The federal government's Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) has stated that increasing part-time management roles and the use of "co-CEOs" could help keep women in leadership positions and narrow Australia's gender pay gap.
WGEA research, conducted with Curtin University, found that while women are reaching senior positions, they are more likely to leave them. This contributes to a wider pay gap and under-representation in high-paying and senior roles. Women who reached management positions were more likely to resign than their male counterparts, at 13.8% compared to 12%.
Christine Castley, WGEA's chief executive, attributed this to uneven caring responsibilities and a lack of flexible work options for senior roles. She noted an embedded idea that management roles cannot be part-time, leading to most flexible arrangements not applying to them. The report's analysis of Hilda data indicates that most women either stop working or work part-time after having their first child.
The report also highlighted that only 13.2% of organisations designed management roles for part-time work. However, those that did saw significantly higher promotion rates for female part-time non-managers. Dr Silvia Salazar, a report co-author, emphasised that parents sharing care responsibility would also play a role, as women accounted for 80% of people taking primary carer parental leave in 2024-25.