A man once told Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick that being `Brodericked’ on gender inequality is like a prostate examination – uncomfortable but necessary.

And she says this relentless persistence is one of the main things that will accelerate change.

As her eight-year tenure at the Australian Human Rights Commission draws to a close, Ms Broderick says there’s still plenty to be done.

• Gender pay gap remains a reality 
• Has gender equality ‘buggered up’ golf clubs?

In an address to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia in Sydney on Friday, she painted a grim picture of a modern woman’s career.

“Fewer big Australian companies are run by women than by men named Peter,” she said.

“And indeed companies run by a Peter, a Michael, a David or an Andrew outnumber those run by women four to one.”

Ms Broderick mentioned a recent report commissioned by the ANZ bank, which found across a lifetime, full-time working women earn $700,000 less than men.

“(And) one in four women has been sexually harassed in the workplace in the last five years,” she said.

It’s no wonder she’s strived to be tenacious.

As the founder of the Male Champions of Change, Ms Broderick has put the hard word on almost 150 men of power around Australia to band together and tackle gender discrimination in organisations and the community.

One such man was Origin Energy chairman Gordon Cairns, who was clear in explaining why he agreed to join the initiative.

“You don’t say no to Liz,” he said.

Mr Cairns said the number of female directors in Australia’s top 200 stock market-listed companies is 19.3 per cent, and the rate of change is slowing.

He said the continued under-representation of women in parliament, boardrooms and leadership positions was appalling.

“As you go higher up the hierarchy women are less well represented – this, my friends, is called the stupidity curve,” he said.

But to Mr Cairns, the solution was a difficult cultural change.

“Men invented the system, men run the system, and the only way the system will change is if we change,” he said.

That means confronting stereotypes and excuses for the minuscule numbers of women in senior roles, which include “It’s the motherhood penalty”, “Women lack ambition” and “Workplaces should be meritocracies”, he said.

“We will never make progress unless we embrace targets – not quotas – but targets,” he said.

Mr Cairns said CEOs must set gender diversity as a key performance indicator alongside things like economic profit and low staff turnover.

And he believes there’s more than just a moral and ethical case for gender parity.

“The return on equity for companies who have significant equality in gender is 10 per cent higher, the earnings before interest and tax are 48 per cent higher and the stock price multiple is 1.7 times.”

– AAP