Women in Defence
ACTING CHAIR: We now move to Senator Van.
Senator VAN: Thank you. My questions go to Defence's approach to gender, so perhaps you will want to rearrange the front table accordingly. My questions don't necessarily go to the numbers but how we're not just diversifying and adding women to our services but also working on inclusion such that we are maximising capability in Defence. I should say right at the beginning that I recognise the efforts of all the services to improve female participation in Defence. Can you tell me how Defence is not just adding more women, or women in the sameness model, as academics would talk about it, but also designing Defence to include women across all services and ranks?
Ms Greig: I might start with a contextual piece.
Senator VAN: Yes, please.
Ms Greig: Many of the learnings through the Sex Discrimination Commissioner's review of the treatment of women in the ADF are very focused on women, but, regarding the learnings about the barriers to the progression of women and also the experiences and opportunities of women in the ADF, we actually learnt a lot, including: how do you look at those barriers in terms of creating a more inclusive organisation? We still report each year against those in terms of the experiences of women in the ADF. Many of those findings we took forward. In terms of what we did, the Pathway to Change reform or strategy, 2012 to 2017, spoke to those themes. Probably more importantly, though, in 2017 to 2022, of the six priorities that were developed—through very deep consultation with the workforce and the senior leadership and across the whole organisation—the first one is leadership accountability and the second one is leadership accountability for inclusion. That is the broader journey. The inclusion and capability piece has been really important. We look at: how does inclusion assist ADF and Defence capability as a pathway, rather than, as you pointed out in your question, increasing numbers? It is about increasing capability.
Senator VAN: Absolutely.
Ms Greig: Pathway to Change is the overarching umbrella, with a heavy focus on inclusion and capability. Each of the three services has taken that forward within their environment and their approach. Most recently what we have done is looked at one unifying set of values. Until the end of last year, we did have different values for different services in different parts of the defence enterprise. That unifying set of values, including respect, is another really key step forward. It's a long answer.
Senator VAN: No, no, I'm very happy about very comprehensive answers.
Major Gen. Fox: Just to add some quantifying to that, in 2010 the participation rate of women in the permanent Australian Defence Force was around 13 per cent. As at this point in time, it is 19.5 per cent of women in the permanent ADF, and just over 16 per cent in our reserve workforce. That's been a measure of recruitment effort. Specifically, we have specialised female recruiting teams, and we have events, mentoring sessions, discussions around physical fitness and the lifestyle in Defence as a female, to help our candidates through that journey into enlistment in the Australian Defence Force. In terms of participation in the Australian Defence Force, 21 per cent are actually officers in the entirety of the permanent workforce, and that is a growth indicator of representation and participation, along with retention, over time. At this point in time, our female separation rate is actually lower than the overall separation rate from the Australian Defence Force, which is another measure that inclusion is working, but there is always, of course, work to do.
Senator VAN: Thank you, and, as I said at the outset, I recognise and congratulate the improvements on including more women within the defence forces and the civilian side as well. But my questions go to, as I was talking about, designing Defence for women, or building better capability—things such as designing equipment and equipment loads to better suit female anatomy. I've read statistics about the number of pelvic displacement injuries that are happening to female servicepeople because of the heavier loads they have to carry et cetera. Sorry, I don't mean to make you go backwards and forwards.
Major Gen. Fox: The Army in particular has recognised that, where you're talking about that load-carrying, and does design specific equipment for women. I'll just defer to the Chief of Army in relation to the equipment that is being designed, taking into account all body shapes that are available in the Australian Defence Force.
Lt Gen. Burr: Thank you for the question. I'd like to ask General Bottrell, Head of Land Systems, who's joining us by video, to give an update on the great work that he's been doing in this area.
Senator VAN: Great, thank you. You're on mute, as we said often through 2020!
ACTING CHAIR: Sorry, we can't hear you. We can see you, but we can't hear you.
Senator VAN: Is Auslan a skill set!
ACTING CHAIR: Perhaps, General Fox, you might continue.
Senator Payne: Let's try to reconnect General Bottrell's system and we will ask General Fox to continue.
Senator VAN: Maybe I'll go on to the next point, and we can work on that. What flexible work practices are available for female members to step out and have children and then come back in?
Major Gen. Fox: A number of years ago we instituted what at the time was called the total workforce model, where we adjusted from considering our entire workforce as a permanent or reserve only workforce to a total workforce construct. That was based on your pattern of service. The pattern of service is really critical, because the pattern of service has flexibility built into our employment framework. So we have service category 7, the full-time workforce, and service category 6 is a full-time workforce but is undertaking part-time work at this point in time. That's some of that flexibility that's been built in. Service categories 5, 4, 3 and 2 are then a pattern of service in our reserve force construct. The transfer between those service categories is being optimised to make it easier, more fluid, so as people's personal circumstances adjust over time they can move between those service categories that meet their personal circumstances and enables them to continue to provide service based on their circumstances.
Senator VAN: Are items such as maternity leave and paternity leave flexible or are they quite rigid?
Major Gen. Fox: They have increased over time in accordance with how the government has approached maternity leave. You can take your maternity leave at full pay or at half pay to extend those provisions upwards and over a year. Of course we provide flexibility organisationally to return to work as need be, including the participation in and when we undertake fitness tests on the basis of returning from maternity leave.
Senator VAN: Do you think Defence understand how deployment and active service affects men and women differently?
Major Gen. Fox: I think Defence does, but it is always a work in progress because each individual and family is very different and has unique circumstances. We have family support programs for people who deploy overseas. The Defence Community Organisation has a comprehensive support program in place along with working with unit commanders in relation to supporting people who deploy. Defence has also constructed into its employment framework deliberately differentiated packages that are built to assist women through particular gateways to improve participation. That includes some flexibility around work and flexibility for some additional allowances to support undertaking particular employment activities, whether they be career courses where you might need to fly in a parent to provide some assistance—and I have to give a shout-out to all our fantastic grandparents—for Australian Defence Force personnel. They provide additional assistance at many points in time in an individual's career. So we have those in place, built into our employment framework. But of course, as a learning organisation, when people have more suggestions, we consider those in that employment framework construct to provide a better service for our people.
Senator VAN: I think you touched on issues such as maternal separation and reproductive health. Are you confident that Army and Defence Force generally are managing those in meaningful ways?
Major Gen. Fox: I am confident. I'm sure there are very different circumstances for each individual, but if those individuals bring their circumstances through the command chain and into the Defence People Group we always put measures in place to support people in better ways. An additional measure that we've brought forward just recently is extending carers' leave for our workforce to care for not only their immediate family but perhaps their parents who are in other locations. We've also adjusted our long service leave policy to provide that additional service flexibility. We've reduced the minimum period that you're allowed to go on long service leave down to seven days. Again, that's providing more flexibility for service. Whilst it might be seen to be good for women, it's actually good for the entirety of the Australian Defence Force to ensure, as we grow over time, the flexibility to serve is actually there.
Senator VAN: It's important it's across both.
Full transcript here.
