Women in Australia are now less safe at work than they were a decade ago, and continue to shoulder the overwhelming burden of unpaid care, according to a major new national report that has raised urgent concerns for women’s health, economic security and workplace equality.
The Gender Equality @ Work Index, released by the Australian Centre for Gender Equality and Inclusion @ Work, reveals that workplace safety for women has declined by three points since 2014, dropping to a score of 75 out of 100.
It is the only dimension in the Index that has gone backwards, despite years of new legislation, positive-duty obligations and employer commitments to prevent sexual harassment.
Sally Stevenson, Executive Director of the Illawarra Women’s Health Centre, says it’s disappointing that the index is showing women’s safety is not being prioritised.
“Women are holding up the economy through unpaid care, and then they’re walking into workplaces where their safety is increasingly compromised,” she said.
“This is not progress. This is a system failing women, and the impacts on health, financial security and wellbeing are devastating.”
The decline is driven by high rates of workplace sexual harassment, with more than 40% of women reporting harassment in the past five years, according to the Australian Human Rights Commission.
At the same time, the Index shows that the “Hours” dimension, covering paid work, unpaid domestic labour, and parental leave, remains stuck at 76, highlighting the entrenched inequality in how care is shared.
The report finds women continue to perform the majority of unpaid care work, limiting their opportunities for participation and advancement in the labour market..
Nationally, Australia scores 83 out of 100 on the overall Index, leaving the country 17 points short of full gender equality.
While gains have been made in hourly pay parity, labour participation and job security, these improvements are overshadowed by the structural inequalities in care and the worsening crisis of workplace safety.
Women are working more paid hours than a decade ago, yet still carrying the majority of care responsibilities. This “double shift” continues to limit women’s career opportunities, suppress their lifetime earnings and push many into insecure work.
Ms Stevenson says the evidence is now overwhelming: “If we’re serious about equality, we need to fix safety and care first. Until women are safe at work and men share care fairly at home, nothing else will shift.”
Other findings in the report:
- Hourly pay is now close to equal, but women still earn only 76 cents per male dollar in total remuneration due to differences in bonuses, overtime, and additional payments.
- Women continue to perform the majority of unpaid care and domestic work, which limits their opportunities for participation and advancement in the labour market.
- Women are more likely than men to be employed in insecure casual jobs with limited access to paid leave and reduced opportunities for learning, development and labour market rights.
- Despite having higher levels of bachelor-level education than men, women participate at lower rates, work fewer paid hours, earn less, face greater insecurity and are less safe at work.
- Men and women remain highly concentrated in different industries and occupations, with male-dominated jobs paying 16% more on average, contributing to ongoing economic inequality.