Gender equality in Australia

By Allen Yang

September 9, 2025

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The Australian Government has launched a comprehensive strategy to achieve gender equality, focusing on five priority areas: ending gender-based violence, balancing unpaid work, closing the gender pay gap, improving women's health, and increasing women's leadership representation. The strategy involves various initiatives, including target setting, data collection, and policy reforms. It aims to address the root causes of gender inequality and promote a culture of respect and equality. The government will track progress through a reporting framework and regular reviews. Key actions include increasing parental leave, improving workplace flexibility, and promoting gender equality in government procurement. The strategy also acknowledges the importance of intersectionality and the need to address the specific challenges faced by diverse groups of women.

Key Takeaways

The Australian Government's strategy for gender equality is a comprehensive and multi-faceted approach that addresses various aspects of gender inequality.
The strategy prioritizes ending gender-based violence and promoting economic equality, recognizing the significant impact of these issues on women's lives and the broader economy.
The government's commitment to tracking progress and conducting regular reviews will help ensure accountability and inform future policy decisions.

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The Australian Government has launched a comprehensive plan to achieve gender equality across various sectors, including economic security, healthcare access, and leadership representation. The plan acknowledges the existing gender gaps in pay, retirement income, and healthcare access, and proposes several reforms to address these issues. Key initiatives include tax relief for women, reforms to the Fair Work Act, and investments in women's health and leadership programs. The government also aims to address industry gender segregation, improve women's representation in decision-making roles, and promote gender equality in the private sector. The plan emphasizes the need for sustained efforts to achieve gender equality and proposes measures to track progress, including closing the gender pay gap and retirement income gender gap.

Key Takeaways

The government's plan aims to address the root causes of gender inequality, including gender segregation in the workforce and discriminatory practices.
Key initiatives include tax relief for women, reforms to the Fair Work Act, and investments in women's health and leadership programs.
The plan emphasizes the need for sustained efforts to achieve gender equality and proposes measures to track progress, including closing the gender pay gap and retirement income gender gap.

Centring First Nations

The document outlines the Australian Government's strategy to achieve gender equality, focusing on centring First Nations women and girls. It acknowledges the historical exclusion of their experiences and voices from efforts to advance gender equality. The strategy is guided by six key principles, including recognizing gender equality as a human right and the need for inclusive and intersectional approaches. The document highlights two priority areas: gender-based violence and unpaid and paid care. It outlines government actions, future directions, and the roles of various stakeholders in driving change. The strategy aims to address systemic disadvantage, promote reconciliation, and achieve equality for First Nations women and girls.

Key Takeaways

The strategy emphasizes the need for genuine partnership and shared decision-making with First Nations communities to address violence against First Nations women and children.
The government is committed to implementing effective interventions to stop violence against women, including reforms to the family law system and support for victim-survivors.
The strategy highlights the importance of valuing and sharing care responsibilities, and promoting policies that support families to make choices that work for them.
The government's Paid Parental Leave Scheme is being modernized to make it more accessible, flexible, and gender equitable, with a focus on encouraging men to take leave.
The strategy recognizes the need for collective action from all parts of society, including individuals, families, communities, businesses, and workplaces, to drive change towards gender equality.

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The Australian Government has released 'Working for Women: A Strategy for Gender Equality', a 10-year plan aimed at achieving gender equality. The strategy focuses on five priority areas: ending gender-based violence, unpaid and paid care, economic equality and security, health, and leadership, representation, and decision-making. It outlines the government's commitment to creating a better, gender-equal Australia for everyone. The strategy is informed by consultations with thousands of people and organizations across Australia, including women's advocacy groups, businesses, unions, and civil society. It acknowledges the longstanding international commitments to human rights and gender equality and recognizes that achieving gender equality requires effort across government and the community. The strategy sets out indicators of change and measures to track progress over time, with a mid-point review in 2029. It also highlights the government's recent actions and investments in areas such as women's safety, paid parental leave, and women's economic equality.

Key Takeaways

The strategy emphasizes the need for a collective effort from government, community, and individuals to achieve gender equality, recognizing that it's a long-term goal requiring sustained commitment and effort.
The five priority areas are interconnected, and progress in one area is linked to progress in others, highlighting the need for a comprehensive approach to address gender inequality.
The strategy acknowledges the disproportionate impact of gender inequality on marginalized groups, including First Nations women, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, women with disability, and LGBTIQA+ people.
The government's commitment to gender-responsive budgeting is a key tool for implementing the strategy, ensuring that gender impacts are considered in policy design and budget decisions.
The strategy's focus on addressing rigid attitudes and stereotypes is crucial for achieving gender equality, as these underpin many forms of gender-based discrimination and violence.

A 10-YEAR PLAN TO UNLEASH THE FULL CAPACITY AND CONTRIBUTION OF WOMEN TO THE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMY

The Women's Economic Equality Taskforce was established to provide advice to the Australian Government on measures to address women's economic inequality. The Taskforce's report identifies five economic pillars where gendered economic inequality is prevalent: care, work, education and skills, tax and transfers, and governments. The report provides a comprehensive analysis of the current state of women's economic inequality in Australia, including data points on the gender pay gap, women's labour force participation, and the undervaluation of feminised work. The Taskforce makes seven primary recommendations to drive women's economic equality and contribute to a strong and globally competitive Australian economy. These recommendations include providing leadership and accountability for driving economic equality outcomes, establishing universal high-quality and affordable early childhood education and care, utilising legislative and regulatory powers to ensure safe and equitable work opportunities, providing lifelong education and skill building, leveraging government purchasing power to support inclusive employment practices, investing in programs to address community attitudes and bias, and co-designing a comprehensive financial support program for victim-survivors of domestic and family violence.

Key Takeaways

Implementing the Taskforce's recommendations could add $128 billion to the Australian economy by removing barriers to women's full and equal participation in economic activity.
The report highlights the need for a decade of significant reforms to achieve women's economic equality, with some reforms requiring immediate action and others addressed in the near and long-term future.
The Taskforce's recommendations aim to address the compounding economic disadvantage experienced by women, particularly those from traditionally marginalised backgrounds, and to promote gender-equal outcomes in areas such as education, employment, and care work.

Gender Perception Index (GPI) Report

The Gender Perception Index (GPI) Report provides a strategic, data-driven overview of Sample Company Pty Ltd's gender equity performance and commitment. The GPI score is 39.8 out of 100, classifying the company as a Laggard-Peacock. The report analyzes gender pay gap results and actions towards gender equality, including the six Gender Equality Indicators (GEIs) and the publication of an Employer Statement. The company's Central Gender Pay Gap is 24.0%, which is Moderately Worse than the national average. The report highlights the importance of leveraging gender equality results for brand advantage and mitigating stakeholder risk.

Key Takeaways

The company's GPI score of 39.8 indicates a Laggard-Peacock classification, suggesting a need to improve gender equity performance and commitment.
The Central Gender Pay Gap of 24.0% is Moderately Worse than the national average, highlighting the need for targeted strategies to address pay equity.
The company has not implemented a formal policy or strategy for GEI 5 (Consult with employees on gender equality in the workplace), indicating an area for improvement.
The publication of an Employer Statement is a critical opportunity to shape stakeholder perception and mitigate reputational risk.
A best-fit gender equity strategy should be developed, incorporating transparency, accountability, and measurable outcomes to drive meaningful improvements in gender equality.

Compete on

The document discusses the importance of clarity in the workplace for attracting and retaining top talent. It highlights five key questions that professionals are asking employers, including salary and career expectations, work arrangement policies, guidance on using Generative AI (GenAI), company culture built around trust and transparency, and approaches to inclusivity. The report is based on a survey of over 2,000 professionals in Australia and provides insights into their priorities and concerns. Professionals are seeking clarity on these issues to make informed decisions about their careers. Employers who communicate clearly and transparently are more likely to attract and retain talent. The report also touches on the impact of GenAI on productivity and job satisfaction, the need for clear guidance on its use, and the persistent issue of ageism in the workplace.

Key Takeaways

Employers who provide clarity on key issues such as flexibility, company culture, GenAI, salary, and inclusivity are more likely to attract and retain top talent.
The survey highlights a widening gap between GenAI implementation and employee confidence, with many professionals feeling underprepared due to unclear policies or limited support.
Ageism remains a prevalent issue in Australian workplaces, with 43% of respondents identifying it as more prevalent than other forms of bias, and 57% of employees aged 50 and above reporting age-related discrimination.

Remaking the norm

This report explores the harmful gender norms restricting the lives of women, men, and non-binary people in Australia. It identifies six key actions to dismantle restrictive gender norms: engaging children and young people in discussions about gender norms, enabling men to play a bigger role at home, eliminating stereotypes in language and culture, embedding intersectionality across gender initiatives, creating accountable and transparent institutions, and creating structured processes to reduce embedded bias. The report highlights that achieving gender equity will benefit not only women but also men, children, and the broader economy. Dismantling restrictive gender norms could generate a $128 billion return each year for the Australian economy. The report provides recommendations for governments, businesses, philanthropists, and community groups to accelerate change by targeting gender norms.

Key Takeaways

Dismantling restrictive gender norms can generate significant economic benefits, including a $128 billion return annually for Australia.
Embedding intersectionality across gender initiatives is crucial to address the diverse experiences of different women and ensure that policies are effective for all groups.
Creating accountable and transparent institutions is essential to drive change and ensure that stakeholders deliver on promises to tackle restrictive gender norms.
Early interventions targeting children and young people are highly effective in challenging harmful gender stereotypes and promoting positive gender attitudes.
Applying a gender lens to decision-making processes and initiatives can help identify and address unconscious biases and gender stereotypes that perpetuate gender inequity.