IN my years running businesses, one truth stands out: everything needs to be measured. What gets measured gets done. Leaders in all endeavours will tell you the same thing. Good intentions will remain just that until you keep track of what's really being done. No business leader would dream of operating without all the data. Yet apart from some valuable work by the Workplace Gender Equity Agency, on a national level we've been operating by feel, not fact. So tracking Australia's progress or, more important, our failure to progress in some areas, is vital. Measuring equity for women is the key for beginning to improve it - and also to keeping Australia on a prosperous path.