A “Glass Ceiling” is described as “the unseen, yet unbreakable barrier that keeps women from rising to the upper rungs of the corporate ladder, regardless of their qualifications or achievements.”  But now the walls will be transparent, too, so Australians can witness how workplaces are integrating women into upper management.

Members of the group “Male Champions of Change” are adopting a framework for greater transparency in reporting the advancement of women into senior leadership positions within their organizations. 

They have agreed to report on targets and the progress on the numbers of women in at least three layers of management, which will be published online or in the participating companies’ annual reports.  Participating CEOs will be held responsible for meeting set gender targets in their performance reviews where possible.

The chair of Wengeo Group and Springboard Enterprises Wendy Simpson says Australia needs to embrace gender diversity in business leadership roles to be internationally competitive.

“We want as many talented people participating in business leadership as we can and we need to get the talent from the men and women,” she says, adding, “Hopefully people will realise that this is about lifting the general performance of Australia and it’s not about keeping records for the sake of keeping records.”

Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick convened the group in 2010, with 14 corporate leaders from companies including ANZ, Citi Australia/NZ, IBM Australia and NZ, ASX, Qantas and Woolworths, as well as the chief of Army David Morrison (and you don’t want to mess with that guy).