Why is this important for my business?
Improved financial performance[1]
Evidence from across a range of sectors demonstrates that organisations with greater gender diversity, particularly in leadership positions[2], typically achieve superior financial performance[3]. This includes improved return on investment, better risk management and more effective resource allocation. McKinsey & Company (2018), for example, found that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on their executive teams were 21% more likely to experience above-average profitability compared to those in the bottom quartile[4]. For the wine industry, these benefits can provide crucial advantages in a competitive global market.
Increased personnel satisfaction and knowledge retention
Gender-diverse teams bring varied perspectives to problem-solving and decision-making. The diversity advantage extends beyond financial returns to include reduced turnover costs and enhanced knowledge retention. In the wine industry, this translates to improved operational practices across vineyard management, winemaking techniques and business operations.
Attracting talent and increasing innovation
Increasing the diversity of gender representation across the industry, particularly in leadership roles, brings valuable perspectives to product development, marketing strategies and consumer engagement[5]. Research indicates that diverse teams[6] are more innovative and better equipped to address complex challenges, from responding to climate change to adopting new technologies. Significantly, in an industry with a considerable share of businesses being family-owned and multi-generational, gender equity is crucial for effective succession planning. Expanding the talent pool through inclusive practices ensures businesses can identify and develop the best leadership candidates. This approach is particularly vital for regional businesses seeking to maintain long-term viability.
Health and Safety benefits
Inclusive workplace cultures have been shown to demonstrate better health and safety[7] outcomes and reduced instances of workplace harassment[8]. An inclusive approach is more likely to ensure workplace health and safety legislative requirements are fulfilled, such as those regarding appropriate facilities, appropriate use of machinery and equipment, personal protective equipment and physical work requirements after injury and during pregnancy. Further, meeting legislated requirements to manage wellbeing in the workplace, including sexual harassment as well as other forms of harassment and discrimination, meets organisation-wide responsibilities. An inclusive approach has health and safety benefits for the entire workforce – this is an advantage for employees of all genders.
Improved market reputation and representation
Research into wine consumer behaviour in Australia shows that the number of consumers buying wine is slowing[9]. Women represent a significant proportion of wine consumers and decision-makers in wine purchasing and are a potential growth segment. Diverse teams are better positioned to understand and respond to evolving market preferences and create products that appeal to a broader consumer base. Proactive adoption of gender equity practices puts organisations in a position to meet evolving regulatory requirements and industry standards.
Understanding your legal obligations
Australian wine businesses of all sizes have specific legal obligations regarding gender equity and workplace equality. Your first duty is to ensure you understand and fully comply with your legal obligations regarding gender equality in your workplace.
This section outlines key legislative requirements and industry standards.
Additional resources and links to relevant websites can be found in the ‘Further information’ section of this toolkit.
Anti-Discrimination Legislation
The Sex Discrimination Act 1984, along with state and territory anti-discrimination laws, establishes fundamental protections against gender-based discrimination in the workplace. Among other things, these laws protect and prohibit discriminatory behaviour in all aspects of employment, from recruitment to promotion and termination. Businesses must understand their obligations regarding pregnancy and family responsibilities, as well as requirements for preventing and responding to sexual harassment. This legislation requires proactive measures to ensure workplace practices do not directly or indirectly discriminate against employees based on gender.
Fair Work Act
The Fair Work Act provides essential protections and entitlements related to gender equity in the workplace. These include the right to request flexible working arrangements, comprehensive parental leave entitlements and protection from adverse action based on gender or family responsibilities. The Act also establishes requirements for enterprise bargaining and modern award conditions that support gender equity. Wine industry employers must ensure their practices align with these requirements while considering the unique operational demands of vineyard and winery work.
Positive Duty Law
In December 2022 a new positive duty law was introduced under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth).It imposes a legal obligation on organisations and businesses to take proactive and meaningful action to prevent relevant unlawful conduct from occurring in the workplace or in connection to work. Taking preventative action will help to create safe, respectful and inclusive workplaces. Regardless of their size or resources, all organisations and businesses in Australia that have obligations under the Sex Discrimination Act must meet the positive duty. This includes sole traders and the self-employed, small, medium and large businesses, and government.
Guidance and education resources are available on the website: Positive Duty | Preventing Workplace Sexual Harassment
Work Health and Safety
Workplace health and safety obligations require specific consideration of gender-related factors in risk assessment and management. This includes addressing physical work requirements during pregnancy, ensuring appropriate facilities and personal protective equipment for all employees, and managing psychosocial hazards including sexual harassment. Safe work procedures must consider gender differences while avoiding discriminatory assumptions about capability. The seasonal and physical nature of wine industry work requires particular attention to these requirements.
Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012
The Workplace Gender Equality Act establishes specific requirements for larger organisations within the industry. Businesses with one hundred or more employees must comply with comprehensive reporting obligations, including annual submissions detailing their workforce's gender composition. The 2024 amendment to the Act now requires employers with 500 or more employees to commit to additional reporting across selected gender equality targets, meeting or improving upon these indicators over a three-year period. These reports must include detailed workplace programs and policies, as well as remuneration data and pay equity analyses. Non-compliance with these requirements can result in significant consequences, including potential ineligibility for government funding and contracts. Even for smaller businesses not directly subject to these reporting requirements, the Act provides valuable frameworks for best practice in workplace gender equality.
Industry standards and implementation
Moving beyond the first step of understanding and meeting your legislative requirements, diversity done well is an opportunity to build and progress your business.
This toolkit brings together the legal requirements, industry experience and emerging best practices to enable businesses to move beyond basic compliance towards genuine equity, with scalable approaches regardless of size and start point.
For small businesses, the focus is on establishing essential policies and procedures that meet legal requirements while building foundations for more comprehensive initiatives.
Medium-sized enterprises receive guidance on developing systematic approaches to gender equity, while larger organisations can access frameworks for comprehensive programs and reporting mechanisms.
This graduated approach ensures that businesses of all sizes can work towards common industry standards while implementing changes appropriate to their scale and resources.
By combining clear industry standards with practical implementation guidance, we can support the systematic advancement of gender equity across the Australian wine sector. This approach recognises that achieving meaningful change requires both high-level commitment to industry standards and practical tools for implementation at the business level. - Lee McLean, CEO, Australian Grape & Wine
Purpose and objectives
Created through extensive consultation with industry stakeholders, including focus groups with women and gender diverse employees in the wine industry, advisory group input and industry symposium feedback, this toolkit responds to the specific challenges and opportunities identified within the Australian wine sector.
Its primary objective is to support businesses of all sizes – from small family-owned vineyards to large corporate entities – in implementing effective gender equity practices. The toolkit provides scalable solutions that address key areas including attraction and recruitment and inclusive retention practices, such as flexible work arrangements, managing parental leave, training and career advancement, mentoring, leadership development and equal pay.
The toolkit also addresses cultural change, including eliminating sexual harassment and building inclusive workplaces, and finally, offers guidance for organisational assessment and reporting.
The toolkit responds to key findings from the 'Gender Equality Scoping Study of the Australian Grape and Wine Sector'[10] and focuses on prioritising opportunities for greatest gains across the sector.
By offering concrete frameworks, templates and guidance, it aims to bridge the gap between gender equity aspirations and practical implementation, whether you are starting your gender equity journey or seeking to enhance existing initiatives.
Using this toolkit
The toolkit provides practical support starting with the legal obligations with which all businesses must comply.
It then provides suggestions and examples of workplace strategies and mechanisms around four major areas of consideration: attraction and recruitment, retention, cultural change and organisational assessment.
The unique characteristics of the wine industry require tailored approaches to implementing gender equity initiatives that acknowledge the specific challenges and opportunities that arise from the industry's seasonal patterns, physical work requirements, regional operations and diverse business structures. Therefore, the resources within the toolkit are drawn from knowledge within the wine industry and come from the outcomes of the Focus group data from the ‘Gender Equality Scoping Study of the Australian Grape and Wine Sector: Phase Two Report - Focus Groups'[11] , commissioned by Wine Australia and conducted by Charles Sturt University and the University of New South Wales.
Adapting this toolkit for your business needs
Small businesses in the wine sector require quick and cost-effective solutions that deliver effective outcomes without excessive administrative burden. With an emphasis on meeting essential legal requirements, additional practical and cost-effective strategies that can be managed within limited resources will build foundations for progress. This includes HR-focused tools for use by owners and managers in smaller enterprises. Measures should be practical and meaningful while remaining manageable for smaller operations.
Medium businesses in the wine sector will be focused on building and developing from foundational processes. Guidance on developing systematic approaches to gender equity call for an audit of your current position, drawing from nation-wide gender equity initiatives that focus on the key challenges of companies of a similar scale. Developing a range of initiatives and supporting workplace practice through HR-specific resources will ensure the strengths of your diverse workforce can be leveraged further.
Large businesses in the wine sector can focus on establishing business-as-usual approaches to measurement and reporting requirements. Data collection mechanisms can be automated to a large degree, embedded into broader reporting systems where gender equity commitments can be central to strategy and operational concerns. Gender equity should become part of the portfolio of Human Resource (HR) Business Partner roles or equivalent. Larger organisations can position themselves as industry leaders in gender equity.
Family businesses in the wine sector face unique challenges in implementing gender equity initiatives, particularly around succession planning and role definition. Clear frameworks for managing work-life integration, developing family-friendly policies and maintaining professional boundaries are essential. These must balance family dynamics with professional requirements while supporting equity objectives.
Acknowledgements
The contents of this toolkit were developed by an independent research team at Charles Sturt University and UNSW Canberra, drawing on robust data. The expert research team provides targeted recommendations that identify actions with the potential for high impact to address key priority challenges for gender equality in the wine sector. These insights come from scholars with proven track records in advancing gender equity across a range of Australian male-dominated industries.
This toolkit was commissioned and funded by Wine Australia, in collaboration with Australian Grape & Wine’s Diversity, Equality and Inclusion in Wine (DEIW) Committee.
We thank the research team, members of the AGW DEIW Committee, committed individuals from the Project Advisory Group, Wine Australia and AGW staff.
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