Gender equality workplace statistics at a glance 2022

Publication
All industries
Gender Pay Gap
For everyone

Overview

Using the latest data from Australian government sources, including WGEA and the ABS, this fact sheet provides the latest update of the gender workplace statistics.

Table of contents

Workforce participation

  • Women comprise 47.9% of all employed persons in Australia, 26.3% of all employed persons are women working full-time, and 21.6% working part-time.[1]
  • Women constitute 38.4% of all full-time employees and 68.5% of all part-time employees [2]
  • The workforce participation rate* is 62.1% for women [3] and 70.4% for men (this was 61.4% for women and 70.9% for men in February 2021) [4]
  • The workforce participation rate among those aged 15-64 years is 76.2% for women and 83.2% for men. (this was 75.0% for women and 83.4% for men in February 2021) [5]

*The workforce participation rate relates to active population, all people aged 15 years and over who are working or looking for work (i.e. employed or unemployed). 

Economic security

  • The full-time average weekly ordinary earnings[6] for women are 13.8% less than for men [7]. This has decreased by 0.4 percentage points since May 2021.
  • Among non-public sector organisations with 100 or more employees, the base salary gender pay gap for all employees is 18.3%, and 23.8% for total remuneration [8].
  • The gender pay gap for adult average hourly ordinary time cash earnings [9] for full-time non-managerial employees is 8.8% in favour of men and 11.1% for all  non-managerial employees [10].
  • The median undergraduate starting salaries for women are 3.9% less than for men. This gap widens 14.1% for postgraduate (coursework) graduates [11].
  • Median superannuation balances for women at retirement (aged 60-64) are 23.4% lower than those for men in 2018-19 [12].
  • 55.2% of people receiving the aged pension are women [13].

Educational attainment

  • Of all women aged 20-24, 92.5% have attained year 12 qualifications or above, compared to 87.5% of men in the same age bracket [14]. Of all women aged 25-29, 48.3% have achieved a bachelor degree or above, compared to 36.1% of similarly-aged men [15].
  • Women represent 59.5% of domestic students enrolled in universities or other institutions. This has risen from 57.9% in 2012 [16].

Of all organisations in the Agency’s 2020-21 dataset:

  • 60% provide primary carer’s leave in addition to the Federal Government’s paid parental leave scheme.
  • 52.5% provide secondary carer’s leave in addition to the Federal Government’s paid parental leave scheme.

Women in leadership

Latest results from the Agency’s 2020-21 dataset show:

  • Women hold 17.6% of chair positions and 31.2% of directorships [18], and represent 19.4% of CEOs and 34.5% of key management personnel. [19]
  • 22.3% of boards and governing bodies have no female directors. [20] By contrast, only 0.6% had no male directors. [21]

Statistics from the Australian Institute of Company Directors reveal:

  • 34.2% of directors in the ASX 200 are women, as of 30 of November 2021. [21]
  • Women comprised 41.8% of new appointments to ASX 200 boards as of 30 November 2021. [22]

Footnotes

Footnotes and References

[1] Part-time refers to all employed persons who usually worked less than 35 hours a week and either did so during the reference week or did not work that week. Australian Bureau of Statistics (2022), Labour Force, Australia, January 2022, cat. no. 6202.0, Table 1. Labour force status by Sex, Australia - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original, viewed 22 February 2022, https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/employment-and-unemployment/labour-force-australia/jan-2022#data-downloads

[2]. Ibid.

[3]. Participation rate is the sum of the employed and unemployed divided by total population from age 15 onwards.

[4] Labour Force, Australia, January 2022, cat. no. 6202.0, Table 18. Labour force status for 15-64 year olds by Sex - Trend, Seasonally adjusted and Original, viewed 22 February 2022, https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/employment-and-unemployment/labour-force-australia/jan-2022#data-downloads

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ordinary time earnings used comprise regular wages and salaries in cash, excluding amounts salary sacrificed. For more informa tion refer to: https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/earnings-and-work-hours/average-weekly-earnings-australia/latest-release

[7] Australian Bureau of Statistics (2022), Average Weekly Earnings, November 2021, cat. no. 6302.0, viewed 24 February 2022, https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/earnings-and-work-hours/average-weekly-earnings-australia/latest-release

[8] Workplace Gender Equality Agency (2021), WGEA Data Explorer, Gender pay gaps (average), viewed 15 February 2022, https://data.wgea.gov.au/industries/1#pay_equity_content.

[9] Cash earnings used comprise regular wages and salaries in cash, including amounts salary sacrificed. Estimates of hourly cash earn ings have only been produced for employees with a link between earnings and hours. For more information, refer to https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/earnings-and-work-hours/employee-earnings-and-hours-australia/latest-release

[10] Australian Bureau of Statistics (2022), Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2021, cat. no. 6306.0, Data cube 4, Table 1 NON-MANAGERIAL EMPLOYEES, Number of employees, Average weekly total cash earnings, Average weekly total hours paid for, Average hourly total cash earnings–Rate of pay, Employment status by Sex., viewed 22 February 2022, https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/earnings-and-work-hours/employee-earnings-and-hours-australia/may-2021

[11] Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT) (2021), Graduate Outcome Survey National, Table 4 Median salaries by gender and level of study, 2009-20211 ($), viewed 22 February 2022, page 8  https://www.qilt.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/2021-gos-national-report.pdf?sfvrsn=290c8289_0

[12] Figure calculated using data from Australian Taxation Office (ATO) (2021), Taxation Statistics 2018-19: Snapshot Table 5: Chart 12: Median super account balance by age and sex, 2018-19 financial year, viewed 22 February 2022, https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/taxation-statistics-2018-19/resource/2a3f33da-0165-48aa-9716-f68ba4ad24ad

[13] DSS Demographics September 2021 excel file viewed 22 February 2022 (Payment extraction date was on 24 Sept-2021), https://data.gov.au/dataset/dss-payment-demographic-data.

[14] Australian Bureau of Statistics (2020), Gender Indicators, Australia, Nov 2019, ‘Table 4.1: Attainment of Year 12 or a formal qualification of Certificate II or above by age, 2007 to 2017’, data cube: Excel spreadsheet, cat. No. 4125.0, viewed 22 February 2022, https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/4125.0Nov%202019?OpenDocument.

[15] Australian Bureau of Statistics (2020), Gender Indicators, Australia, December 2020, ‘Table 4.5: Attainment of a Bachelor Degree or above  by age, 2007 to 2017’, data cube: Excel spreadsheet, cat. No. 4125.0, viewed 22 February 2022, https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/4125.0Nov%202019?OpenDocument

[16] Australian Government Department of Education and Training (2020), Student Enrolments Pivot Table [xlsx file], viewed 22 February 2022, https://www.dese.gov.au/higher-education-statistics/resources/student-enrolments-pivot-table

[17] Workplace Gender Equality Agency (2022), WGEA Data Explorer, Support for carers & paid parental leave, viewed 15 February 2022, https://data.wgea.gov.au/industries/1#carers_content

[18] Workplace Gender Equality Agency (2022), WGEA Data Explorer, Governing bodies, viewed 15 February 2022, https://data.wgea.gov.au/industries/1#governing_bodies_content

[19]. Workplace Gender Equality Agency (2022), WGEA Data Explorer, Workforce composition, viewed 15 February 2022, https://data.wgea.gov.au/industries/1#gender_comp_content

[20] Workplace Gender Equality Agency (2022), Australia’s Gender Equality Scorecard 2020-21, viewed 15 February 2022, https://www.wgea.gov.au/publications/australias-gender-equality-scorecard

[21] Australian Institute of Company Directors Statistics (2022), as at 8 December 2021, viewed 22 February 2022, https://aicd.companydirectors.com.au/advocacy/board-diversity/statistics

[22] Australian Institute of Company Directors Statistics (2022), as at 8 December 2021, viewed22 February 2022, https://aicd.companydirectors.com.au/advocacy/board-diversity/statistics

You can download this factsheet here: