With 16 consecutive citations, Ashurst is the only law firm in Australia to be cited by the WGEA for its commitment to gender equality in the workplace every year since the award system was founded in 2001 by WGEA’s predecessor, the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA). Managing partner Paul Jenkins commented: ‘It’s a great achievement to receive the citation for the 16^th year running… To support this ongoing work, the firm and I personally remain committed to achieving our Diversity Strategy and Gender Targets to ensure we are attracting and harnessing the extraordinary talents of our people.’

Ambitious targets

The firm’s current gender targets in Australia include a commitment to ensuring that at least 40 per cent of new partners promoted each year are women. Additionally, the firm has committed to ensuring women occupy 25 per cent of its senior management roles and 25 per cent of its equity partnership by 2018. If figures from May 2016 are anything to go by, Ashurst is well on track to meet their gender diversity goals – 38 per cent of promoted partners were women this year, while women accounted for 18 per cent of senior management roles and 16 per cent of the equity partnership.