New Strategy to target key concerns for Queensland women

Published Wednesday, 09 March, 2016 at 03:23 PM

JOINT STATEMENT

Premier and Minister for the Arts
The Honourable Annastacia Palaszczuk

Minister for Communities, Women and Youth, Minister for Child Safety and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence
The Honourable Shannon Fentiman

A new Queensland Government strategy will target key concerns for women, including the gender pay gap, barriers to employment, increasing the number of women in leadership positions and domestic and family violence.

Launching the Queensland Women’s Strategy today as part of Queensland Women’s Week, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said her Government was dedicated to removing barriers preventing women and girls achieving their goals either at work or in the community.

“When Queensland women achieve, Queensland succeeds,” the Premier said.

“I’m proud to lead a Cabinet with a majority of women Ministers but I’m under no illusion about the challenges women still face in terms of gender inequality.

“Queensland has a wealth of talented women and we want to tap into that talent. By increasing the opportunities for women in the workforce, we also strengthen our economy.

“We introduced our target for 50% women on Queensland Government boards last year. We’ve increased from 31% last May to 37%, which is a promising trend, but there’s much more to be done.

“Our new Strategy sets out the work the Government, the private sector and the community can do together to progress gender equality in terms of work, safety and creating greater opportunities for women and girls in our State.”

Minister for Women, Shannon Fentiman, said the efforts of the whole community were needed to challenge and reduce gender inequality.

“I would love it if we didn’t need a Women’s Strategy, but with the gender pay gap now higher than 20 years ago, alarming levels of violence towards women and greater barriers to work for women than men, it is clear more action is needed,” Ms Fentiman said.

“The Government is investing more than $100m to tackle domestic and family violence, $10.6m for Women’s Health and Sexual Assault Services and $1m for the Advance Queensland Women’s Academic Fund to support researchers, to name just a few things.

“But this has to be about more than dollars and Government action.

“Our whole community, women and men, must work together to tackle the causes of inequality so that boys and girls today have the opportunity to grow up in a fairer Queensland.”

The next step will be to develop a plan to set out clear, targeted actions for Government agencies, industry and the community to contribute to achieving gender equality.

Initiatives in the Women’s Strategy include:

  • research the true cost and drivers of the gender pay gap in Queensland.
  • develop an audit tool for Government and the private sector to assess gender pay inequity.
  • work with employers to develop gender diversity in workplaces.
  • partner with the private sector to establish a fund to support initiatives which improve women’s access to non-traditional employment.
  • develop strategies to support women at all stages of life to enter and re-enter the workforce.
  • examine options to offer greater support to vulnerable young women with education and employment.
  • encourage Queensland women to establish small businesses, or submit high-quality proposals for economic development initiatives such as Market-Led Proposals.
  • partner with industry to support an increase in the percentage of women on corporate boards and other leadership positions.
  • continue to work towards the target of 50% women on Queensland Government boards.
  • develop a gender equality education and promotion campaign with an emphasis on reaching boys and men.
  • appoint high profile Gender Equality Champions to promote gender equality across the community.
  • create a publicly available online statistical database with facts on gender equality.

Media contact:  Alex Purnell (Minister Fentiman’s office) 0437 336 232