Queensland taking the lead on gender equality

An annual snapshot on the status of gender equality in Queensland has been released today by the Palaszczuk Government.

The Premier said the 2020 Gender Equality Report Cards focussed on four priority areas including participation and leadership; economic security; safety; and health and wellbeing.

“I am proud to lead a Government that supports equality and justice for women and these report cards are a way we can track our progress,” the Premier told Parliament.

“We have done a lot in-an-effort to make Queensland a fairer society and we continue to make great strides in this space but there is still a long way to go which is evident by the recent national movement for change.”

The Premier said the latest report cards as part of the Queensland Women’s Strategy demonstrate continued improvements in leadership, but it also shows that gender inequality persists across all priority areas.

“It’s great to see women taking up more leadership roles in Queensland,” the Premier said.

“In 2015 we set a target to reach 50 per cent of women on government boards and we beat that with women now comprising 54 per cent.

“Women are also taking prominent roles in Government, for example, we have a woman Premier, Health Minister, Chief Health Officer, Chief Justice and Police Commissioner.

“While 38 per cent of all serving judges and magistrates, including the Chief Justice of Queensland, are female, just 16 per cent of chief executives and managing directors in the corporate world are women.”

The Premier said that to achieve real change on gender equality, action is required across the nation.

“That is why I asked my National Cabinet colleagues recently to consider a National Women’s Summit focussing predominantly on women’s economic security – which was supported,” the Premier said.

Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Women and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence Shannon Fentiman said Queensland had come a long way on some of our priorities, however some of these statistics show there is still much work to be done.

“The gender pay gap and women’s superannuation being lower than men are two key concerning economic issues and I applaud the Premier on getting this on the National Cabinet agenda,” Minister Fentiman said.

“With regard to the safety of women and girls, the report card shows the rates of sexual violence against them are still far too high.

“Almost 85 per cent of victims of sexual assault are females and women are more than three times more likely to be killed by a partner.

“Violence against women is never acceptable and the current social dialogue about these issues highlights that we can all do more to try to support women and eliminate it from our community.

“This issue is firmly on the state and national agenda with the National Summit on Women’s Safety to be held at the end of July this year.

“In Queensland, the independent Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce led by former Court of Appeal judge the Hon Margaret McMurdo AC is also set to make its first report to the Palaszczuk Government in October this year.”

Minister Fentiman said the COVID-19 pandemic had demonstrated how women can be disproportionately impacted, economically and socially, by such events.

Key statistics:           

• 50.6% Queensland’s population is female.
• Women represent 54% on Queensland Government boards as at 30 September 2020, up from 31% in 2015.
• In the Queensland judiciary, women comprise 37.9% of all serving judges and magistrates as at 30 June 2020, steadily increased from 30.4% in June 2015.
• 16% of chief executives and managing directors are women.
• In every age group on average women have lower superannuation balances.
• On the gender pay gap – for a fulltime working week is around 15 per cent less for women.
• 26% of women are in fulltime employment compared to 40.8% men.
• Women are over-represented in roles like clerical and admin at 77.3%. Compare this to just 16% in roles like technicians and trades.
• More women are in part-time employment then men and more women are involved in unpaid activities per week then men.
• More than 30% of working mothers are accessing part time arrangements to care for their children compared with just 3.8 per cent of working fathers doing the same.
• Women are over three times more likely than men to be killed by a partner
• 85 per cent of victims of sexual assault are female.

The 2020 Gender Equality Report Cards can be found at https://www.cyjma.qld.gov.au/campaign/womens-strategy/queensland-womens-strategy

ENDS

Media contact:

Zoe Russell (Premier’s office) - 0439 982 347

Penni Pappas (Minister Fentiman’s office) – 0438 747 540