Gender Equality

Foreword from the Chair and Managing Director
Gender equality at TCV goes beyond compliance and simply doing the right thing - it is an important and critical driver for our performance, productivity and culture going forward.

To date, we have been the fortunate beneficiary of the diversity amongst our employees, not only in gender but in diversity of background, perspective and thought. There is no doubt that although we celebrate a shared purpose, we also celebrate our valuable differences which lead to greater innovation and organisational capability.

We note however that there is more work to be done to achieve better gender equality, in particular at the Executive level.

Our Gender Equality Action Plan (‘GEAP’ or ‘the Plan’) underscores our commitment to greater gender equality and ensures that our gender equality stance is reflected in our policies and procedures. The plan is designed to be attractive to both current and future employees.

The delivery of the plan will only be successful if we sustain focus and effort. Our Board and leadership team are dedicated to creating gender equality success through policies, processes, and actions.

Background
In February 2020 the Victorian Gender Equality Act 2020 came into effect and the Commission for Gender Equality (the Commission) in the Victorian Public Sector was established.

All defined entities (those public sector organisations with 50 or more employees) must have a four-year GEAP which includes:

  • the results of a workplace gender audit, to assess the current state of gender equality in the workplace
  • strategies and measures to improve gender equality in the workplace, based on the results of the audit.

On 30 June 2021 TCV had 50 employees (45.2 part-time equivalent) and as such qualifies as a defined entity.

TCV's commitment to gender equality
TCV is committed to all forms of diversity, including gender equality.

We undertake to work diligently towards implementing the strategies to achieve the Plan’s objectives and will regularly review and communicate both the process and outcomes through our internal balanced scorecard discussions and other avenues.

TCV has benefited from the opinions and insights of our people and as such we will continue to seek their input and to communicate progress as part of our existing consultation groups.

Development of the Gender Equality Action Plan (GEAP) at TCV
The Gender Equality Act Principles were considered through our consultation process and when developing our GEAP. They underpin our case for change. These principles are:

  • all Victorians should live in a safe and equal society, have access to equal power, resources and opportunities and be treated with dignity, respect and fairness
  • gender equality benefits all Victorians regardless of gender
  • gender equality is a human right and precondition to social justice
  • gender equality brings significant economic, social and health benefits for Victoria
  • gender equality is a precondition for the prevention of family violence and other forms of violence against women and girls
  • advancing gender equality is a shared responsibility across the Victorian community
  • all human beings, regardless of gender, should be free to develop their personal abilities, pursue their professional careers and make choices about their lives without being limited by gender stereotypes, gender roles or prejudices
  • gender inequality may be compounded by other forms of disadvantage or discrimination that a person may experience on the basis of Aboriginality, age, disability, ethnicity, gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation and other attributes
  • women have historically experienced discrimination and disadvantage on the basis of sex and gender
  • special measures may be necessary to achieve gender equality.

TCV's GEAP was agreed subsequent to the following actions:

  • conducted a complete gender audit (submitted to the Commission in late 2021)
  • reviewed and analysed our data and identified gaps and opportunities
  • consulted on multiple occasions with TCV employees, TCV Executive Management, TCV Human Resources Policy Group (HRPG) and the TCV Board regarding the identified gaps and opportunities. We have also consulted with the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) and value their insights.
  • drafted a GEAP and consulted with the same groups regarding the suggested strategies
  • submitted the final GEAP to the TCV Board for further feedback, support and approval.

To implement the Act at TCV we are also guided by:

  • Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic)
  • Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic)
  • our TCV Behavioural Framework (established in 2006)
  • Code of Conduct for Victorian Public Sector Employees
  • Australian Financial Markets Association (AFMA) Code of Conduct
  • our Board and employee feedback
  • State Government Agencies Award 2020.

Our case for change
The Gender Equality Act Principles are clear in their message of the importance of being treated with dignity, respect and fairness regardless of gender or intersectionality. We know that applying these principles to our gender equality decision making will benefit our workplace now and in the future. This is especially true when considering intersectional data.

Vital to our gender equality review findings was the need to gather meaningful intersectional data. We will all benefit from having a clearer insight into our current levels of intersectionality, and this insight will lead us to being able to further refine and augment our GEAP in the future.

Strategic resourcing plan
The General Manager, People and Culture will be the champion of gender equality at TCV and will lead the GEAP implementation and the ongoing future reviews.

They will be supported by the Executive and Management group who are engaged in our case for change and action plans.

Various employees have volunteered to be advocates for gender equality at TCV. This influence will assist us to attain positive results and ongoing engagement and we value their support.

We will engage additional resources such as trainers or consultants if and when required.

Identified potential risks and / or limitations
We acknowledge our potential risks and / or limitations:

  • that to create change in gender equality, sometimes there may be instances where special measures may be necessary to achieve our strategies, and this is acceptable
  • with a headcount of only 50 people
    • some data is too thin for meaningful analysis – we consider 10 data points in a group to be a minimum for meaningful analysis
    • some data has the potential to breach confidentiality and must be carefully managed
    • concern has been expressed over the collection of data which increases the likelihood of there being an increase in the number of responses where employees ‘prefer not to say’ leading to less valuable data insights
  • with very low turnover (an average of two employees per year for the last eight years) some changes may take two GEAPs rather than one to achieve.

TCV Gender Equality Action Plan
The full TCV Gender Equality Action Plan for 2022-25, including our data information and response summary, is available here.