What does Gender

Inequality Look Like in

Australia?
 Where do you stand?
There are some very common perceptions about
equality between men and women.

For example, that ‘women are already equal’,

that we are ‘post-feminist’ or that men suffer
just as much inequality as women.
An interesting question then is:

In Australia,
are women
and men
equal?
LET’S HAVE A LOOK AT A FEW
STATISTICS…
Equal Pay
 WAGE PARITY
The gender pay gap is the difference between women’s and
men’s average weekly full-time equivalent earnings,
expressed as a percentage of men’s earnings.

• The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics’ data puts the

national gender pay gap in Australia at 17.4%. That is,
women earn on average 17.4% less than men for doing
the same job.

• Since November 1994, the gender pay gap has increased

by almost a whole percentage point.
What
does that
look like?
RECOGNITION &
REPRESENTATION
 POLITICS
• Fewer than 1 in 4 lower house members are women
• Across Australia women continue to be significantly under-
represented in parliament and executive government,
comprising less than one-third of all parliamentarians and
one-fifth of all ministers.
• Internationally, Australia’s ranking for women in national
government continues to decline when compared with other
countries.
• The representation of women in Australia’s parliaments
hovers around the ‘critical mass’ of 30 per cent regarded by
the United Nations as the minimum level necessary for
women to influence decision-making in parliament
 BUSINESS
• In the top 200 ASX businesses (listed on the
stock exchange):

• Only 3% of CEO’s are women

• Only 18% of board members are women
• Only 8% of key management positions are
held by women
 FILM
The ‘Bechdel test’ is used to identify gender
bias in fiction. To pass a movie must:

1. Have two or more women

2. Who speak to each other
3. About something other than a man

Only 44% of movies pass

 AWARDS
Australia Day Honours By Sex
Men Women

500

450

400

350

300

250

200

150

100

50

0
2013 2014
 SPORT
Coverage of Women's Sport In Australia

Australian
women's
sport Men

receives 9%
Woman

of all sports
coverage
Education
 School and University results
• More girls complete year 12 than boys (72%
compared to 63%)
• And when they do, they consistently
outperform boys
• More girls enroll in university (in 2010, 57% of
undergraduate enrolments in NSW were girls,
43% boys)
• In Australia, the statistics show that girls are
better educated than boys
 But in their first year out…
• Boys will be offered $4000 more as their starting salary

• By their 5th year out, this has grown to a $7500 difference

• Over their lifetime, women will earn $1 million less than men
simply because of their gender

• And as we have seen on a previous slide, there is still a 21.4%

wage gap in Australia, which women would need to work an
estimated 60 extra days a year to close
VIOLENCE
 VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT
• 1 in 3 women will be affected by family or domestic
violence
• Every week in Australia a woman is murdered by her
partner or ex-partner
• 1 in 5 women experience sexual assault
• 1 in 3 sexually active year 10 girls have been
pressured, forced or coerced into unwanted sex
• 1 in 8 teen boys believe that it is OK to hold a girl
down and force her to have sex if she has ‘flirted or
led him on’
 SEXUAL ASSSAULT IN ‘POP CULTURE’
• In the FHM ‘Manhood’ quiz the following response was
allocated the maximum amount of ‘man points’ – 10
points:

• Q: What would you do if a girl didn’t want to have sex with

you?

• A: Have sex with her anyway

• In the Australia legal system this constitutes the offence of

RAPE
 VIOLENCE AGAINST MEN
Men make up 52% of the victims of violent crimes.
They are also the main perpetrators of those crimes.

According to Victoria Police crime statistics on offenders

processed for the 2013/14 reporting year:

• 87% of homicides were committed by men.

• 98% of sexual assaults were committed by men.
• 83% of non-sexual assaults were committed by men.
• 90% of robberies were committed by men.
• 92% of abductions were committed by men.
 STALKING
• In Australia, 200,000 women will be stalked
ever year
• 1 in women have been stalked at least once
since age 15
• In most cases the stalking is perpetrated by a
male ex-partner or another male they know
• 100,000 men are stalked every year
• 2/3 of male victims are stalked by other men
SEXIST ATTITUDES
 AMBITION
Abrasive, noun

'Irritating in manner or
personality; causing tension
or annoyance.'
This is the newest negative
term used to describe
working women.
A recent Fortune study
found that it appeared 17
times in women's
professional performance
reviews and one for men
(who were openly
encouraged to be 'more
aggressive).
SO, ARE WE EQUAL?

WHAT DO YOU THINK?