Despite decades of effort by governments, employers and educational institutions, gender inequality at work remains a feature of economies around the world. Stubborn gaps in participation, pay and career progression are holding women, business, and national economies back.
The Gender Equality @ Work Index, developed by the Australian Centre for Gender Equality and Inclusion @ Work, offers a comprehensive and longitudinal snapshot of gender equality at work. Assessing the gender gap across seven key dimensions, it tracks the current state of gender equality at work and measures changes over time.
The Index is diagnostic, providing insights for policymakers, employers and the community on progress, and highlights areas requiring urgent action to address the root causes of inequality.
The Gender Equality @ Work (GE@W) Index offers a comprehensive, national and longitudinal snapshot of gender equality at work.
It provides insights for the community, policymakers and employers on progress, and highlights areas requiring urgent action to address the root causes of inequality.
The 2025 Gender Equality @ Work Index is 83, showing we are still 17 points from equality. The Index has seven dimensions that show how Australia is performing on gender equality in participation, pay, hours, security, stratification, segmentation and safety. These data-informed insights provide important information for policy makers on where additional investment and innovation is needed and is most likely to deliver the biggest boost to productivity and performance.
These rigorous data-informed insights underscore the need for governments, employers and community to prioritise:
This is the pathway to gender equality at work and a productive and prosperous economy for all.
The research team is now focused on developing the next innovative and action- oriented applications of the GE@W Index. These will enable point-in-time snapshots, track progress over time, and provide deeper insights into change across the seven dimensions that make up the Index.
In Australia, the GE@W Index will generate insights across states and territories, industries, workforce groups and, in time, organisations. Internationally, we are developing collaborations with multilaterals, governments and research institutions to create a tool for comparative analysis that builds global understanding of how gender equality at work is experienced and realised in different contexts.
As we expand the GE@W Index, apply it in new settings and explore future directions, we invite collaboration, investment and partnership to help inform and drive progress toward gender equality at work. To find out more about partnership opportunities, please contact us at gender-equality@sydney.edu.au.
The Gender Equality @ Work Index assesses the gender gap across seven key dimensions of workplace gender equality, using at least two measures for each dimension. These dimensions are informed by academic evidence on the drivers of labour market outcomes for Australian women and men.
