Female Deputy Presidents of the Fair Work Commission (FWC) are being sidelined from leadership over significant matters coming before the tribunal, presiding over just 3% of Full Bench determinations during the past three years.
Analysis by Australian Resources and Energy Group AREEA has revealed a stunning underutilisation of the FWC’s growing female talent base:
- Of the 713 Full Bench matters coming before the FWC over the past three years (2017-2019), females presided over just 22 of them (3%).
- The now-retired former Deputy President, Anne Gooley, accounted for 15 of the 22 matters presided over by women. The number drops to less than 1% for the current female presidential members of the FWC (7 matters).
- Of the eight current female Deputy Presidents, six have never presided over a Full Bench.
- Of the two current female Deputy Presidents who have presided over a Full Bench matter, one of them presided over just one – a routine “permission to appeal” matter.
- In 2019, at a time in which women comprised one-third (33%) of all Presidential level members, they presided over a shockingly low 1.7% of Full Bench matters (4 of 235).
- Female participation on Full Benches overall (both presiding and non-presiding) was 26% over 2017-2019. This is despite females comprising 40% of all members of the FWC.
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