At an Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce gathering in Sydney this week Westpac Chief Gail Kelly announced a new target to lift female representation in the Bank's top 10% leadership ranks from the 33% of present to 40% by 2014.  Speaking at the same event, Prime Minister Julia Gillard and prominant board director Catherine Livingstone also shared their views on gender equality in leadership, echoing my opinion that it's an issue that requires dedicated, consistent and ongoing focus to achieve significant change - as you would expect from any major change program.

Catherine Livingstone's comments are particularly pertinent: that you firstly need consistent policies over time because if you don't maintain the consistency you regress, and secondly it has to be part of your succession planning - not just at senior leadership levels but at all levels throughout the organisation.

Click here to access video footage from the event and commentary from Mairie Steele, Acting Director of EOWA, who supports the Westpac move and notes that the devil will be in the execution for Westpac.  Let's wait and see how that pans out.

With thanks to Rachel Slade at Westpac and Doug Rowell at 3M for sending us this clip - if you have a news item to share we'd love to hear from you too.