In conversation with Dr Niki Vincent on the state of gender equality in Victoria’s public sector

So I would say the glass is filling but slowly and not evenly.

And so, you know, this slide really shows that we've got some good progress in leadership.

Women in 2025, which was when the data, the last lot of data that we received, we get another lot next year, Women are 57.3% of leadership and that's up from only 53% in just two years.

That's actually a really good difference, I think.

You know, as you said, women make up two thirds of the public sector, 66.1%.

So it's women concentrated.

And in a sector like that, the goal is for leadership to reflect the workforce.

So we would expect to see if there's 66% women in the sector, that about 66% of leaders are women.

So we're moving in the right direction.

We're not going for 50-50 until the workforce is 50-50.

So we want to see less women concentrated in the public sector and And at that point, we would see that leadership that reflects that.

But for now, moving towards that 66-ish percent, is important, and four of the 11 industries have done that, and that's two more than in 2023.

So, again, you know, still a long way to go, but it is progress.

The gaps widest in police and emergency services where women are only 38% of the workforce but only 27% of senior leaders, and in TAFE and in other education it actually went backwards.

The part-time figures are moving in the right direction too, but, you know, and not just part-time, but men's flexible work has grown faster than women's as well, and that's a real strength of the public sector.

The challenge is to protect women.

that flexibility and part-time work while making sure it's not seen as just being something that women should do and that working part-time isn't a barrier to progression as well.

What we do see is if you work part-time, you tend to get less opportunities, less development, acting up and so forth.

And the balance runs both ways.

This is not just about women.

Gender equality is very much about men.

It's really important for men to be able to care for children and so forth.

you know, work flexibly and so on.

And we need to see more men and women concentrated roles like nursing and community services and administration so that the workforce as a whole becomes more balanced.

And representation is only half of the story.