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EOWA's Vision
"To create an Australia where women in the workplace can achieve their greatest potential."

The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) administers the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act (1999). This piece of legislation is a revision of the Affirmative Action (Equal Employment Opportunity for Women) Act of 1986, which introduced the concept of EEO to Australia's statute books.

According to both pieces of legislation, employers of 100 people or more are required to report to the Agency on the initiatives they take within their organisations to advance women in the workplace. Under the terms of the revised Act however, the new role of the Agency is to collaborate more flexibly and pro-actively with stakeholders to effectively advance both women and business. 

All private sector organisations, higher education institutions, group training schemes, unions, community organisations and non-Government schools with more than 100 employees are covered by the Act, and are obliged to submit a compliance report to EOWA.

With a vision to create an Australia where every woman can achieve her greatest potential in the workplace, EOWA inspires Australian employers to take action to improve outcomes for working women. It does so by delivering practical solutions to employers for advancing women, by building strategic partnerships with employer organisations, and by leading public debate to increase the rate of change.

EOWA's inaugural Business Achievements Awards is a critical event in the EOWA calendar as a way of focusing attention on working women, and putting Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) on the national agenda.