NSW Government to Focus on Increasing Women’s Opportunities in Workforce

Minister for Women Bronnie Taylor speaks during an Australia and India ICC Women's T20 World Cup Media Opportunity at Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia on February 19, 2020 . (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

A new expert panel will focus on empowering women and providing them with more workforce opportunities in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW).

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said in a release on Feb. 7 the Women’s Economic Opportunities Review and Expert Reference Panel will look into ways of supporting women to enter, re-enter, and remain in the workforce, including the reduction of salary and superannuation discrepancies, and enabling better access to and affordability of childcare.

“The time has come to level the playing field, making sure more women have more choice and opportunities when it comes to their careers,” Perrottet said.

“We know there is more work to do to improve conditions for more women to succeed in the workplace and have greater choice in their lives. This review will help find ways to increase women’s leadership opportunities and enable flexibility for working parents.”

This comes after Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data showed that as of November 2021, although women’s participation in the NSW workforce has increased, it remained lower than men’s, at 61 percent versus 70 percent respectively.

According to the 2021-22 NSW Intergenerational Report, the state’s economy would be 8 percent larger by 2060-61 if women’s participation matched that of men’s, equating to $22,000 (US$15,650) more in annual income per household.

NSW Minister for Women Bronnie Taylor said the state government aimed to create a more even gender mix across industries and support female entrepreneurs to run their own businesses, as well as increase workplace flexibility.

“Too often women leave the workforce or reduce their working hours out of necessity, not choice. It is, therefore, no surprise that women have only two-thirds of the superannuation saved compared to men,” she said.

“If we increase the number of women in the workforce we will improve their economic security and wellbeing across a lifetime, bringing enormous social and economic benefits to everyone in NSW.”

According to Women in Super, at present, Australian women retire with 47 percent less superannuation than men.

This can be put down to the fact that 43 percent of women work part-time; women working full-time earn 18 percent less than men; and women on average take five years out of the workforce to care for children, which causes their super savings to stagnate; and an estimated 220,000 women miss out on $125 million in super contributions since they do not meet the requirement to earn $450 a month from one employer, as many women have more than one part-time job.

The NSW government will conduct the review with the support of an expert panel, including members of Chief Executive Women, the Muslim Women’s Association, EY Port Jackson Partners, and the Council on Early Childhood Development.

The expert panel will be supplemented with strong external consultation, including with the NSW Council for Women’s Economic Opportunity.

On a national level, according to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, women make up 47.4 percent of all employed persons in Australia, 26.1 percent of whom are working full-time and 21.3 percent part-time.

Women constitute a higher proportion of all part-time employees compared to all full-time employees, at 67.6 percent and 38 percent respectively,

In terms of workforce participation, the rate among women aged 15 t0 64 is 75.4 percent compared to 83.5 percent for men in the same age bracket.