Ninety-five percent of women still face at least one barrier to succeeding at work, with being judged or underestimated due to gender stereotypes the most common. That figure, from our 2026 What Women Want Report, is the reason WORK180 exists.
But knowing the problem is one thing. Choosing where to work is another. The Australian job market has more rankings, lists and accreditations for women-friendly workplaces than ever, which is genuinely useful, except for one thing. They tell you who’s good. They don’t tell you how to evaluate the employers who aren’t on any list yet, or how to read the difference between a credible commitment and a glossy mission statement.
This guide gives you both. The 2026 ranked list of Australia’s top employers for women, and the framework you can apply to any employer you’re considering. By the end, you’ll know how to spot a workplace that genuinely works for women, even if it’s the first time you’ve ever heard of them.
How we ranked Australia’s top workplaces for women in 2026
How endorsement works, and the ten standards we rank against
Endorsement and ranking are two different things. To be endorsed by WORK180, an employer has to clear three minimum criteria:
- Meet or exceed our minimum for paid parental leave and be open to flexible working;
- Commit to working with us to keep improving their policies, benefits and initiatives over time;
- Be transparent by publishing their benefits and policies on our website for women to find.
Endorsement doesn’t require an employer to hit a minimum level on every one of the ten standards below. Instead, we assess every endorsed employer against these ten standards to determine who the best employers for women are, and that’s what drives our annual ranking for the Top 101 Workplaces for Women list. They cover the policies and practices women told us matter most to their careers:
- Flexible working
- Paid parental leave
- Pay equity action
- Career development
- Women in leadership
- Domestic and family violence support
- Caring leave and support
- Wellness and inclusion
- Anti-discrimination and harassment prevention
- Inclusive recruitment
Endorsement isn’t a one-time check. It requires ongoing commitment to improvement, and our annual assessment against the ten standards surfaces who’s setting the pace.
The data behind the rankings
Every endorsed employer completes a detailed diversity, equity and inclusion assessment that goes far beyond what you’d find on a careers page. We collect specifics: the exact number of paid weeks of primary carer leave, whether super is paid during leave, whether tenure-based eligibility applies, the proportion of women in senior leadership, the design of remuneration policies, the structure of harassment reporting mechanisms.
This data lets us rank employers against each other consistently, and it’s also the data we surface on every employer profile so you can compare them yourself.
Why these ten standards matter more than mission statements
A mission statement tells you what an employer wants to be seen as. The ten standards tell you what they actually do. The difference is the gap between intention and impact, and it’s where most jobseekers get caught out.
When you’re researching an employer, the question to ask isn’t “what do they say about women?” It’s “what specifically have they put in place, and how does it compare to other organisations in the same industry?”
Australia’s top 10 workplaces for women in 2026
The full ranked list of 101 employers is published in our annual top workplaces feature. Here’s the top 10 in order, with what makes each one stand out.
- EY (consulting and professional services). Known for 26 weeks of universal paid parental leave and women holding 55% of the seats on its governing body.
- hipages Group (IT, digital and online media). Known for sending 59% of its promotions to women over the last year, backed by structured leadership development.
- Powerlink Queensland (electricity, gas, water and waste). Known for a four-day work week at full salary and 18 weeks of paid parental leave.
- Dentons Australia (legal services). Known for 26 weeks of universal paid parental leave with no waiting period, plus a return-to-work program for older women.
- Experian ANZ (information services). Known for 17 weeks of paid parental leave at full pay and 25 days of annual leave.
- Liberty Financial (banking, investment and finance). Known for genuine flexible work and 14 weeks of paid parental leave, with mentoring and coaching built in.
- SYSTRA ANZ (engineering). Known for flexible work and financial contributions towards external qualifications.
- Barwon Water (electricity, gas, water and waste). Known for a 0% gender pay gap and a nine-day fortnight at full salary.
- Essential Energy (mining, resources and energy). Known for a nine-day fortnight at full salary and 26 weeks of universal paid parental leave.
- Nufarm (agriculture, forestry and fisheries). Known for unlimited paid community service leave and 12 weeks of paid parental leave.
The full list of 101 endorsed employers is available in the annual top workplaces ranking.
What separates the top 10 from the rest
Looking at the data across the top 10, three patterns stand out.
The first is consistency across all ten standards, not exceptional performance on one or two. The top-ranked employers tend to score strongly on flexibility and parental leave and pay equity and leadership representation. Employers ranked outside the top 10 often have one or two impressive policies and gaps elsewhere.
The second is policy depth. The top-ranked employers don’t just have flexible work, they have it as a default. They don’t just offer parental leave, they remove tenure waiting periods. They don’t just talk about pay equity, they conduct annual gender pay gap analysis with action.
The third is transparency. The top-ranked employers publish detailed information about their policies and progress, often including their WGEA reports and gender equality targets, rather than only the highlights.
Best companies for women by industry in Australia
Different industries have different starting points and different challenges. Here are some of the strongest endorsed employers across major Australian industries. For the full list of who we endorse in each industry, you can browse our directory.
