Women's Strategy

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2. Community implementation plan
   • Applying a gender lens
   • Budget statements
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   • Queensland Women's Strategy
   • Reporting
   • Success stories
3. Priority areas
   • Add your initiative
4. Economic security

The big issues

The financial facts for women in the workforce are alarming. For example, women currently earn about 84 cents for every dollar earned by men. Higher rates of part-time work and time spent out of the workforce drive women’s earnings down even further. These factors all contribute to lower lifetime earnings and significantly reduced superannuation.

This means women experience more financial insecurity during retirement, and are less likely to achieve economic independence. Economic insecurity can also contribute to women being at greater risk of inadequate housing and homelessness.

The big economic security issues for Queensland women are:

• gender pay gap
• women’s financial literacy and capability
• the retirement income gap between women and men
• women’s and girls’ participation in traditionally male-dominated fields of study
• financial recognition of domestic work and traditionally female-dominated industries, including teaching, early childhood education and care, nursing and community services
• women’s vulnerability to inadequate or unaffordable housing and homelessness.

Women’s financial disadvantage and economic insecurity have far-reaching impacts that can span generations. As women continue to be the primary carers of children, it is important to consider the wider effects of women’s poverty on their children.

Recent initiatives across the private and public sectors to improve women’s economic security are reaping great benefits. All this helps contribute to achieving the G20 goal of reducing the gender gap in workforce participation by 25% by 2025. But there is more to be done.

Snapshot of what government is doing

• Implementing the Digital Careers - Girls in Technology program to increase women’s participation in information technology.
• Providing housing and support for women at risk of insecure housing, including specialist homelessness services.
• Raising awareness of the importance of gender equity and equality of economic security through the Queensland Public Sector inclusion and diversity commitment.
• Increasing the participation of women and men in the public service workforce by embedding flexible work arrangements and other gender-friendly policies such as domestic and family violence leave.

Actions and initiatives

The Queensland Women's Strategy proposed a range of actions that would progress gender equality in Queensland.

Commitments made by the Queensland Government, community and private sector partners to deliver on these proposals are listed below each proposed action.