An investigation by The Courier has found women are under-represented at the top levels of city life, with females accounting for less than a third of top management positions and spots on influential boards.

Former mayor and current Committee for Ballarat chair Judy Verlin said Ballarat needed to promote a culture of equal opportunity, but she didn't believe in enforcing specific numbers of men and women.

"Gender should be irrelevant. It should be about whether the person is right for the job, with the right experience and skills," she said.

"When people look at quotas for women in leadership, it devalues the women who have brought their skill and expertise to leadership roles.

"There's still a long way to go to have equality. We still see a lack of women in leadership roles." 

Ms Verlin is a Member of the Order of Australia and has been Ballarat's only female mayor since amalgamation in 1994. She said had seen expectations of men and women had change over time.

"I've worked the majority of my married life. When I had young children, I had to make excuses that I was working," she said.

"Today, if women choose not to work, they make excuses and justify the reasons to stay home."

Ms Verlin said not everyone had the choice to work, with childcare so expensive there was no value in working on a lower wage. 

Ms Verlin said she believed in gender equality, but didn't use the word feminist herself - a view shared by another Ballarat female leader Stacey Grose.

"At the end of the day, I see feminism as equality for both genders. And I support gender equality," said Ms Grose.

"But I steer clear of the word because I don't think people properly understand it." 

Ms Grose is a director of BJT Legal, chair of the United Way Ballarat board and the national director and secretary of United Way Australia.

She is also one of just five female accredited specialist business lawyers across the state, from a group of 110. 

"I like the challenge of law. It is a man's game and a man's world - but that just makes me more determined," she said.

Ms Grose said that when she started at BJT, there were two females out of the 12 staff. 

"I did once get a man on the end of the phone saying 'I don't want to speak to another secretary - put me on to the man in charge', and once 'I don't want to speak to a female about this'. People don't say that anymore," she said.

"It's mainly females coming through now. Most of our applicants are females and our office would be about 50-50."

Ms Grose said she didn't see a particular imbalance of gender when it came to boards in Ballarat.

"We are going in the right direction. We don't need any screaming changes in Ballarat, but the changes are naturally happening."

Unlike Ms Verlin and Ms Grose, Ballarat's representative in Canberra, Catherine King, said she was proud to call herself a feminist.

"The debate perplexes me. I think if you think it is unfair that women earn less than men, if you think it's unfair men aren't treated the same as parents, if you speak out against sexism and think it's wrong, then you are a feminist," she said.

"I'm conscious of my privileges, to be a working mother with the opportunity to be in parliament - I'm standing on the shoulders of the women before me." 

Ms King said it was important to provide opportunities for women in education and careers, and mentor them in leadership positions.

"These battles are old - they're not new - but somehow they don't matter to many anymore. But they're not finished," she said.

"We absolutely need more women in leadership roles. Apart from the fact that women make up over 50 per cent of the population, women can bring a wealth of different experiences and perspectives to bear on many problems, whether for private business, public or community groups or politics of any flavour."

WHILE Ballarat has made leaps and bounds towards achieving gender equality, figures show there's still work to be done.

There were just five women in the most senior positions at a selection of 20 of Ballarat's most prominent employers surveyed by The Courier, and two of them shared the top spot with men.

Ballarat's most influential boards are also still dominated by men. Of 10 boards surveryed, there were 33 female members compared with 76 males.

This included 17 males on the board of the Committee for Ballarat and two females, including chair Judy Verlin.

Ms Verlin said the committee had tried to get more females to join the board.

"In the Committee for Ballarat, we struggle to get women. We try to get women," she said.

"It's hard for women with their work-life balance. I'm generalising here, but they tend to feel more of an obligation at home.

"We've advertised for six more community members to try and get more diversity on the board."

Nationally, the gender pay gap has hovered over the past 20 years between 15 and 18 per cent.

In Ballarat, there are 1913 men earning more than $2000 per week, compared to just 535 females, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011 Census.

At the lower end of the spectrum, there are 13,185 males earning less than $800 a week compared with 12,703 females.

The figures showing women are paid less than men in Ballarat comes despite women being more educated.

In Ballarat there are 9430 women with a graduate diploma or certificate, bachelor degree or advanced diploma, compared to just 6516 males.

Postgraduates are very similar with 931 males and 914 females.

According to the census data, there are almost twice as many men working full-time in Ballarat compared to females, and twice as many women working part-time as men.

The census also found that women still do most of the work at home.

Female leaders and celebrities around the world have been asked about their stance on feminism recently after actress Emma Watson addressed the UN to call for men to join the fight for gender equality and launched the "HeForShe" campaign.

Time Magazine also listed the word "feminist" among its 2014 Word Banishment Poll.

To take a snapshot of female leaders in Ballarat, The Courier surveyed the most senior local management positions at some of the city's most prominent employers, including Ballarat Health Services, Central Highlands Water, City of Ballarat, Federation University , St John of God Hospital, Sovereign Hill, Ballarat Community Health, FMP/Bendix, IBM, Bartletts, Haymes Paint, MaxiTrans, Mars, McCain Food, AW Nicholson, Alstom, UFS, Troons, The Courier and Wilson's Fruit and Vegetables.

The Courier also looked at positions on the boards of The Art Gallery of Ballarat, Committee for Ballarat, Ballarat Health Services, Central Highlands Water, Federation University Academic Executive Board, Her Majesty's Theatre, Ballarat Regional Tourism, Commerce Ballarat, United Way and Ballarat Trotting Club.

BALLARAT should continue to strive for gender equality says Ballarat Professor Patrice Braun.

She said women needed to given all the same opportunities as men.

"Ballarat has become comfortable in its ways, but that's not unique to Ballarat. We tend to just get on with things and forget that inequalities exist."

The Federation University Australia Adjunct Professor was inducted into the Zonta Club of Ballarat's Greatest Women Honour Roll this year and is the Australian Women's Chamber of Commerce research chairman.

"There should be more women in leadership roles, so more needs to be done," Professor Braun said.

"If you're going to have a balanced view or representation, you need both men and women."

She said inequality was a cultural issue, which was very hard to change.

"We don't have the appreciation for what women can bring to the table.

"We need to feature the success of women, have more women as role models and expose things that are unjust."

Professor Braun said women's representation needs to improve on boards, in the academic environment and in sports.

She said Ballarat needs to improve family relationships and the role of women at home, integrate networks better, instead of women mixing with women and men mixing with men.

"We need to improve across all areas."

She said there was still a lot more room for women to be considered for roles in management and leadership.

"They need to be given the opportunity to prove themselves - and that's smart economics.

"If people aren't given opportunities, it affects their confidence levels.

"Studies now show, that when you have more women on the board, so does the bottom line. The revenue improves."

She said empowering women was about providing the opportunity to develop and unlock one's full potential.

"When women apply for a promotion, they will make sure they tick all five boxes (of the criteria), when a man applies he ticks two boxes and says he is ready."

She said some Ballarat businesses were helping women to become leaders at work and in the community and through courses.

"It is good to see Zonta honour women for their leadership right across organisations and industries."

Although she said more women are needed on boards to have equal representation, it doesn't always work to have a 50-50 quota she said.

"It should be who has the best brains for the position, the most suitable. In the past it has been a boys club where they pick their mates.

"There is still a long way to go before women are equal."

Professor Braun said more collaboration was needed between groups, boards and businesses to see what others were doing.

"We need to collaborate to bring our knowledge together. Rather than saying we need another group, we need to start talking to collaborate and have a bigger impact. We should be thinking holistically."