Gender equality at Allens

Allens' aim is to foster an inclusive, supportive and collaborative culture. Continuing to progress gender equality and having an equitable and inclusive workplace delivers better outcomes for our people, clients and communities.

We are committed to equitable opportunities and outcomes for all genders, removal of unfair barriers to workforce participation, and the elimination of harassment and discrimination on the basis of gender. 

We understand that a lot of elements work together to support gender equality. Our career model, policies and initiatives have been developed with an emphasis on gender equity. Read more about our parental leave package and our approach to flexible working, underpinned by inclusive practices to help normalise flexibility and caring for all genders, and support for all families, including LGBTIQA+ families. Learn more about inclusion and diversity at Allens.

Our approach to gender equality is outlined below.

Representation: our 40:40:20 aim

We are committed to 40% women, 40% men, 20% any gender at all role levels.

We have achieved and aim to maintain 40:40:20 across our partnership, legal employee base, Board and senior leadership roles across our corporate services teams.

Women represent more than 50% at all legal levels outside of partnership, and across our Corporate Services team.

Our commitments

Allens has been recognised by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) as an Employer of Choice for Gender Equality for the past 20 years.

We are also signatory to a number of standards which we work to uphold:

• The UN women's empowerment principles (we were one of the first organisations in Australia to become a signatory)
• Law Council of Australia's National Equitable Briefing Policy
• Law Council of Australia's Diversity and Equality Charter
• NSW Law Society's Charter for the Advancement of Women in the Legal Profession
• Law Institute of Victoria's Charter for the Advancement of Women in the Legal Profession

Women@Allens

Our long-standing Women@Allens network is run by our people with support from senior partners in each office and focuses on supporting and accelerating our gender equality progress.

Our gender pay gap

Using WGEA's definitions and methodology, in the year to 31 March 2024, Allens' organisation-wide employee pay gaps as reported to WGEA were:

• Average: 11.3% for total remuneration and 10.3% for base salary; and
• Median: 10.4% for total remuneration and 10.1% for base salary.^

This compares to Australia's national average gender pay gaps of 21.8% for total remuneration and 16.7% for base salary, and median pay gaps of 18.3% for total remuneration and 13.6% for base salary based on WGEA's data-set encompassing over 5.17 million Australian employees across more than 7,000 organisations in 19 industries.

Allens has taken and will continue to take steps to improve gender equality within the firm. There is more we can do and are committed to continued action for our firm, our profession and to contribute to a more gender equal society.

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) uses a definition of the gender pay gap that focuses on average and median earnings. WGEA acknowledges that this means that the 'gender pay gap' and 'equal pay' are different concepts and WGEA explains that 'gender pay gaps are not a comparison of like roles'. Visit the WGEA website for further information on the gender pay gap.

*https://www.wgea.gov.au/the-gender-pay-gap 

^Gender pay gaps are currently reported from a binary perspective; ie, comparing the average or median earnings of men and women. There is insufficient data for remuneration insights about non-binary and gender diverse communities, however this is something WGEA is working to address: https://www.wgea.gov.au/pay-and-gender/how-to-calculate-gender-pay-gap#what-about-non-binary-employees.