SCA joins 40:40 Vision to support gender balance

The 40:40 Vision initiative led by HESTA to achieve gender balance in executive leadership has welcomed Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) as one of its latest signatories. 

Companies that commit to 40:40 set gender targets in the shorter term, make a public plan for how they will meet those targets and report annually on their progress.

As well as SCA, 40:40 vision also welcomed ASX300 companies Adairs, Healius and QBE among the latest signatories.

Chief Executive Women (CEW) census data suggests companies in the ASX300 are some of the worst performing when it comes to gender diversity in executive leadership, compared to the ASX100 and ASX50. 

Sixty two percent of all ASX300 companies have no women in line roles, meaning there’s no consistent pipeline to increase the proportion of female CEOs and executive leaders.

HESTA CEO and 40:40 Vision Steering Committee Chair Debby Blakey acknowledged the newest signatories, saying the expansion to the ASX300 was designed to continue to build the momentum for change.

“The stats speak for themselves; CEW census data shows only 1 in 23 ASX300 CEOs appointed last year were women and there are only 18 women CEOs across the entire ASX300,” Ms Blakey said.

“We recognise there are varying complexities and differences in organisational structures, which is why 40:40 is designed to achieve one common outcome without being overly prescriptive in its approach to diversity and inclusion.”

As a recent signatory SCA’s CEO Grant Blackley acknowledged it had achieved gender parity across all organisational levels, except its executive leadership.

“Joining 40:40 Vision demonstrates to our workforce and to our investors and other stakeholders that we are committed to addressing this gap,” said Blackley.