

Despite this legislation, the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership report stated that a 2021 audit of government tender records by national news outlets found that 31 non-compliant organisations were still awarded Federal government contracts, suggesting that government sanctions through withholding eligibility were not being imposed.

“Compliance with the Workplace Gender Equality Act does not require organisations to correct any identified gender inequalities, or reduce their gender pay gap. As such, failure to undertake positive actions is not a breach of reporting obligations and carries no penalty,” says NAWIC National Chair Kristine Scheul.

“Whilst it is encouraging to see that some organisations are seeking to address the issues of inequality within their own organisations, that number is still only sitting at around 50 percent.”

Last year, NAWIC made submissions to the Commonwealth Inquiry into procurement practices for government-funded infrastructure, recommending that the Morrison Government mandate that any organisations bidding on government tenders have a minimum number of women nominated for each project and thereby placing ‘gender on the tender’.

NAWIC says the current WGEA Report and the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership reports suggest more is needed to ensure that the women are remunerated equally for their work on major projects.

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