"Why does workplace gender diversity (WGD) matter? This may seem like an obsolete question, given the ubiquity of platitudes regarding the importance of 'diversity and inclusion.' But in fact, WGD is a complicated and contested topic. Misunderstandings and disagreements regarding the nature of sex differences and their relevance in the workplace, neglect of the full breadth of reasons for striving to achieve greater WGD, and simplistic expectations of likely organizational benefits are commonplace." - Fine, Sojo & Lawford-Smith (2020), Social Issues & Policy Review.

Here you will find selected examples of Cordelia Fine's academic and popular work exploring the topic of workplace gender equality.  University of Melbourne students can explore the subject Gender Diversity in the Workplace. 

Cordelia Fine has spoken on this topic at a diverse range of organizations and events, including Women in Mining & Resources WA, Coles Group, Women World Changers Summit, European Molecular Biological Organization (keynote), National Gender Equality Conference Sweden (keynote), RANZCO Congress-Women in Ophthalmology and the Wellcome Sanger Institute. 

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"The media's role in reinforcing workplace inequalities or highlighting possibilities for change could have a large impact on community support for or rejection of workplace gender diversity, and initiatives to increase it."

"This Lancet issue on women in medicine seeks to address some confronting topics: from a 'system imbued with gender bias to the 'unequal distribution of power within societies'. These important ideas can at times feel like endangered concepts: in discussions about equality in recent decades, principles of equity and social justice have been increasingly crowded out by market logic and rhetoric." (With Victor Sojo)

​"Right from the start, perhaps reassured by the neoliberal promise that a competitive market provides all the regulation and mechanically induced ethics that a society requires, the rhetoric of diversity management 'began to ignore civil-rights/social justice arguments … and took an economic turn', note management academics Cliff Oswick and Mike Noon." 

"Despite more than 25 years of anti-discrimination legislation, it remains the case that the higher up any organisational ladder you look, the fewer women you see."