Ten moves any organisation can make next
Gender Equity Awards in action!
As the award organisers, the team at Business in Heels, works tirelessly to showcase best practice. It is our vision to speed up workplace improvements by inspiring you and the 2025 Awards were exceptional. Across all the winners, ten clear themes emerge.
1. Design parental leave for shared care
Make leave gender neutral, remove primary or secondary labels, pay superannuation during leave, and celebrate men who take extended leave so caring is normal for everyone.
2. Treat flexibility as standard, not special
Move beyond ad hoc deals. Use policy, technology and leadership role modelling so flexibility is built into job design, rostering and KPIs across all roles and levels.
3. Combine policy with sponsorship and community
Policies open doors, people walk each other through. Sponsorship programs, peer circles and employee communities help under represented talent gain visibility, confidence and real opportunities.
4. Measure pay, then close the gap
Run regular, transparent pay equity reviews, act on the findings with targeted adjustments, and report progress to the board and staff. Hope is not a strategy, data is.
5. Anchor equity in leadership accountability
Give executive teams and managers clear equity goals for representation, pay, promotion and culture, and build them into performance reviews and incentives.
6. Redesign recruitment to reduce bias
Use gender neutral language in job ads, insist on diverse shortlists and interview panels, and actively market roles to under represented groups so the pipeline looks different from the start.
7. Make psychological safety a non negotiable
Build expectations around respect, speaking up and listening into onboarding, leadership programs and team rituals. Train leaders to handle complaints well and act quickly on poor behaviour.
8. Create targeted pathways and return programs
Offer structured pathways for career returners and under represented groups, for example returnship programs, early career rotations or leadership accelerators for women and culturally diverse talent.
9. Support people experiencing violence and major life events
Put in place strong family and domestic violence leave, gender affirmation and caring leave, plus practical support. Make sure leaders know how to respond safely and compassionately.
10. Share stories and progress openly
Regularly tell the stories behind the numbers. Celebrate role models at every level, share what is working and what still needs work, and invite employees into the conversation about what comes next.
These ten moves show that gender equity is not just the right thing to do, it is a smart way to build a resilient, high performing business that attracts, grows and keeps great people.