Accelerate action is the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) – in recognition of the fact that progress on many issues affecting women is just too slow. An examination of women’s position in the employment sphere is a good example of why we are currently ranked 24th in the world for gender equality.
Even though legislation mandates equal pay for men and women performing the same work and prohibits wage discrimination based on gender, there is still a significant gender pay gap between men and women in Australia.
What’s being done to address this?
In 2025, 90% of employers have policies to support gender equality, 68% have analysed their gender pay gap (up from 55%). 45% are setting targets to reduce their gender pay gap and increasing women in management roles (up 9pp to 68%) and having a gender balanced governing body (up 11pp to 35%). So, it’s recognised as a problem requiring attention.
The pay differential starts the moment women enter the workforce and is perpetuated by women taking time out of the workforce, and disproportionately working part-time, and ongoing discrimination and bias in hiring and pay decisions.
It leads to much lower superannuation balances and overall lower lifetime economic security. Women still retire with approximately 58% less super than men.
Women make up over 50% of the workforce but only 39.6% are full-time workers, a small increase from 35.6% 10 years ago. Women make up 37% of key management personnel and 42% of managers in Australia.
Between women and men retirees, the gap in average age at retirement has decreased from 8.4 years in 2012–13 to 4.7 years in 2022–23. On average, women retire at 54.7 years, while men retire at 59.4 years.
The gender balance varies between employment sectors with the public sector showing significantly better female representation at senior level, APS Senior Executive Service roles increasing from 26% in 2001 to 53.4% in June 2023.
Looking specifically at the private sector, there have been improvements to the position of women but there is much more to do. In 2024, women made up 32% of key management roles, 36.9% of directorships but only 22% of CEOs.
In the top echelon of corporate land, only 8.3% of CEOs in the ASX300 are women. Experts estimate that achieving gender parity in CEO roles in corporate Australia could take up to 50 years.
So too, board representation is markedly different in the public and private sectors: 34% of board positions in the private sector are held by women compared to 54.4% of all Government Board positions.
When women do achieve CEO status, they remain substantially less well-remunerated; the CEO/HOB gender pay gap is 27.1%.
In the legal profession, while women comprise 55% of practising solicitors, they comprise only 31% of law firm partners and 36% of principals. The situation for women barristers is even more dire, with only 26% of barristers being women. There has been a big focus on women holding judicial office with 44.9% of judicial officers in Australia now held by women.
We need more women in senior legal positions (and in other government and business positions) for several reasons. Obviously, women with the same skills and abilities as men deserve the same opportunity to work in those positions. A more diverse representative legal system (and business and government leadership system for that matter) will better serve and represent citizens and the community. This is especially true as the bar and judiciary are often recruitment grounds for politicians and other senior government appointments.
To avoid having the same conversations year after year and hasten progress, many believe the answers are twofold. One – targets/quotas and affirmative action policies – and two – bringing men on board. The only way we will achieve true equality more quickly is if men, particularly men in power, actively support the advancement of women and the cause of equality. We must talk to the men in our lives and other men in powerful positions – in government and business – about the issues facing women and seek their support in championing them.
