MEDIA RELEASE
30 January 2013	Embargo: 11.30 am (Canberra Time)	10/2013

Women in Australia continue to be under-represented in positions of leadership, according to a new report released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Today's release of Gender Indicators, Australia brings together a variety of ABS and non-ABS data to look at the differences between men and women, and how these differences are changing over time.

ABS Director of Living Conditions Statistics, Caroline Daley, said men still held a higher proportion of Australia’s top leadership positions including federal and state parliamentarians, CEOs in the top 200 ASX companies and managers in the Australian Public Service.

"Seven out of ten federal and state parliamentarians were men, and this hasn't changed over the past ten years," Ms Daley said.

"The proportion of women CEOs in top 200 ASX companies has remained below five per cent for the last decade,” she said.

“The situation in the public service however is changing, with the proportion of women in senior and middle manager roles rising from 35 per cent in 2002 to 46 per cent in 2012.

The report also shows that more than twice as many men as women receive nominations and awards for the Order of Australia.

“The difference is greatest at the highest tiers of the honours system, where around three times as many men receive either the Companion of the Order (AC) or Officer of the Order (AO) award in the General Division,” Ms Daley said.

“In 2012, 682 men and 297 women received a General Division Order of Australia award at either the Australia Day or Queen's Birthday announcements.

“Two women received the highest honour (AC), compared to 11 men, while 18 women and 57 men received the second highest honour (AO),” she said.


Media note:

• When reporting ABS data the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or ABS) must be attributed as the source.
• Smoking, drinking and psychological distress rates are age standardised to allow comparisons of populations by taking into account differences in population structure and size.

Selected Gender Indicators - Australian leadership, honours and health Males Females 2002 2012 2002 2012 no. no. no. no. Leadership Federal parliamentarians 166 160 60 66 State/ territory parliamentarians 437 415 161 182 CEOs in top 200 ASX companies (a) 150 195 2 7 Executive level managers - Australian public service Senior Executive Service 1,157 1,695 457 1,091 Executive Level 13,781 22,489 7,695 19,560 Order of Australia - General Division Recipients (all levels) 714 682 348 297 Nominations 1,229 1,220 594 459 2001 2011-12 2001 2011-12 % % % % Health (18+ years) Current smokers 27 20 21 16 Consumption of alcoholic beverages in quantities that exceed lifetime risk 29 29 8 10 Reporting high/ very high level of psychological distress 10 9 15 13

(a) 2002 data excluded trusts and overseas based companies.