Gender Equality Reporting

Under the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 (the Act), private sector and Commonwealth public sector employers with 100 or more employees must lodge gender equality data each year through one of two reporting programs.

Programs and lodgement periods:

• Private Sector Reporting - 1 April to 31 May
• Public Sector Reporting - 1 September to 31 October

Publicly listed organisations must lodge a report in the private sector reporting program. Only Commonwealth public sector employers lodge reports in the public sector reporting program.
 

Registered relevant employers are enrolled in a Gender Equality Reporting program and must lodge data about their organisation to WGEA annually. Reports are prepared and lodged within the WGEA Employer Portal 

If your organisation meets the eligibility requirement and has not previously reported to WGEA, you must first register to report.

The Gender Equality Report consist of:

• Questionnaire: This is an online survey where employers answer questions about organisation policies, strategies, and actions to support gender equality.
   
• Workplace Profile (WPP): This is an Excel worksheet where workforce details are listed — including who works there, their base pay, and total annual earnings.
   
• Workforce Management Statistics (WMS): This is another Excel worksheet that tracks employee movements over the past year, like who joined, left, or changed roles.

Employers have important obligations under the Act to help ensure transparency and progress toward gender equality in Australian workplaces:

Annual Reporting

Employers must:

• Prepare and lodge a Gender Equality Report each year by the lodgement deadline.
   
• Include all required data and have the report approved by the CEO (or equivalent).
   
• Declare whether the report contains any personal information.
   
• Ensure all information lodged is accurate and not misleading.

After lodging the report

Employers are required to:

• Notify employees, shareholders, members, and relevant employee organisations that the report has been lodged.
   
• Make the report available to these groups (excluding any confidential information).
   
• Let employees and employee organisations know they can provide feedback on the report to the employer or WGEA.

Sharing WGEA reports

• The CEO (or equivalent) must share the Executive Summary and Industry Benchmark Report (provided by WGEA) with the organisation’s governing body, if there is one.

For large employers (directly employing 500+ employees)

• Comply with the gender equality standards.
   
• Provide any information requested by WGEA about compliance or performance against Gender Equality Standards.
   
• Select and achieve or demonstrate improvement against gender equality targets.

Stay informed

It is the employer’s responsibility to understand and meet all obligations under the Act. WGEA monitors compliance and may request additional information from time to time.

The Act establishes WGEA as a statutory agency, and the framework for employers to annually provide information to WGEA on matters relating to various gender equality indicators.

The following legislative instruments were made under the Act by the Minister for Women. 

• Workplace Gender Equality (Gender Equality Standards) Instrument 2023 which specifies the six gender equality indicators, and the minimum standards that specified employers are required to meet in relation to specified reporting periods; and
   
• Workplace Gender Equality (Matters in relation to Gender Equality Indicators) Instrument 2023 which sets out the matters relating to the six gender equality indicators in respect of which information is required to be provided in an employer report.
   
• Workplace Gender Equality (Gender Equality Targets) Instrument 2025: Requires employers with 500 or more employees to select and commit to achieving three gender equality targets from a menu of numeric and action-oriented targets. Employers have three years to meet or demonstrate improvement on their selected targets.

The above instruments replace the Workplace Gender Equality (Matters in relation to Gender Equality Indicators) Instrument 2013 (No.1) and Workplace Gender Equality (Minimum Standards) Instrument 2014 which are no longer in force but apply to employer reports for the 2023 (and earlier) reporting periods.