Minister for Women, Senator the Hon Katy Gallagher, has today delivered on an election commitment and released Australia’s first national strategy to achieve gender equality.

Working for Women: A Strategy for Gender Equality is the Albanese Government’s 10-year commitment to get things working for women in Australia.

The strategy responds to voices of women from around Australia and we heard clearly that they do not want to wait another generation for change.

Working for Women will drive Government action on women’s safety, sharing and valuing care, economic equality, women’s health, and women’s leadership, representation and decision making.

It builds on significant Labor investment in gender equality, including cheaper childcare, expanding paid parental leave, women’s health and ensuring our workplace relations system works for women and a record $2.3 billion in women’s safety.

Working for Women will also guide efforts to shift the attitudes and stereotypes that drive gender inequality and that limit people’s choices and opportunities based on their gender.

The Minister for Women, Senator the Hon Katy Gallagher, said the Strategy is central to the Government’s gender equality commitments.  

“We know there is still a lot of work to do, and Working for Women is our plan to make sure that work gets done. The Strategy will guide Government investment for gender equality over the next decade and ensure that the Government delivers real change for women.”  

“Working for Women is also a call to action for the whole community and the whole economy to work with us to shift the dial towards gender equality in Australia.” 

“A key investment against this strategy is that from 1 July 2025, we’ll pay a superannuation payment on Government Paid Parental Leave (PPL).”

“This will help close gaps in retirement incomes, encourage more equal sharing of care, and show that as a society we value the important role of care – all key outcomes of Working for Women.”

The Government will introduce a range of measures to support implementation of the strategy, including:

• Delivering a regular survey to hear directly from women about their concerns and priorities for gender equality and continued investment in women’s advocacy to deliver expert and strategic advice to Government on the solutions required to meet the Strategy’s vision.  
  
  
• Strengthening targets for women’s representation on Australian Government Boards and advisory bodies. This will see new targets for chairs and co-chairs and for portfolios and will expand existing targets to all positions on government boards and advisory bodies.
  
  
• Establishing a new voluntary Commonwealth supplier registration process within AusTender to identify women-owned and led businesses – this will give Government the ability to measure and analyse women-owned and led businesses the Commonwealth is contracting with. 
  
  
• Regular reporting on progress through Departmental Annual Reports and applying gender analysis to the development of government strategies, consistent with our approach to gender responsive budgeting.

“The Government has spent over 18 months listening to women all around Australia. We received over 3,000 submissions to inform the development of Working for Women, and we won’t stop listening now. We want to continue to hear from women and experts about how life is going, and we want to make it easy to for those voices to reach us.” 

“Women’s representation on Australian Government boards is at a record high of 51.6 per cent but that representation is uneven. We are committed to maintaining women’s seat at the decision-making table, with targets now applying at portfolio level and to all positions on all Government boards and advisory bodies, as well as to Chair and Co-chair positions,” Minister Gallagher said. 

Each year, the Women’s Budget Statement will set out Government investment against Working for Women. The Annual Status of Women Report Card released each International Women’s Day will provide a snapshot on how we are tracking towards gender equality.

There will also be two reviews – one at the mid-point of the strategy in 2029 and end of the strategy in 2034.  

The Strategy can be viewed on the Working for Women: A Strategy for Gender Equality website: www.genderequality.gov.au  

As at 7 March 2024.