Time for talk is over, we need action: Conway

The time for talking is over and action is now needed on gender equality, Workplace Gender Equality Agency, Director, Helen Conway told a CEDA forum in Hobart.

"We need to just get on with it, we're sick of the talk and we need to move the needle a lot faster than it has been to date," she said.

"We don't need to do any more research - the case is clear. But it does mean we have to get out of our comfort zone, we've got to think broadly and act expansively.

"We've got to take some risk. If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room."

Ms Conway said there are challenges confronting organisations and society but organisations need to ensure gender equality is treated as a central business issue - not something peripheral or to be "flicked down to the HR department".

"Gender equality is not a human resources issue. It's a business issue and you need to align it with your strategy and move it to centre stage," she said.

"Until you do that, you've got no hope of achieving it.

"Organisations need to look at their particular operations and try and understand what their barriers are to gender equality and put in place action plans to deal with those barriers."

Issuing a call to action to "get on the journey", Ms Conway highlighted the important connection between social attitudes and workplace culture.

"The reality is we won't see significant changes in workplaces until we see significant changes  in social attitudes. We don't just live in workplaces; we live in families, in communities," she said.

"We have an obligation individually, that in all those arenas, we behave in a fashion that is fair and equitable, and in a fashion that supports gender equality."

CEDA's report Women in Leadership: Understanding the Gender Gap was launched in June 2013.