Deputy Commissioner Jobs and Skills Australia Megan Lilly explains that gender economic inequality remains one of the most persistent and complex challenges facing Australia’s labour market and skills systems. The Study reveals how deeply gendered our jobs, work, pay, education and training pathways continue to be.  It makes clear that gender economic inequality is not just a matter of fairness—it is a structural barrier to productivity, workforce sustainability and inclusive economic growth. It also shows that compounding disadvantage for different types of people—particularly for First Nations women, culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities, and people with disability—requires targeted and nuanced policy responses.

The Speeding up progress towards gender economic equality paper, the third of 3 reports, sets out 10 key next steps to address the deep-rooted policy challenges in the jobs and skills system that perpetuate inequality and impact productivity:

1.    Deliver a three-year ‘Shifting the Dial on Gender Segregation’ action and evaluation agenda.

2.    Introduce early career learning into schools to intervene earlier in gendered study choices

3.    Embed gender targets and reporting across future National Skills Agreements.

4.    Coordinate national action to reduce gender segregation in VET pathways for shortage occupations.

5.    Support First Nation women through a standalone economy-wide plan

6.    Accelerate inclusive, safe and respectful workplaces and training settings.

7.    Normalise men’s participation in paid and unpaid care work.

8.    Adopt the Gender Segregation Intensity Scale (GSIS) to guide and measure progress.

9.    Further address gender bias in labour market and skills frameworks.

10.  Expand research, data and intersectional analysis to strengthen accountability

The University of Sydney produces the Gender Equality@Work Index, which offers a comprehensive, national and longitudinal snapshot of gender equality at work across seven key dimensions, and measures changes over time.  The Index shows how Australia is performing on gender equality in participation, pay, hours, security, stratification, segmentation and safety.  The key findings this year are that:

·         Participation: women participate in the workforce at lower rates than men

·         Pay: hourly pay is close to equality while total remuneration shows a large gender gap

·         Hours: women carry the domestic work and parental leave load and work fewer hours

·         Stratification: Women are working below their skill level and are less likely to be in the top job

·         Segmentation: men and women are concentrated in different industries and occupations

·         Security: women are more likely to work in insecure casual roles

·         Safety: women are more likely to experience sexual harassment.