For many years Kate Jenkins AO GAICD has worked at the forefront of gender equity and inclusion in the workplace and now Australia’s former Sex Discrimination Commissioner is turning her attention to reforms in sports governance. As the new Chair of the Australian Sports Commission (ASC), she is working to help implement the federal government’s National Gender Equity in Sports Governance Policy, set to take effect in 2027. Here Jenkins outlines her responses to the changing landscape and her eventful induction period as ASC chair, which included “total immersion” time at the Paris Olympics. Jenkins is this week’s guest on the AICD podcast Boardroom Conversations.
There is one telling statistic which Kate Jenkins AO GAICD believes signals real progress on issues such as sexual harassment.
In 2021, the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) surveyed ASX 200 companies on behalf of the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI) and asked who they thought was ultimately responsible for preventing sexual harassment. Only 19 per cent who replied to the survey saw it as the responsibility and a high priority for boards.
However by 2023, the answer had changed to 85 per cent in further survey research on the ASX300 conducted by the AICD and ACSI for the joint report Positive duty: Preventing and responding to workplace sexual harassment.
“That's a radical change,” Jenkins told Boardroom Conversations.
“Most of them (in 2021) thought it was HR’s responsibility or just someone’s (responsibility), but not that of the board.”
Following the Respect@Work campaign by the AHRC, the Anti-Discrimination and Human Rights Legislation (Respect at Work) Act passed Parliament in December 2022, introducing a positive duty on employers to take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate sexual harassment, sex-based harassment, sex discrimination, hostile workplace environments and victimisation in connection with work, as far as possible.
The positive duty was a key recommendation of the commission’s landmark Respect@Work Report, led by Jenkins, which was published in March 2020.
She welcomes the changes that have occurred so far but says more needs to be done. “I would say I'm so heartened by the progress….it's been a revolution. And I'm glad that Respect@Work has contributed towards it with evidence on what can be done well.”
She says we're “not well-placed” yet on overall progress on the federal government’s positive duty on sexual harassment, but adds that most people at least recognise that the responsibility lies with boards.
“I do think that over the next three to five years, we will see safer and better workplaces. And that will be largely because boards have really made this something that they expect from the organisations that they are the governance body for.”
Sports governance reforms
The next frontier of regulatory reform for Jenkins, who is also chair of the Creative Workplaces Council, is sports governance.
In September this year, the federal government launched the National Gender Equity in Sports Governance Policy, which requires sporting boardrooms across the country to meet gender equity targets or risk funding being withheld.
The policy is a collaboration between the Australian Sports Commission and State and Territory agencies for Sport and Recreation (STASR).
The ASC and the agencies have adopted gender equity targets for the governance of national and state level sport to be implemented no later than 1 July 2027. These are as follows:
- 50 per cent female board directors and/or gender diverse
- 50 per cent female chairs/deputy chairs and/or gender diverse
- 50 per cent female specified sub-committee members and/or gender diverse
Jenkins told Boardroom Conversations that the reforms are “really important”.
“I think it should be achievable. There's plenty of good people. We’re not in the old days where there were few ‘good women’. We know that there are now really talented, capable women. So, I'm really optimistic that it will be introduced. There's plenty of lead time and organisations can start working towards that.”
Some states have already imposed gender equity targets which have since been achieved. “Victoria in particular was very leading on requiring at least 40 per cent of women on boards a few years ago and that was achieved pretty quickly. So, it's not Robinson Crusoe, this policy. It's been tried in a few different places. But having all the states and territories come together with the federal government and the Sports Commission, really makes it much more important.”
‘Total immersion’ at the Paris Olympics
Jenkins started as ASC chair in May this year with a standard induction process and her personal list of questions which she asks when joining a new board. However, her new role really came to life when she attended the Paris Olympics with ASC CEO Kieren Perkins OAM, which she admits was an “atypical” board experience.
“The best induction, which most people can't access, was that very quickly in July, the Olympics were held and the Paralympics. I would highly recommend this to everyone if you want total immersion…take the chance to go to the Olympics and to meet all those people, to see Australians actually competing on the world stage. I got to see behind the broadcasts and I got to see the athletes’ village. But I also got to meet every kind of player in the sport sector, including people who are the chairs and the board members, the CEOs, but also the staff and athletes.”
It was also “a great way to get to know” her new CEO in a less formal way than usual.
“I got to go to lots of different events with him. But those conversations in the margins really helped me understand how he operates as a leader, as a person, which actually is so valuable for me to know how I can help bring the best out of him in his role as CEO.”
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