Elizabeth Broderick's leadership legacy - Women's Agenda

Elizabeth Broderick’s leadership legacy

Asked to comment on her successor as Sex Discrimination Commissioner this week, Elizabeth Broderick said she wouldn’t be recommending a man at this point, but there are some in training for the role.

It’s an interesting reflection from someone who has been criticised for setting up a men-only group, the Male Champions of Change. While that group was sometimes seen as co-opting an agenda that must be led by women, Broderick has always said it was about engaging with the reality of organisational power.

That meant bringing the blokes at the top of the pyramid along as partners to help change the rules, not as substitutes for women.

In fact, Broderick’s tenure has highlighted the continuing importance of having high profile women leaders advocate for gender equity, because of both their in-depth knowledge and a different way of operating.

Her time as Sex Discrimination Commissioner has been marked by a range of achievements, from helping to finally get a national paid parenting leave scheme established, to spotlighting pregnancy discrimination, reviewing the Australian Defence Force’s treatment of women and, of course, setting up the Male Champions of Change.

But on top of those results, the equally important leadership legacy that Broderick leaves us is all about influence and impact in this contested and frustrating space.

Her work has helped to validate the women’s rights agenda and legitimise women as key decision-makers when it comes to changing the most fundamental aspects of our lives: our pay, our rights at work, caring and family responsibility, our reproductive rights and safety.

It’s easy to forget that a few years ago this entire list was regarded as peripheral part of our national conversation. Now, thanks to Broderick, and other strong women, it has moved to the mainstream. 

I’m not a fan of the idea women are naturally more nurturing or better communicators than men, and can automatically improve the way a cohort operates. But I have watched people like Broderick prove the point they are making about the benefits of diversity.

When your path to a position of power is from the margins – whether because of gender, race or another factor – you often have to be creative and develop a set of special skills, particularly as you get more senior.

You have to patiently cope with double standards and scrutiny, and getting heard means garnering support, and collaborating when you are not part of a traditional power group.

As Broderick spoke at the National Press Club this week about what she had learnt in her role a lot of those skills were highlighted: persistence; listening and doing what you can when you can; actively and intentionally including women; engaging power; and engaging women’s voices.

She recalled, for example, collaborating with both the unions and the business sector to finally get a national paid parenting scheme off the ground. It’s not rocket science but we could use a lot more of it these days.

Her approach to engaging with power by getting senior men involved has also helped shift the focus on where to look for solutions. As long as we see this issue as one that only women can fix, she points out, then women will also be blamed when progress stalls instead of the systems and rules that need to change.

Some could say there are lower barriers to entry for success as a woman leader when the role is Sex Discrimination Commissioner – after all there is almost complete congruency between being a woman and the core purpose of the job.

But that is only part of the equation. Success in such a job is never a foregone conclusion. It’s easy to take it for granted that we had an active, persistent and inspiring woman helping to lead the charge over the last eight years.

Defining what makes great leadership is very difficult, but you know it when you see it. We saw it and shouldn’t underestimate the impact Broderick’s tenure has had – and will continue to have in the future.

And her advice to her successor?

“Some good counsel for anyone stepping into a role like mine – it is as vital for women to be powerful and influential as it is for men.”

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