Fairer representation for women

At HESTA, we believe the time for rhetoric about gender balance is over. That’s why we launched 40:40 Vision back in October 2020 with the support of industry partners Chief Executive Women, the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors, 30% Club and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.

40:40 Vision calls on companies to make a public commitment to pursue a gender diverse executive team. The objective is to achieve a balance of 40 per cent women, 40 per cent men and 20 per cent any gender in their executive leadership by 2030.

Signatories must also set gender targets in the shorter term, make a public plan for how they will meet those targets and report annually on their progress.

Current ASX200 signatories are household names with a combined value of $511bn and include: ANZ, BHP, Bluescope, Domino’s, IDP Education, IGO, Mirvac, NextDC, Origin, Pendal, Ramsay Health, SkyCity, South32, Tabcorp, Viva Energy, Webjet and Westpac.

40:40 vision extended to ASX300

In May 2022, 40:40 vision expanded to the ASX300, with Southern Cross Austereo, Adairs, Healius, QBE, Iress and Challenger among the latest signatories.
Eighteen months after the launch of 40:40 Vision, we’re pleased to report that 23 ASX300 companies, representing close to 25 per cent of the market capitalisation of all ASX300 companies, have signed up to the investor-led initiative.

We’re urging more ASX300 companies to become a part of 40:40 Vision and ensure their shareholders, employees and the broader community benefit from improving gender diversity.

More to do

HESTA CEO Debby Blakey recently observed, “There’s a lot more that needs to be done; at this rate it would take 65 years or until 2086 before women make up 40% of roles in executive leadership teams”.

We urge more ASX300 companies to become a part of 40:40 Vision and ensure their shareholders, employees and the broader community benefit from improving gender diversity.

Super and Commonwealth Paid Parental Leave

HESTA is leading a push for improved financial security for women in retirement by calling on the government to pay super on the Commonwealth Parental Leave Pay scheme. Parental leave is the only commonly taken form of paid leave with no entitlement to super and over 93% of all parental leave is taken by women. This change would add around $14,000 to a HESTA member’s super savings at retirement following two periods of parental leave.

The Albanese government has pledged to make significant progress on gender equity issues. HESTA will keep advocating strongly that superannuation on paid parental leave and other measures to improve our members’ financial security should be high on the agenda.

Issued by H.E.S.T. Australia Ltd ABN 66 006 818 895 AFSL 235249, the Trustee of HESTA ABN 64 971 749 321. This information is of a general nature. It does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or specific needs so you should look at your own financial position and requirements before making a decision. You may wish to consult an adviser when doing this. The target market determination for HESTA products can be found at hesta.com.au/tmd Before making a decision about HESTA products you should read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement (call 1800 813 327 or visit hesta.com.au for a copy), and consider any relevant risks (visit hesta.com.au/understandingrisk).