This International Women’s Day, we’re reflecting on this year’s theme about what it means to balance the scales.
At Southern Rural Water, we’re committed to balancing the scales to ensure a fair and inclusive workplace for women to thrive, enjoy equal opportunities and shape their own future.
Over the past few years, our Gender Equality Action Plan has focused on the foundations that matter for this balance to happen across recruitment, promotion, flexible work arrangements, pay, cultural safety, and inclusion. And we’re proud to say we’re seeing progress.
Since 2021:
- Our gender pay gap has reduced from 8.3% to 7.5%.
- Our total remuneration gap has reduced from 12.6% to 9.8%.
- More women are stepping into field, operational, STEM, and leadership roles.
- We’re strengthening our future workforce by creating more opportunities for regional employees, women, graduates and First Peoples to join and grow with us.
We know balancing the scales is not only measured in numbers. It is reflected in how our people feel at work each day.
Our latest progress report on gender equality to the Victorian Public Sector Commission was compliant and shows we’re moving the scales in the right direction:
- 89% of our employees say they are supported in their flexibility needs.
- 86% feel culturally safe at work.
- People feel safer to challenge inappropriate behaviour.
- Barriers linked to gender, disability and carer status have reduced significantly.
- More men are embracing flexible work and modelling shared care and feeling supported do so.
- We’re supporting employees – women and men – returning from parental leave and those transitioning to retirement with part-time and flexible options that suit them.
We know there’s more work to do and we’ll continue to educate and empower our people at all levels to respect and value gender equality, but we’re on the right track.
“Our next reporting period is coming up in May 2026 and indicates we’ve reduced our gender pay gap even further and increased our women in leadership roles to over 50 percent across the business,” Rebecca Fleet Manager People and Culture.
“For our organisation, balancing the scales is about making sure opportunity, voice and support aren’t left to chance. It’s about creating the right employment conditions so talent – in all its forms – can succeed,” Penny Winbanks Acting General Manager People, Strategy and Culture.