The Index measures the current state of gender equality at work in Australia and tracks changes over time.
It assesses the gender gap across seven key dimensions of workplace gender equality, using at least two measures for each dimension. These dimensions are informed by academic evidence on the drivers of labour market outcomes for Australian women and men.
Dimension
Measure
Are men and women equal in ..?
D1 Participation
Labour force participation
Employment underutilisation
D2 Pay
Hourly earnings
Weekly earnings
D3 Hours
Working hours
Domestic work hours
Parental leave
D4 Security
Casual employment
Income stability
D5 Segmentation
Employment across industries
Employment across occupations
D6 Stratification
Representation in lower paid jobs
Employment in senior and executive roles
Working in jobs below skill level
D7 Safety
Sexual harassment at work
Workplace injury
Measures, Metrics & Data Sources
Each measure is calculated by comparing the outcomes of women and men and is expressed as either a parity ratio or a dissimilarity measure that show how close women and men are to being equal.
The Index and each dimension is expressed as a value between 0 and 100 where 100 indicates equality between women and men. The lower the score, the further Australia is from gender equality at work.
The Index is constructed using measures derived from large-scale, publicly available and nationally representative data that are collected regularly. Data used in the Index is from 2014–2024.
The Index provides governments, businesses, unions and the community with a reliable annual measure of how Australia is progressing on gender equality at work, and change over time. It serves as a diagnostic tool to identify areas where gender equality is stalled and highlights where additional action and investment could drive improvements.
Result snapshot
According to the Gender Equality @ Work score of 83 Australia is 17 points away from achieving gender equality at work.
67
Segmentation is the most significant inequality with a GE@W score of 67. This is 33 points below equality with men.
94
Safety is the least significant inequality with a GE@W score of 94. This is 6 points below equality with men.