With over 90,000 people, Defence is one of Australia's largest employers. Over half of this workforce (57%) are full-time ADF personnel, a significant proportion (23%) are employed in the ADF Reserves and the remainder (20%) are civilians (graph 4.7).
Table 4.8 shows the distribution of ADF personnel across the three Services. Army personnel represent almost half of the full-time ADF, and almost 80% of the Reserves, with the remaindering personnel divided between the Navy and the Air Force.
4.8 AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE STAFFING, By Service - 30 June 2004
|
 | Full-time | Reserves |
|
| Navy | 13,133 | 1,881 |
| Army | 25, 446 | 16,445 |
| Air Force | 13,455 | 2,162 |
| Total | 52,034 | 20,488 |
|
| Source: Department of Defence. |
Men and women have equal access to employment in the ADF, with the exception of certain functions involving direct combat duties. Women comprised 13% of the ADF permanent workforce at 30 June 2004 (table 4.9) and are able to serve in all positions except those involving direct combat duties, including:
- Army - armour, artillery, infantry, combat engineers
- Air Force - ground defence officers and airfield defence guards.
For health and safety reasons, women are not employed in areas where exposure to embryo-toxic substances could endanger their health. Women are not employed, for example, as surface finishers and electroplaters within the Air Force.
4.9 DISTRIBUTION IN THE FULL-TIME ADF - 30 June 2004
|
| Navy | Army | Air Force |
|
|
|
|
| Males | Females | Proportion of females | Males | Females | Proportion of females | Males | Females | Proportion of females |
| no. | no. | % | no. | no. | % | no. | no. | % |
|
| Officers(a) | 2,280 | 528 | 23 | 4,494 | 744 | 16 | 3,492 | 646 | 18 |
| Other ranks | 8,624 | 1,773 | 21 | 18,352 | 1,865 | 10 | 8,056 | 1,391 | 17 |
| Total | 10,544 | 2,301 | 22 | 22,846 | 2,609 | 11 | 11,608 | 2,037 | 17 |
|
(a) Officer numbers include Chaplains.
Source: Department of Defence. |
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