Early life and education 

Broderick was born on 8 January 1961 in Hobart, Tasmania; she has a twin sister Jane and a younger sister Carolyn. When she was a child, the family moved to Kogarah, a southern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales after three years in Perth. From a young age, she observed her parents, Margot and Frank Broderick, sharing the housework and supporting each other's careers. Margot was a physiotherapist and Frank a medical practitioner. They eventually established their own business of setting up nuclear medicine practices in Sydney. The children were expected to do chores around the house and to help in the family business. Broderick learned to type at age 12. Learning from this display of equality, she also absorbed from her parents the value of community responsibility. She took her first leadership role when she became head girl of Meriden Anglican School. The three sisters attended single sex schools at the secondary level; Broderick and her twin sister attended separate schools. In 1983, she completed a Bachelor of Arts (Computer Science) and Bachelor of Laws at the University of New South Wales from the University of New South Wales. For Broderick, the 1980s was a period of empowerment for women.

Early career

Broderick quickly recognised the importance of technology to the provision of client services; between 1985 and 1987, she worked in London, exploring how technology could be used to manage evidence in litigation cases and complaints systems. After joining the research department of the Sydney office of Blake Dawson Waldron (now Ashurst) in 1987, Broderick began employing technology to help lawyers retrieve documents more efficiently.

In 1987, back in Australia, Broderick married Hunter Southwick and had her first child, Tom at age 36. Her second child was Lucy. Marriage and parenthood alerted her to the need for workplaces to change if women were to remain attached to the paid workforce while rearing a family.  

In 1991, Broderick established the firm's legal technology group, providing services in-house and externally to clients. In 1995, she broke new ground, revolutionising the firm's culture, when she became the first part-time partner and later Board member and head of legal technology. Her achievements led to her being named "2001 Telstra NSW Businesswoman of the Year". She also received the Centenary Medal, for service to Australian society through business leadership. When she departed the firm in 2007, 10 per cent of the partners were part-time and 20 per cent of employees had adopted flexible work arrangements.

A listening tour

Appointed Sex Discrimination Commissioner in 2007, Broderick embarked upon a six-month listening tour around Australia to understand how different groups of Australian women experienced inequality. 

Broderick understood the need to set priorities during her term as the Sex Discrimination Commissioner. The listening tour gave her the evidence base from which to set a strong, strategic agenda from 2008. She was appointed Age Discrimination Commissioner as well before Susan Ryan was appointed to that position. 

During her term Broderick set out to focus on five issues:

1. Advocating and lobbying for a paid parental leave scheme.
2. To put a human face on the gender gap in retirement savings. It was to help people understand why we needed to value unpaid caring work and where we were at because we didn’t.
3. Promoting women’s leadership - women on boards and at senior levels across Australia. To promote women’s leadership at the community organisation level as well.
4. To eliminate sexual harassment - to collect data on sexual harassment and put in place strategies to reduce it and then remeasure.
5. Ensure that Australia has some of the strongest gender equality laws and agencies that exist.

In April 2010, Broderick initiated the 'Male Champions of Change' strategy; she remains its convenor. She stated: "This initiative engages powerful and influential men from all sectors to stand beside women and lead tangible action to promote gender equality and social change". The program began with Broderick asking 12 male 'captains of industry' if they would promote gender equality within their workplace. Although it has been criticised for relying on men to advance women's interests, Broderick argues that: "what we need to do is recognise where power sits in this country, and that is clearly in the hands of men. So if we want to move to a model where power is shared, we need to work with those who hold it". It has since been replicated across the country and achieved international prominence, thanks in part to Broderick's subsequent appointment as Global Co-Chair of the Women's Empowerment Principles Leadership Group, a joint initiative of the United Nations (UN) Global Compact and United Nations Women.

Broderick's work with the Commission took her around the country and across the world, including representing Australia each year at the UN Commission on the Status of Women. In 2009, she was part of an Australian delegation which included Aboriginal representatives of the Marninwarntikura Fitzroy Women's Resource Centre who attended the 53rd Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women and showed a film entitled ‘Ygilarra’ on these women’s efforts to find solutions to the problems in their communities.

Charged by the Australian Government with leading the first independent Review into the Treatment of Women in the Australian Defence Force (ADF) following allegations of sexual misconduct in the ADF's Academy in 2011, Broderick completed four reports for the Parliament on women within the ADF, the final in 2014. She was named overall winner of the Australian Financial Review and Westpac 2014 '100 Women of Influence Awards' in acknowledgement of her achievements while in office.

Broderick was twice reappointed as Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner in 2012 for 2 years and for a further year in 2014. In embarking on her new term, she sized up the state of gender equality in Australia thus: "… the pay gap is the largest it's ever been at 18.2 per cent. Violence against women is still a significant issue: 1.2 million women today will be either currently living or have recently done so in a relationship characterised by violence.”

Later career

Broderick was appointed Special Advisor to the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) and the Executive Director of UN Women on Private Sector Engagement. In this role she helped the UN to improve engagement with the private sector with the aim of producing more gender-diverse organisations.

Broderick was Special Rapporteur and Independent Expert for the United Nations from 2017-2023, is a member of the International Services of Human Rights Board, University of New South Wales Law Advisory Board, Australian Defence Force Gender Equality Advisory Board and the Victoria Police Corporate Advisory Group.

Broderick is Principal of Elizabeth Broderick & Co., Senior Advisor to the Australian Federal Police Commissioner on cultural change and Special Advisor to the Under-Secretary-General of the UN and the Executive Director of UN Women on Private Sector Engagement. She serves on a number of boards and continues to advocate for societal change. In 2016, Broderick was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia. She was also named 2016 New South Wales Australian of the Year. She has honorary degrees from the University of New South Wales and The University of Sydney, and the University of Technology Sydney.

More on Elizabeth Broderick in the Australian Women's Register and Trove.

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