‘Narrow idea of who a leader is’ preventing diverse leadership

As organisations seek to be more inclusive, new data is suggesting that one-size-fits-all policies are holding back Australian organisations striving for gender and cultural equity.

Early findings from the RISE Project (Realise. Inspire. Support. Energise) reveal that developing racial literacy, platforming culturally and racially marginalised (CARM) women during organisational decision-making processes, improving access to sponsorship, and strengthening equity outcome metrics led to the strongest organisational improvement.

The report, led by the Diversity Council Australia (DCA), Settlement Services International (SSI), and Chief Executive Women (CEW), with funding from the Australian government Office for Women, considered the lived experiences of 360 CARM women, as well as organisational diagnostics and emerging evidence from 25 participating businesses.

According to SSI women and gender equity consultant Dr Astrid Perry, “CARM women are frequently overlooked for promotions, their qualifications not recognised, assumptions made as to who they are and [underestimations made about] their capability”.

CARM women also face isolation from important conversations, as well as “accent discrimination, demands to code switch, [and] increased demand to upgrade qualifications when they are often over-qualified”.

Further to DCA’s landmark Women in Leadership Report from 2023, which identified the entrenched systemic barriers CARM women face, RISE was launched “to address those barriers and help create more equitable pathways to leadership”, according to project lead and DCA racial equity and intersectionality director Dr Virginia Mapedzahama.

“As this project comes to an end, our hope is that these findings will inform and strengthen ongoing efforts to drive systemic change so that more CARM women can access the leadership opportunities they deserve,” she said.

The report also highlighted that the project delivered 623 mentoring or coaching sessions with 157 participants; 269 report participants also took at least one step towards their career goals; and 63 women secured a new role.

SSI CEO Violet Roumeliotis said: “The findings show the profound impact when employers take the time to listen and create environments where CARM women can thrive. When we invest in and support CARM women to succeed on their own terms, we create stronger, more inclusive organisations that are better equipped for the future.”

Mapedzahama said: “If organisations want different leadership outcomes, they need to ask different questions, listen more carefully to the women most affected, and be willing to change the systems that hold inequity in place.”

Roumeliotis also said many organisations exhibit less diversity the higher up the leadership pipeline, a pattern that “reflects the structural and attitudinal barriers that CARM women continue to face in Australian workplaces”.

As such, successfully breaking down systemic barriers that hold CARM women back requires a more specified, tailored approach.

Perry said: “An intersectional lens is necessary that includes intersections of diversity and considers everyone. Therefore, organisations need to review their talent management, performance systems, and their promotional models. Attention also needs to be paid to racial diversity.”

At the governmental level, Perry advocates for an overseas qualification recognition system and improved data collection that measures outcomes for CARM women.

In a similar vein, she urged employers and HR to centre their staff and involve them in relevant conversations and consideration, and for organisations to consider a sponsorship system “as it is proven to assist in the career trajectory of staff”, and most importantly, to provide CARM women a seat at the table “so their perspectives influence HR systems”.

“CARM women are capable, ambitious, and ready to lead; what holds them back is a system built around a narrow idea of who a leader is, not any lack of talent,” CEW CEO Lisa Annese said.

“This report gives organisations a practical place to begin, and Chief Executive Women urges them to take it. Real progress means redesigning the pathways into leadership, not asking women to fit a mould that was never made for them.”

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