Elizabeth Broderick

Recent Speaker

Australia's Sex Discrimination Commissioner

April 29, 2009

"Women on the verge of recession: Confronting gender issues in turbulent times

As the impact of the global financial crisis deepens, the need to cut costs will accelerate and job losses will hit many. In this recession, it is likely that women will fare worse than ever before.  There are more women in the workforce now, more women as primary breadwinners or heading sole parent families. Many of the sectors affected are highly feminised.  How can we use the current economic context to strive for innovation? What part will a paid parental leave scheme play? Can we use this time of change to better harness the full productive capacity that women offer?

Elizabeth Broderick was appointed Sex Discrimination Commissioner and Commissioner responsible for Age Discrimination on 10 September 2007 for a 5 year term.


Lawyer and businesswoman, Elizabeth was the 2001-02 Telstra NSW Business Woman of the Year and Australian Corporate Business Woman of the Year.
Prior to her appointment as Sex Discrimination Commissioner and Commissioner responsible for Age Discrimination, Elizabeth was a partner at one of Australia’s leading law firms, Blake Dawson, and developed the firm’s business case for flexibility in the workplace. Her efforts contributed to creating a workplace where more than 20 percent of the law firm’s workforce now uses flexible work arrangements.


Elizabeth has travelled the length and breadth of Australia listening to women and men’s concerns about gender equality and age discrimination. In 2009, she took a group of aboriginal women to the Commission on the Status of Women in the United Nations where they told their story of rebuilding their community following years of alcohol abuse. This opportunity enabled community women’s voices to be heard on a global stage.


Elizabeth is an advisor on women’s issues to the Australian Chief of the Defence Force, a member of the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Advisory Board and the Vic Health Advisory Board. She is patron of the Tasmanian Education Foundation.


Elizabeth is married and has two young children.