Welcome to Love Mondays, a weekly newsletter designed as a 3-minute hit to fire up the other 10,077 minutes of your week.

We've (not) come a long way baby

We know how much we love a challenge as much as we Love Mondays so let's get on board with empowering underrepresented leaders this week!

The 2022 Chief Executive Women Census is out and while the results aren't great, (Australia's biggest companies are actually going backwards in terms of female executive appointments), there are actions we can all take to address the global issue of gender equality.

How do you support gender equality? Write it down.

Consider: your own conscious and unconscious biases.

Practice: Speaking up about gender inequality when you see it.

Decide to: Become a champion for parity through advocacy, sponsorship or mentorship.

Put the pedal to the metal

There are proven benefits to appointing more women into leadership roles, and as labour shortages continue, the need to accelerate progress towards gender parity is urgent.

We can all play a role in forging gender parity. As individuals we can advocate for others and ourselves; speak up if we see gender stereotyping or bias; and explore and understand our own conscious and unconscious biases.

Companies of all sizes can act on a number of fronts when it comes to female representation in senior leadership teams, starting with the five accelerators for success as recommended in the report, “Take it from the Top: Accelerating Women’s representation in Executive Leadership”.

A brighter and more equitable future is possible and with swift and targeted action, it's possible much sooner than in 132 years. When we know more, we can do more and we can be the change we want to see. The time to invest in equality is now.

Love your Mondays.