Elizabeth Broderick Photo: Angela WylieMELBOURNE, Victoria (The Age), November 24, 2007:
LIFE wasn't meant to be easy: it's one of the great aphorisms of Australian life, and it applies 10 times over for working mothers. Consider what Elizabeth Broderick did on Thursday. She got up before 6am in Sydney to organise a special birthday celebration for her daughter, who turned 10. Then, annoyingly, she discovered she'd left her make-up at work. Adding to the flurry, as she was running to make a morning flight to Melbourne to speak at a conference, her heel broke.
By any measure, though, it was a successful day for the new Sex Discrimination Commissioner. Her speech was well received by the women assembled. And, most importantly for her, she did make it home in time to greet the 15 guests or so her daughter, Lucy, had invited for the early evening birthday party.
"That's the life of a working parent: juggling all those things," Broderick says. There's nothing super-mum about her juggling act, she adds.
"Women have an incredible ability, I think, to improvise and be flexible in finding a solution … work-life balance is the result of the decisions you make every single day. It's not one decision to balance work and family," she says.
Broderick has taken some time out today during an interval at a Diversity Council Australia conference at Telstra Dome to speak about herself, rather than just her work. Who are her role models? Has she read the cornucopia of feminist texts, and did any make a mark? Does she espouse any religious belief? The questions come at her rapid-fire from this journalist — time, as ever, is limited — and Broderick gives a reflexive giggle in response to the barrage.
She sounds a bit nervous, in fact. She'll have to think about it and get back on some of those questions, she says. That apparent uncertainty is part of the disarmingly girlish style of the new Sex Discrimination Commissioner. Or could it be a carefully cultivated lawyer's propensity for caution? In the sea of seasoned media performers — her predecessor Pru Goward, who occasionally cooked dinner for Prime Minister John Howard, was certainly one — somehow there seems little that is rehearsed about 46-year-old Broderick. And that might have been part of her success as a woman in business.
To take this job at one of the most high-profile statutory authorities in the country, she took a hefty 50% pay cut. Despite succeeding in the legal sphere — the law is acknowledged to be one of the most difficult fields for women to progress into the top tiers — and becoming partner at just 34 in the leading law firm Blake Dawson Waldron, Broderick is not a big-noter. "She doesn't seem as confident and certain about all the issues as Pru was, and I like that freshness about her," remarks one woman at the conference.
Yet experience shows it doesn't pay to underestimate Broderick, whose identical twin sister, Jane Latimer, ("we both claimed for years to be the firstborn") is an associate professor at Sydney University. Their sister, junior by four years, is a sports medicine physician. The household of girls grew up in a middle-class Sydney setting around Cronulla. Their father was a nuclear medicine physician; their mother was trained as a physiotherapist and always worked. The sisters felt no limitations on their aspirations and opportunities in this environment.
Gender, Broderick says, was simply not an issue.
"I come from a line of very strong women. My maternal grandmother was a nurse in the 1920s. The story we grew up with in our household was when my grandfather first asked her to marry him, she said 'no' because she was building a career as a nurse. That was pretty forward-thinking for the 1920s, I think. "
The idea of being economically independent as adult women was a strong theme in the Broderick household, she says. Yet neither her mother, who died some years ago, nor her were outwardly conscious feminists who joined the organised women's movement in the 1970s or 1980s. But she did not have to be at the barricades to learn the lessons. The example set at home was equally compelling. The domestic burden, for example, was equally shared by her parents.
"Dad was just terrific, he shared the cooking and cleaning, so we never saw caring or unpaid work as 'women's work' in our house." It's a model that Broderick, who employs a regular babysitter but does not have a nanny, follows at home with her husband, banker turned financial consultant Hunter Southwick. The couple have been married for nearly 20 years.
When asked whether she would categorise herself as a "feminist", however, Broderick has another trademark moment of quiet contemplation before responding with a reasonably emphatic "yes". "But I've never thought 'politically'. I follow the issues," she says. "The fact is when I think of what I want for my daughter, and I think what my mother wanted for me, it's (having) economic independence, the ability to balance work and family — in the way that works for me, not 'one size fits all'. And, like any parent, my mother wanted for me to also have a life free of violence, harassment and discrimination. That is also what I want for my daughter."
She is all too aware, however, that this is not always the experience of Australian women or girls growing up. While it's "extremely difficult" to know the full extent to which domestic or sexual violence remains a feature of the lives of women today, Broderick laments that still nearly one in five women aged over 15 will experience some form of sexual violence during their lifetime. In the last financial year, moreover, a fifth of all complaints under the Sex Discrimination Act — the legislation she administers — was related to sexual harassment. More than 80% of those complaints came from women. "We know this is just the tip of the iceberg," she adds.
Broderick doesn't cloak her talk in euphemisms when assessing the state of men and women in modern Australia, either. "Sadly, on any of the key indicators of gender equality, Australia remains an unequal society," she tells the assembled women at the diversity function. "Whilst we can point to many inspiring examples of women and men who have broken the stereotypes, gender remains a major determinant of whether we get a 'fair go'."
Her vision is pretty clear as far as this new job goes. "In five years, I want gender not to be on the agenda. I want to be able to sit down with my kids, Tom and Lucy, and know that gender equality has enhanced both their lives. It's not a zero sum game where women win and men lose but rather, where the choices available to both men and women are enhanced."
The task has not been achieved by the seven sex discrimination commissioners who preceded her, although each in their own way made advances. More latterly the issue of paid maternity leave — Australia remains one of two OECD countries not to have addressed this issue — and the eternal question of work and life balance have acquired extra urgency.
Broderick is committed to advancing both issues. But as someone who helped pioneer the use of online services in her legal practice and negotiated to become one of the first part-time law partners in Australia after having children, she is not one to go after the impossible dream or set unachievable goals. She is highly practical and mainstream and these qualities should help her get some real results whatever the complexion of the government that is elected today.
Eva Cox, a founder of the Women's Electoral Lobby, is a champion of Broderick's low-key style. "I like her," Cox says. "She combines a nice mix of experience of feet on the parental ground and high-flying successes that gives her the capacity to both listen and innovate. I am hopeful that she will be able to be influential, whoever takes government."
Another one of Australia's first-wave feminists, Marie Coleman, also offers plaudits. "I think Elizabeth has some real promise — but it's hard to tell where she'll go … Clearly she sees some issues such as paid amount of leave and gender wage gap as big — but is looking for confirmation from her constituency."
Indeed, the pay gap is something Broderick continues to find astounding, citing figures that show this year, for example, women working full-time still earned about 16% less than men for doing the same kind of work. The gender pay gap is even greater after taking into account part-time work, she notes, citing statistics that show when this differential was added women earned an even more astounding 34% less than men. "We haven't made any progress in closing this gap in over 15 years. Look at my own industry, law — $1600 pay differential by the end of year one," she observes in a fierce tone by her softly spoken standards.
In a confluence with her second role as Age Discrimination Commissioner, she is also concerned about the position of women who "face a very uncertain future in their old age, in comparison to men".
It's startling, Broderick says, to realise that about half of all baby boomer women have $8000 or less in their super accounts — compared with $31,000 for men. "The current super payouts for women are only about one-third of men's — $37,000 for women compared to $110,000 for men," she adds.
As she mounts her arguments, there is a methodical lawyer's touch about Broderick's pronouncements. While Goward excelled at public promotion of women's issues, there are a few in the women's movement who mutter about what her high profile achieved in real results from the Howard Government.
Earlier this year, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission produced a major report about work and life — and it's some of these issues that Broderick, who has mastered the art of exercising quiet influence at the highest levels — is well placed to tackled behind the scenes.
Although she was appointed by Attorney-General Philip Ruddock she says she has no party-political connections. She says she's only met Ruddock in passing at functions.
As we come to the end of the conversation, and with some reflection, Broderick has come up with a few role models. While a lot of women have helped her out, she turns to history, footy and business for her inspiration. Social activist Caroline Chisholm, politician Enid Lyons and AFL commissioner Sam Mostyn are among the women she admires, she says.
She passes on the seminal feminist tracts, although she is up on the contemporary literature about women's dilemmas, including the "creeping non-choice" of women who postpone children and family.
She is not about one model of living though. It's all about choices, in the final analysis, she says. There's a gleam of fight in her eyes later as she tells the women at the diversity conference that there is enormous potential for change, too.
"To a large extent, Australia remains locked into the traditional role models between men and women associated with the sharing of paid work and unpaid care responsibilities. It's the ideal worker/ideal carer stereotype or, as it has been explained to me, the 'breadwinner' (and) 'breadmaker' model.
"Some people may think that things will never change — we should just accept that women and men are different and these traditional roles are the natural order of things. From my own life experience, and from the many men and women I have discussed these issues with, I am not convinced that it needs to be the natural order."
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Elizabeth Broderick CV
BORN: Sydney
FAMILY: Married to financial consultant Hunter Southwick. Children Lucy, 10, and Tom, 11.
EDUCATION: Graduated 1983 NSW University, law and arts (computer science) degrees.
CAREER
1985 Becomes solicitor in Sydney.
1988 Starts at leading law firm Blake Dawson Waldron.
2001-2002 Telstra NSW Businesswoman of the Year. Australian Businesswoman of the Year
1995-2005 Makes partner at age 34 at Blakes; goes on to establish and head a
groundbreaking online services practice.
2003 Included in BRW list of 20 rising female stars in Australian business.
2003-2006 Board member Blake Dawson Waldron.
SEPTEMBER 2007 Appointed Sex Discrimination Commissioner and Commissioner Responsible for Age Discrimination. Takes 50 per cent pay cut.
Farah Faroque is social affairs editor, The Age.
Copyright © 2007. The Age Company Ltd
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GOVERNMENT OF AUSTRALIA
Sex Discrimination Commissioner
and
Commissioner
responsible for
Age Discrimination
Elizabeth Broderick
Elizabeth Broderick is a lawyer, mentor and innovative leader, 2001/02 Telstra NSW Business Woman of the Year and Australian Corporate Business Woman of the Year. Prior to her appointment as Sex Discrimination Commissioner and Commissioner responsible for Age Discrimination, Elizabeth was a partner at one of Australia’s leading law firms, Blake Dawson Waldron. As a lawyer with the firm since 1995, Elizabeth has a combined computer science and law degree and more than 20 years experience as a legal practitioner.
At Blake Dawson Waldron she developed the firm's business case for flexibility in the workplace. This effectively demonstrated that without flexible work practices, business performance, profitability and productivity would be severely impacted by many millions of dollars. Her efforts created a workplace where more than 20 percent of the law firm’s workforce now use flexible arrangements.
She established the first Legal Technology Group within a law firm in Australia and is widely recognised as a leader in technology and the law, legal compliance and the delivery of online legal services to educate individuals about the law.
Elizabeth has been included in Business Review Weekly’s list of 20 rising female stars in Australian business, developed mentoring programs for teenage girls at State High Schools in Sydney and later a mentoring program for female university students.
Elizabeth has a particular interest in issues related to the impact of the internet, women in business, work and life balance, gender equality and corporate social responsibility. She is a regular speaker at international and domestic conferences.
Elizabeth is married and has two children.
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Age Discrimination Act 2004
The Age Discrimination Act 2004 helps to ensure that people are
not treated less favourably on the ground of age in various areas
of public life including:
employment
provision of goods and services
education
administration of Commonwealth laws and programs
The Act also provides for positive discrimination – that is,
actions which assist people of a particular age who experience
a disadvantage because of their age.
It also provides for exemptions in the following areas:
superannuation
migration, taxation and social security laws
state laws and other Commonwealth laws
some health programmes.
For further information: All about age discrimination.
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Copyright © Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
