1. About EOWA
2. What is Equal Opportunity?
3. What's in it for Me?
4. Overview of the Act
5. What is a Workplace Program?
6. Reporting
7. Submitting Your Report
8. Educational Tools to Assist
9. Sanctions for not Complying
10. When doesn't an Organisation Have to Report?
11. 'EOWA Employer of Choice for Women'
12. Business Achievement Awards

If you only have three minutes, this section has it all in a nutshell.

About EOWA
EOWA is a statutory authority located within the portfolio of the Australian Commonwealth Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR).

EOWA’s role is to administer the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999 (Commonwealth) and through education, assist organisations to achieve equal opportunity for women.
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What is Equal Opportunity?
Equal Opportunity (EO) is about ensuring that all employees are treated with fairness and respect in that they are not subject to discrimination or harassment in the workplace.

EO means that all employees have equal access to the opportunities that are available at work.

What’s in it for me?
Equal Opportunity in the workplace benefits everyone, and enhances your company’s profitability.

• EO helps to attract and retain the best talent
• EO helps a company’s productivity and innovation
• EO helps a business to attract more female customers
• EO enhances a company’s management style
• EO reduces a company’s risk

For further information, see Why EO Makes Business Sense.

Overview of the Act
The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999 (Commonwealth) came into effect on 1 January 2000, renaming and updating the Affirmative Action (Equal Employment Opportunity for Women) Act 1986.
The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999 aims to:

• Promote merit in employment;
• Promote equal employment opportunity and eliminate discrimination; and
• Encourage consultation between employers and employees on these issues.

For further information, see the Overview of the Act.

What is a workplace program?
A workplace program is aimed at eliminating discrimination and contributing to equal opportunity for women in the workplace.

EOWA has developed a six-step program for designing and implementing a workplace program. Each stage will be reflected in your report:

Step 1 Prepare a workplace profile of employee numbers by gender and job attributes (eg, classification, permanent status, etc);

Step 2 Analyse the issues for women in your workplace for each of the seven Employment Matters:

1. Recruitment and selection,
2. Promotion, transfer and termination,
3. Training and development,
4. Work organisation,
5. Conditions of service,
6. Arrangements for dealing with sex-based harassment, and
7. Arrangements for dealing with pregnancy, potential pregnancy and breastfeeding;

Step 3 Identify the priority issues;

Step 4 Undertake action to address the priority issues;

Step 5 Evaluate the effectiveness of your actions; and

Step 6 Identify future actions.

All organisations covered by the Act are required to develop a workplace program commencing on 1 April of the year previous (or immediately after becoming covered by the Act) until 31 March of the current year.

For further information, see Developing a Workplace Program.

Reporting

Organisations who need to comply with the Act are required to report annually to EOWA on the actions they are taking, and demonstrate the outcomes of their workplace program.

Reports are due on 31 May each year, and may be submitted between 31 April and 31 May.

When reporting on your workplace program, make sure you have:

• Provided enough information to demonstrate that you have implemented a workplace program. i.e. does your written report reflect 'six stage’ above?
• Used concise dot point language; and
• Provided quality information rather than quantity. Reports need not be longer than six (6) typed A4 pages as illustrated in the Public Report Form.

Please note that submitted reports are public documents and that only the ‘Evaluation’ (Step 5) section of the report can be marked confidential for EOWA to remove.

For further information, see Reporting.

Submitting Your Report

• Via email to reportforms@eowa.gov.au. If reporting electronically, you do not need to send in a hardcopy as well. Note that reports lodged via email will receive automatic electronic acknowledgement. If you do not receive this automatic reply, contact EOWA on (02) 9448 8500.
• If email is not available, please post to:
  EOWA
  PO Box 712
  North Sydney NSW 2059.

Educational Tools to Assist
To assist you to meet the requirements of the Act, we have developed a comprehensive Resource Centre containing a series of educational tools and our Client Fast Track which provides a list of tools based upon your specific organisation.

In particular, EOWA encourages you to start looking at the Compliance Guidelines, the Public Report Form and the Employment Matter Kits.

For more information, please see:

• Client Fast Track
• Resource Centre/Educational Tools to Assist

Sanctions for Not Complying

Employers who are required to report under the Act and fail to meet the requirements of the legislation by either:

• Not submitting a report on their program; or
• Submitting a report which does not meet the requirements of the Act

may incur a sanction.

There are two consequences for failing to comply with the Act:

• Naming of the organisation in a report tabled in Parliament – which is a public document and may attract public notice; and
• Contract compliance policy - which makes organisations unable to tender for government contracts and industry assistance.

For further information, see Sanctions.

When doesn’t an organisation have to report to EOWA?
When an organisation can demonstrate to EOWA that it has:

• Analysed its workplace to identify the equal opportunity issues for women relating to the seven Employment Matters;
• Taken all reasonably practicable measures to address each issue; and
• Been compliant with the legislation for at least three (3) consecutive years;
  the organisation may apply to be waived from reporting for a fixed period.

For further information, see Waiving.

‘EOWA Employer of Choice for Women’

The ‘EOWA Employer of Choice for Women’ (EOCFW) citation is a prestigious acknowledgment by EOWA of organisations that are recognising and advancing women in the workplace.

Initiated in 2001, the EOCFW citation is valid for one year, and provides significant positioning in a competitive market place, particularly when a company is seeking to attract the best possible talent.

For further information, see ‘EOWA Employer of Choice for Women’.

Business Achievement Awards
EOWA’s Business Achievements Awards recognise excellence in organisations who advance women. The Awards are in recognition of those who are at the forefront of driving change for a more equitable workplace.
The awards are chosen from the compliance reports and waiving applications submitted annually to EOWA.

For further information, see Business Achievement Awards.