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Elizabeth Broderick
 Elizabeth Broderick AO is an Australian lawyer, who was the Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner for over eight years from 2007 to 2015 and has been a United Nations special rapporteur for Discrimination against Women and Girls since 2017. She is a former partner and head of legal technology at Ashurst Australia (then called Blake Dawson Waldron), a global commercial law firm. Early life and educationBroderick grew up in Caringbah, New South Wales as the daughter of a doctor and physiotherapist, Frank and Margot. She has two sisters including an identical twin, emeritus Professor Jane Latimer AO,[1][2] and Carolyn Broderick.[3] Elizabeth Broderick was head girl in 1978 at Meriden School, Strathfield while Jane Latimer was head girl at MLC School in neighbouring Burwood in the same year.[3] CareerBroderick is trained as a lawyer. She has spoken publicly about her own experiences of sexual harassment by a client as a young lawyer.[4] At law firm Blake Dawson Waldron (now Ashurst), Broderick worked part-time for twelve years while she was a partner - the first partner at the firm to work part-time.[5] She also created a database giving people legal advice at low cost. Broderick was named "Telstra NSW Business Woman of the Year" (2000–2001).[3] Sex Discrimination CommissionerBroderick was appointed Sex Discrimination Commissioner by Prime Minister John Howard in 2007. Her term was extended by the Rudd government and again by the Abbott government.[2] As Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Broderick worked on equal-pay cases, "proposed a model for the paid parental leave scheme", and commented publicly on sexual harassment cases.[3] Broderick persuaded some of "the most powerful men in the country" to publicly commit to being part of a group called Male Champions of Change (MCC) and take action on gender inequality.[4] The group is still active and has inspired the creation of many MCC groups in other sectors, including architecture,[6] property,[7] elite sports[8] and in Victoria.[9] Current members of the Founding MCC group include, Alan Joyce, Kevin McCann, Martin Parkinson, David Thodey and Lieutenant General David Morrison.[10] The Male Champions of Change have released progress reports in 2011,[11] 2013[12] and 2014.[13] They also partnered with Chief Executive Women to develop a model for leaders to use in order to examine their own actions and "Leadership Shadow".[14] In 2014, Broderick published a fourth and final report on gender-discriminatory practices in the Australian Defence Force.[15] Broderick finished up as Sex Discrimination Commissioner in 2015 and was succeeded by Kate Jenkins.[2][16][17] United Nations RapporteurBroderick established her own consultancy specialising in gender equality and was then appointed by the United Nations as a Special Rapporteur for the Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls in 2017.[2] She works alongside four other female experts to report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on discrimination against women around the world.[2] She served until 2023 and she was succeeded by the American law professor Claudia Flores.[18] In 2018, Broderick launched Male Champions of Change globally.[2] Recognition and awards
References
External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Elizabeth Broderick.
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