In March 2021 Victoria introduced the Gender Equality Act 2020 (The Act). The Act seeks to improve and promote workplace gender equality by mandating public sector organisations to develop and implement a Gender Equality Action Plan (GEAP).
Public sector organisations, such as GWMWater, play an important role in shaping services and policies impacting gender equality in the community and in role modelling gender equality to the public that we serve.
In developing the GEAP, we acknowledge that gender inequality can be amplified by disadvantage or discrimination arising from other characteristics such as Aboriginality, disability, ethnicity, gender identity, race, religion and sexual orientation.
Download the Gender Equality Action Plan
You can also see our Gender Equality Action Plan Progress Report
Gender Equality
For GWMWater, gender equality means that we have a workplace that identifies and addresses disadvantage in all its forms and ensures equal access of opportunities and resources to all employees irrespective of their gender.
Gender
It is important to understand the difference between gender and sex. Gender is a social construct, where people see themselves as a man, woman, non-binary or gender-fluid. Sex refers to biological sex characteristics and includes male, female and intersex. Achieving gender equality helps to remove expectations on the sexes, allowing people to be equal, and ensuring freedom from stereotypes that may be limiting or damaging.
