Employers with 500+ employees required to publish gender equality targets

At a glance

• On 27 March 2025, new laws came into force which will require employers with 500 or more employees to set three gender quality targets and make progress against them over a three year period.
• The targets must be reported as part of employers' 2025-2026 gender pay gap reports (ie in April / May 2026).
• Employers will have a menu of targets to select from, but at least one chosen target must be numerical.

The federal Parliament has passed a new law which will require large employers with 500 or more employees to demonstrate progress towards gender equality as part of their 2025-2026 gender pay gap reports to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA). There are no mandatory obligations with respect to targets for employers with fewer than 500 employees but these businesses are encouraged to set and monitor their own voluntary targets.

Employers who are within scope of the new rules will need to select three targets from a menu of potential options, which include both numeric and action-based measures.  At least one of the targets selected must be numerical.

The WGEA will provide support to help employers select the best targets for their organisation, and the targets chosen will be published on the WGEA's Data Explorer website, alongside the employer's gender pay gap data already published there. The menu of target options will be published in coming weeks via a legislative instrument.

Employers will have three years to make progress against the targets.  Where a target is not achieved, employers will need to be able to demonstrate that they have at least made progress towards meeting the goal, or be deemed to be non-compliant. Outcomes on the selected targets will also be published at the end of each three year period.

For more information on gender gay gap reporting obligations in Australia, please see our Gender pay transparency guide.