Australia’s Centre for Gender Equity has developed a diagnostic tool to rate workplaces on their attitudes towards women.

Authorities say that while gender rules, quotas and targets help adjust the everyday face of an organisation, it is the underlying attitudes that truly define gender equity.

The rating tool consists largely of an employee survey.

It is filled out by every employee in an organisation, and has different sets of questions for workers in authoritative positions and those beneath them

The potentially powerful human resources tool measures responses to key words and attributes, seeking double standards in attitudes to men and women.

Some of the key words and attributes include; ‘intelligent’, ‘tough’, ‘thinks outside the box’, ‘team player’, ‘ambitious’, ‘good listener’.

The software places them in several different contexts so that respondents cannot guess what equitable answers might be expected.

The result are arranged in manner designed to show exactly where training programs and departmental help can be targeted.

It does not single-out individual employees for their sexist responses, but results are split up enough for companies to identify any hotspots of backward views.

The designers at the Centre for Gender Equity say their tool can measure the attitudes of various age demographics, particular departments, or workers of any given experience level.

More details are available from the official site.