Regulating for gender equality in the Australian Public Service: Extending Dickens’ tripod of regulation

Western governments have used regulation to progress gender equality for workforces in both the private and public sectors, yet gender equality has not yet been achieved. While governments have used various regulatory forms, Dickens (1999) argued that a tripod of collective bargaining, legislation and human resource policy would progress gender equality. Little consideration has been given to how these elements of the tripod fit together. We apply Dickens’ tripod to examine the regulation of gender equality in one Australian public sector. We use institutional analysis, drawing on historical and current documents, legislation, collective bargaining frameworks and human resource policy to examine how the regulatory tripod interlocks, and whether renewed commitments to public sector gender equality can be achieved in the current regulatory environment. We identify regulatory incongruence within the Australian public service and argue for improved congruence to progress gender equality, although we also note that congruence on its own does not lead to better outcomes. We identify that the legs of the tripod are not mutually reinforcing and that all legs need to be supported by better implementation. We extend Dicken's tripod to provide a new path to progress public sector workplace gender equality, enriching both theory and practice.