b'BACK TO NAVIGATIONCentre (BCEC) and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) found that an increase in the share of female top-tier managers by 10 percentage points or more led to a 6.6 per cent increase in the market value of Australian ASX-listed companies, worth the equivalent of AUD$104.7 million. The Workplace Gender Equality Agency has documented a range of organisational benefits of gender equality and the Grattan Institute has calculated that removing barriers for women to enter the workforce could boost the Australian economy by around $25 billion per year.Legal Responses State and national legal societies and other bodies are showing significant leadership in gender equality and six out of seven serving law society presidents are women. State law societies and law firms support the Law Council of Australias commitments, targets and programs including the Diversity and Equality Charter and Equitable Briefing Policy.The Policy includes interim and long-term targets with the objective of briefing women in at least thirty percent of all matters and paying them thirty percent of the value of all brief fees by 2020. The Law Councils 2018-19 survey of performance against this policy was 27% and 20% respectively.This year the NSW Law Society also launched a Sexual Harassment in the Law portal that provides information and training to solicitors along with resources to seek assistance and avenues to report complaints.Corporate Australia, however, is changing.Between 2016 and 2020 the number of women on the Boards of ASX200-listed companies grew from 7.4 percent to 30% with only nine companies in this group continuing to have all male boards. Comparison of Gender Equality PerformanceThe Workplace Gender Equality Authority collects and provides annual data on a range of gender equality issues. The latest data shows that the Australian legal sector performs strongly against similar industry sectors in gender related commitment and performance.AusLSA Members Total Legal ServicesAll Professional ServicesAccounting Services Aust IndustryPolicy 91% 84% 83% 74% 75%Targets 64% 48% 42% 39% 32%Female ManagementNot measured63% 47% 49% 49%PromotionsComposition Key Management/General34% 35% 28% 23% 32%Manager Composition Lawyers64% 63% 46% 53% 53%and ProfessionalsGender Pay GapNot measured 10% 17% 8% 16%(professionals)Source: WGEA Data ExplorerTARGETS GENDER PROFILE90%80%70%60%50%40%30%20%10%0%Female Female FemaleNon-Legal Staff Legal Staff PartnersYes 68% No 29%Not Reported 3%23'