This information provides initial snapshots of important facts and figures regarding women in Victoria. The purpose is to illustrate some important dimensions to the status of women as citizens, community members and workers. As well, there are useful sources including web links so that you can further investigate any of this material. Note: this list will continue to grow and change. Keep visiting!

WOMEN AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Women are more concerned about water shortages than men and are more likely to be willing to take action to save water than men, according to a new study released by the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Quality and Treatment (Dr Naomi Roseth-report author).

However, women are under represented in the water industry. In 2003, there were 3991 full-time-equivalents (FTE) working at a Victorian water business and on average 24% of these were women. Metropolitan businesses have the highest number of women FTEs, averaging 39%. CityWest Water has the highest industry rate of 49% women. The average within regional urban water businesses is 26% and 14% in the rural sector (VicWater - Victorian Water Industry Association ).

Click on the following links for more information:

Australian Water Association

Centrefor Ecological Economics and Water Policy Research

CSIRO Land and Water

Savewater.com.au

Waterwatch Australia

Watermark Australia

MIGRANT WOMEN

Homeworkers are mostly migrant women who make clothes at home in Australia for as little as $2 to $3 an hour. They often work up to 18 hours a day, 7 days a week. Homeworkers make clothes for our major retailers, designers and even suppliers of school uniforms. It is estimated that there are 300,000 outworkers in Australia today (Fairwear).

EDUCATION

In 1906, there were 128 female students (15%) at the University of Melbourne.

Nationally, in 2001, women made up 57% of the 206,834 higher education students commencing an undergraduate qualification. A total of 41,232 women were starting post-graduate studies ( Window on women).

Women comprise 54.3% of Victorians with Bachelor degrees, and 38.5% of Victorians with postgraduate degrees (Officeof Women's Policy ).

Click on the following links for more information:

Australian Education Union

WAVE - Women in Adult and Vocational Education online newspaper

WOMEN’S WELFARE

Women continue to be at risk of poverty in Australia. Elderly single women and female sole parents are over-represented in groups living on low incomes.

While theposition of women has improved, there are still considerably more poor women in sole parent families than there are men (104,000 compared with 34,000) and there are 106,000 poor single women over 65 as compared with 40,000 men in this group in 2000. However, the number of poor single men under 65 years of age is 409,000 compared with 259,000 poor single women (APH- Women and Sole Parents).

In 2001-02, 95,000 adults were clients of homeless services across Australia (AIHW 2002). Over half (53%) were aged 18-35 years. Of this age cohort, 57% were female. This over representation of young women is partly because homeless services respond to those escaping domestic violence or familyconflict. The majority of adults using homeless services are single (73%), whilst 19% are female headed, single parent families (Hanover).

Click on the following links for more information:

Women's Housing Ltd

Statewide Women's Community Housing Service

ECONOMIC WELLBEING

Workforce Participation

Women continue toparticipate in the workforce at an increasing rate. The female participation rate was 56% in 2002-03, up from 45% in 1982-83.

In contrast, the maleparticipation rate fell from 77% to 72% over the same period.More women are remaining in the labour force during child-bearing years. Of the women with children who are in the paid workforce, 39% have achild under the age of two. Of those, 82%work part-time. Nearly half work 15 hours or less on their return to work. Money (73%) is the most common reason women return to work within twoyears ofthe birth of their child while 30% say they are motivated by adult interaction.

Most women (83%) use work arrangements to help with the careof their child, compared with 34% of men. The most common arrangements used by working mothers are flexible working hours (44%), permanent part-time work (39%) and working from home (27%). The most common arrangement used by partners is flexible working hours (20%). Less than 10% work part-time.

(Source: Pregnancy and Employment Transitions, Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006)

Click on the following links for more information:

AIFS and the Work-Family Roundabout

After the barbeque: women, men, work and family

Business Council of Australia

Office for women

Equal Pay
The current pay gap between women and men in Victoria is 18.92% and 17.57% in Australia. (Source: ABS 6306.0: Employee Earnings and Hours- May 2004, published March 2005)

Click on the followinglinks for more information:

Pay Equity Statistics 2005

Womenin Social and Economic Research (WiSER)

Gender Pay Equity in Victoria

HREOC

OECD Review of Family Friendly Policies 2002

Unpaid Work

In 1997, the value of all unpaid work was estimated at $261 billion. Of this, $237 billion was unpaid household work.Women contributed 65% of the value of unpaid household work. The value of all unpaid work represents approximately 48% of Australia’s gross domestic product (GDP). Source: Australian Bureau Statistics, Unpaid Work and the Australian Economy 1997 (Cat. No. 5240.0) Females accounted for more of the total value of all types of volunteer work than males.(Source: Office for Women)

Click on the following links for more information:

Australian Institute of Family Studies

Small Business

Womennow comprise one third of small business owners and operators in Australia. This number has been increasing more rapidly than the corresponding rate for small businesses owned and operated by men. Of these small businesses, 10-12% are owned/managed exclusively by women, and in 20% women share the leading role in managing the business. Currently more than one million of the 2.7 million people (40%) working in small business are women (ABS, 1996).

(Source: Women and Small Business)

Click on the following links for more information:

Micro andHome Business Network

SEX DISCRIMINATION

The Sex Discrimination Act came into force in 1984. In the first year, there were 822 complaints.
In 2002, HREOC reviewed 152 complaints of sexual harassment in the workplace. Key findings included:

• 86% of complaints involved a man sexuallyharassing a woman (of 152 complaints). The remaining 14% of complaints included harassment of men and harassment by women.
• 95% of the complainants were female (of 152 complaints). 88% of individual respondents weremale, five percent were female and seven percent involved both male andfemale respondents (of 152 complaints).
• 60% of individual respondents werein a more seniorposition in the workplace than the complainant (of 161 individual respondents).
• 44% of complainants were employed in small businesses, 19% in medium sized businesses and 36% were employed inlarge businesses (of 135 complaints). (Source: HREOC)
  

Despite decades of equal opportunity laws women still earn less than men, pay more for basic services, risk their jobs when they get pregnant and experience sexual harassment. More than 60% of complaints lodged at the Commission come from women (Equal Opportunity Commission)

Click on the following links for more information:

Office for Women

REPRESENTATION

Government

Federal representation

In 2005, there were 64 women in the Commonwealth Parliament, 27 in theSenate and 37 in the House of Representatives. From 1993, women's participation in Federal Parliament has risen from 14% to over 28%. This is almost double the rate of the international average of16% (IPU figure as at 20 September 2005).

(Source: Office of Women in Politics, 2006)

State of Victoria

In 2006, there were 39women in the Victorian Parliament, 26 in the Legislative Assembly was 26 and13 inthe Legislative Council.The totalthe number of women represented in State Parliament is 29.5%.Women's Political Rights in Australia

(As in the Senate Brief No 3, September 1999, Women in the Senate)
Parliament of Australia –- Parliament Library

Regional and Rural representation

Around 55%of women in rural Australia work, yet the level of women’s representation in rural and regional bodies hasnot mirrored this growth.There is significantly lower representation of women in rural industry compared to regional bodies. Representation of women on rural industry boards (research and development corporations, rural representative bodies and companies) ranges from 21-0% while women makeup41-12% of positions on regional organisations (area consultative committees, development boards and catchment management authorities).

The level of women’s representation in the 10 publicly listed agricultural companies sampled (0 percent female chairs and chief executive officers and 7 percent for board members) was below the average for the ASX 200 companies that were surveyed by the EqualOpportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency 2004 census of women in leadership (1.1 percent female chairs, 2.3 percent chiefexecutive officers and 8.6 percent board directors).

Currently 17% of mayors and only 6 percent of chief executive officers in non-metropolitan local governments are women.

Area consultative committees have thehighest levels of women’s representation with 28% (160 out of 581) representedon committees and 41% (20 out of 49) executive officers. (Source:Department ofTransport and Regional Services)

Local Government

Women comprised 31% of all candidates contesting elections in 2005. Women now comprise 30% of those elected, an increase from 27% in 2003.

Previously all male councils that now havefemale representation include Bayside (2), Mildura (3), Mansfield (1) and Hume (2). Gannawarra, Baw Baw and Central Goldfields have no female representation.(Source: Municipal Association of Victoria)

Click on the following links for more information:

VLGA Online Library

Partnership for Equity Network (PEN) – Indigenous women members of parliament

Women's Electoral Lobby

Office for Women

Current listing of women in the Senate and the House of Representatives

Women Members and Senators since 1901

Historical noteon the first women in Australian parliaments

Abrief history of women in the Senate

Frequently Asked Questions about the first, youngest, oldest etc in Australianfederal politics

Information about women in parliaments around the world

Corporate

Nationally, women hold only 162 positionsof a total of 3312, that is, around 4.9 percent.

Most (71%) Australian companies still have no woman on the board, andof those that do, the profile is of one woman,working with seven male peers aroundthe board table.

Fourteen of our Top 500 companies have two women on the board, and theaverage board size in these companies increases to nine, so in theseboardrooms, while two women sit at the table, they are still flanked by seven male peers.

Three companies of the Top 500 have three women on the board,and one company has four! Allof these boards are larger than the norm, witheleven directors each, on average.

Far from the boardrooms of Australia being swamped by women, the compositionremains remarkably similar to that of ten years ago, when about the same percentage of non-executive directors wasfemale. It seems that this is unlikely to change in the immediate short term ( Women on Boards)

Click on the following links for more information:

Office of Women's Policy

HEALTH

DomesticViolence

Domestic violence is responsiblefor more ill-healthand premature death in Victorian women under the age of 45 than any other of the well-known preventable risk factors, including high blood pressure, obesity and smoking (VicHealth).

Click on the following links for more information:

VicHealth studyon the health impacts of Intimate Partner Violence.

Women's Health in the North: Voices against Violence -Conference Transcript2003.

Explores the health impacts of violence against women across their lifespan.

Women's Health Victoria

Women's Health West

Pap Smear

A Pap test taken every 2 years from the ages of 18 - 70 years will reduce a woman's risk of developing cancer of the cervix by up to 90%. Women should start having Pap tests about a year after their first sexual contact or at the age of18 whichever is later. Lesbians also need Pap tests (Jean Hailes Foundation).

Click on the following links for more information:

Royal Women'sHospital

VictorianCervical Cytology Registry

INDIGENOUS WOMEN

LifeExpectancy

An Indigenous woman's life expectancy is 63.5 years, which is 18.5 years less than non-Indigenous Victorian women (The Victorian Government Indigenous Affairs Report 1999-2002).

Indigenous women who live in regional and remote locations frequentlydo not have accessto medical services. There is a shortage of doctorsand other health professionals working in the area of Indigenous health, and to get to the available healthservices some women are forced to travel long distances. The distances, the cost of traveling,and the costs and difficulties of finding accommodation while away from home places some medical services beyond the reach of some Indigenous women (Australian NGO Shadow Report on the Implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)).

Click on the following links for more information:

Aboriginal Affairs Victoria

Indigenous Women'sHealth

SPORT

During 2004-2005, 32.3% of women aged 18-24 and 32.1%of women aged 35-44 described their lifestyle as sedentary.

In contrast, 7.2 percent of the younger women and 3.9 percent of the older group reported a higher level of exercise (Sources: Royal Women's Hospital, National Perinatal Statistics Unit: UNSW Embryology; Australian Government Office for Women: Australian Bureau of Statistics; University of Melbourne HILDA survey ascited in The Age 7th November, 2006).

Click on the following links for more information:

Australian Sports Commission

Sports Medicine Australia

Women sport & RecreationVictoria

Participation rates and earnings- Pru Goward 2003

VIOLENCE

One in five women report having been subjected toviolence at some point in their lives (VicHealth).

The AustralianLongitudinal Study of Women's Health foundthat 35% of middle aged women reported experiences of physical, sexual or emotional abuse. The statistics for indigenous women are much higher-remote area aboriginal women are45 times more likely to be victims of family violence, and one third of the aboriginal women of the Northern Territory are assaulted by a partner each year. 25% of Victorian children have witnessed family violence.More than half of reported sexual violence and 75% of physical violence is committed by a known male - boyfriend, partner, ex-partner or family member. Younger women are at greater risk of violence than older women. There are still violence-supporting attitudes in the community. A South Australia survey found 56% of young men felt it wasacceptable to putdown, threaten or push around there partner. Between one in three and one in seven express beliefs supportive of sexualviolence.

Click on the following links for more information:

Office of Women's Policy

Domestic Violence and Incest Resource Centre

NationalOnline Resource Centre on Violence AgainstWomen

Immigrant Women's Domestic Violence Service

Australian Government Information relating to Women

Michael Kaufman - writer, speaker, consultant on violence against women

No to Violence

YOUNG WOMEN

Body Image

Approximately one in 100 adolescent girls develop anorexia nervosa. Anorexia nervosa is the third most common chronic illness for adolescent girls in Australia, after obesity and asthma (Eating Disorders Foundation of Victoria).

Click on the following links for more information:

The Butterfly Foundation

Office for Youth - Departmentfor Victorian Communities

Youth Affairs Council of Victoria

Australian government information relating to women

Safety

A study on the fear of crime published by the National Campaign Against Violence and Crime in 1998 found that young women, in particular, were "subject to continuous sexualharassment (especially on trains) ranging from looks, through touching to actual assault" and that this harassment of youngwomen is "often ignored or forgotten by professionals..." (Source:The Right to Party Safely ).

Click on the following links for more information:

Young women, pubs and safety.

Youth Central

OLDER WOMEN

Women make up a greater proportion of the older population and this imbalance increases with age. In 2001, 57% of people in the65 and over age group in Victoria were women. This figure increases to 66% for those aged 80 years and over (< a href="http://www.seniors.vic.gov.au/">Office of Senior Victorians).

Click on the following links for more information:

Connecting Over 50's ThroughoutAustralia