Image: Minister for Women, Katy Gallagher. Mick Tsikas, AAP
Coinciding with International Women’s Day, the Federal Government’s has released its latest gender equality report, shedding light on the progress that has been made and the disparities that persist.
The second Status of Women report card includes recent data on “the social and economic equality issues facing women and girls in Australia,” examining key indicators of gender equality, including employment, education, healthcare, and political representation.
The report shows Australia is ranked 26th globally for gender equality, up from 43rd place in 2023’s report card.
But it also reveals that women still do over nine hours more unpaid work than men and more caring duties.
Also, a quarter of women who recently experienced sexual harassment experienced it at work.
As Member for Balmain Kobi Shetty told City Hub, “International Women’s Day is a really important moment to pause and reflect on both how far we’ve come, and how far we’ve got to go.
“We have come so far in many respects since Me Too, but we know that women still face gendered discrimination and violence, are still paid less than men, and face many systemic barriers to full participation in public life.”
According to the report, there have been significant strides in narrowing the gender pay gap, which decreased to 13.4 per cent in the last year. But men still take home $238 more every week.
The gap worsens to 19 per cent, or $18,461 per year, when examining the full-time equivalent total remuneration of private sector employees, including superannuation, bonuses, overtime, and other payments.
In light of this, the Federal Government announced today a historic change to the Commonwealth’s paid parental leave scheme, a move celebrated by Labor Councillor Linda Scott from the City of Sydney.
“With new transparency of the gender pay gap, and evidence that women currently retire with 25% less superannuation than men, the Federal Labor Government’s announcement by Katy Gallagher and Anthony Albanese that superannuation will be paid on 20 weeks of government-funded parental leave from July 2025 is a groundbreaking step towards equality,” she told City Hub.
Ms Shetty agreed equality was progressing but that “we must keep going.”
“To me, this feminist project of ours, of women and girls and our male allies that stand alongside us to make our world truly equal, is a work in progress, built one small step at a time.”
“And we must keep going, in Australia and across the world to work towards that goal of an equal future.”
