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Statistics about gender equality

Education

19/08/2025

People in Australia continue to campaign for gender equality and have achieved significant outcomes in recent years. 

But many women and gender diverse people still face violence, harassment and unfair treatment, and are still underrepresented, overworked and underpaid across many domains in Australia. This is especially true for women and gender diverse people who experience racism as well as sexism, have a disability, or are LGBTIQA+. Negative attitudes about gender equality in society continue to be a barrier for people to fully enjoy their rights and freedoms.

Pay gaps and workforce participation

  • The national gender pay gap is 21.8%.[1]
  • Workforce participation of migrants and refugees:
    • women: 47%
    • men: 70%[2]
  • In migrant and refugee communities, women are more likely than men to work in low income, low skill and insecure jobs.[3]

Board representation

  • 1 in 4 boards have no women and there is no industry in Australia where the proportion of women board chairs matches the proportion of women working in the industry.[4]
    • For example, women make up 78% of employees in health care and social assistance but occupy 33% of chair positions.[5]

Unpaid labour

  • Women do more than 9 hours a week in unpaid work and care than men,[6] and 7 in every 10 primary carers and women.[7]

Discrimination based on family responsibilities

  • After returning to work from parental leave:
    • 45% receive no information about their return-to-work entitlements
    • 44% receive negative comments about working part-time or needing flexible work hours
    • 27% are not provided with appropriate breastfeeding or expressing facilities.[8]

Sexual harassment in the workplace

  • 41% of women and 26% of men have experienced workplace sexual harassment in the past 5 years.[9]
  • 70% of people with intersex variations have experienced sexual harassment in the past 5 years.[10]

Experiencing violence

  • ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ 20% of adults (3.8 million) have experienced intimate partner or family violence since the age of 15, including:
    • 27% of women (2.7 million)
    • 12% of men (1.1 million)[11]
  • A fear of being criminalised means Indigenous women often do not report domestic and family violence. When Indigenous women go to police or other services for help, they are often misidentified as perpetrators of violence.[12]
  • Over 50% of trans and gender diverse people who responded to a 2018 survey reported that they had been forced or frightened into doing something sexually that they did not want to do.[13]
  • In a 2019 study, 28% of culturally and linguistically diverse trans women reported having experienced sexual assault more than 10 times since age 16.[14]
  • Women with disability in Australia are twice as likely to have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15 than women without disability.[15]

Health

  • Women, girls, and gender diverse people often face challenges when getting the right diagnosis and treatment for health issues.[16]
  • A 2021 survey showed almost 1 in 3 women aged 15 to 34 years had been diagnosed with depression or anxiety.[17]

Gender attitudes and stereotypes

  • 1 in 3 Australians hold a negative bias about women’s ability to participate fully economically, politically or in education.[18]
  • For gender diverse people, identifying and expressing gender outside of traditional categories can result in violence, discrimination, stigma, and exclusion.[19]

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Suggested citation

Suggested citation: ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ (2025) Stats & Facts: Gender Equality.

References

[1] Workplace Gender Equality Agency. (2024). , p. 16.
The gender pay gap is the difference between the average or median remuneration of men and the average or median remuneration of women, expressed as a percentage of men’s remuneration. This data includes base salary, overtime, bonuses, additional payments, and the annualised full time equivalent salaries of casual and part time workers.

[2] Workplace Gender Equality Agency. (n.d.) . Australian Government, Workplace Gender Equality Agency. Women: 47.3%. Men: 69.5%.

[3] Workplace Gender Equality Agency. (n.d.) . Australian Government, Workplace Gender Equality Agency.

[4] Workplace Gender Equality Agency. (2023). . p. 7.
Workplace Gender Equality Agency. (2024). , p. 24, 39.

[5] Workplace Gender Equality Agency. (2023). . p. 31 – 32.
Workplace Gender Equality Agency. (2024). , p. 24, 39.

[6] Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2022, October 7). .

[7] Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2024, July 4). . Primary carers – age and sex.

[8] Potter, R., Foley, K., Richter, S., Cleggett, S., Dollard, M., Parkin, A., Brough, P., & Lushington, K. (2024). . University of South Australia, pp. 19 – 20. Original statisticss: 44.6%, 43.9%, 26.9%. 95% of survey respondents were women.

[9] ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ. (2022). Time for respect: Fifth national survey on sexual harassment in Australian workplaces, p. 49.

[10] ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ. (2022). p. 47. 
.

[11] Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2023, March 15). . [Violence: Experiences of violence by an intimate partner or family member since the age of 15(a), 2021-22].

[12] Djirra. (2024, June 14). . 
From a recent review of women supported in 2023 by Djirra’s casework (an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation established by Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention & Legal Service Victoria).
Caulfield, L., Malins, P. (2025). . Flat Out Inc.

[13] Callander, D., Cook, T., Cornelisse, VJ., Duck-Chong, E., Holt, M., MacGibbon, J., Pony, M., Rosenberg, S., Vlahakis, E., Wiggins, J. (2019). . The Kirby Institute, UNSW. p 10.
Terms used in the report to describe this behaviour were ‘sexual violence and coercion.’

[14] Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS). (2020). , pp., 131, 181. 

[15] Centre of Research Excellence in Disability and Health. (2021). , p. 10.

[16] Commonwealth of Australia, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. (2024). . p 72.

[17] Wilkins, R., Vera-Toscano, E., & Botha, F. (2021). . Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research & University of Melbourne: Melbourne, p. 125.

[18] United Nations Development Programme. (2023). . United Nations, Human Development Reports. [Table A1].

[19] Commonwealth of Australia, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. (2024). . p 30.