Why this matters
Across organisations, men continue to hold more seniority, status and pay than women. They also tend to have greater access to career development and promotion (as discussed under Indicator 5: Recruitment and promotion) – including secondments, higher duties, and training. This unequal composition contributes to the gender pay gap and means organisations may not be drawing fully on the expertise of women at senior levels. Even where an organisation has a roughly equal spread of genders overall, women are often underrepresented in leadership and overrepresented in lower-level roles. As discussed under Indicator 7: Gendered segregation, men are over-represented in leadership roles in both men-concentrated and women-concentrated industries.
Another way of looking at the gender composition of a workforce is to consider who works part time. At an individual level, part-time options can help many people to balance caring responsibilities with paid work. But where part-time work is taken up overwhelmingly by women, it can entrench unequal divisions of unpaid care and contribute to the gender pay gap. This is because part-time roles often carry fewer progression opportunities, or a narrower range of roles to progress into. Supporting more men to work part time is part of shifting this pattern. Making sure people who work part time have opportunities to progress is also important.
Organisations can use workforce composition data to see which roles and employment types skew towards one gender, and to plan how to move towards balance. You can read more about the importance of gender-balanced workforce composition in the Baseline report (2021, pp. 22-23).
How we define progress
Progress means moving towards a 45:45:10 framework (45% women, 45% men, 10% any gender) at all levels of the workforce. Importantly, this is a goal of balance, not of reducing women’s representation. In a sector that is around two-thirds women, progress is when women-concentrated organisations attract and retain more men, and men-concentrated organisations attract and retain more women – at every level, not only overall.
At the senior leadership level, the gender split should closely mirror the composition of the organisation as a whole. Women-concentrated organisations still frequently have an overrepresentation of men in leadership, so in those cases a greater share of leadership roles being held by women represents progress.
In some men-concentrated organisations, it may make sense to aim for a higher proportion of women in senior roles than in the workforce overall. For example, in police and emergency services women are less than 40% of all employees, so these duty holders could aim for a 45:45:10 senior leadership split. This could help drive broader change, because stronger representation of women in leadership can support equality more widely (Gould et al. 2018).
Progress also includes addressing part-time work imbalances. In particular, this means supporting men to take up part-time work options so they can share more of the responsibilities of care at home and in their communities.
Progress between 2021 and 2025
While the overall gender composition of the Victorian public sector workforce held steady across all 3 reporting years, beneath that stability, encouraging shifts emerged between 2023 and 2025. Women’s representation in senior leadership rose, and the gender gap in part-time work narrowed as men’s uptake increased slightly. These are early movements rather than wholesale change, but they point in the direction of greater balance.
Key data measures are presented in Tables 1.1 to 1.3. Findings are discussed in further detail after the tables.
Table 1.1: Overall gender composition progress
| Measure | 2021 | 2023 | 2025 | Percentage point change 2021-2025 | Progress |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proportion of women | 66.1% | 66.2% | 66.1% | +0.1pp | Poor (8 – Matrix) |
| Proportion of men | 33.9% | 33.4% | 33.1% | -0.8pp | Poor (8 – Matrix) |
| Proportion of people of self-described gender | 0.1% | 0.5% | 0.8% | +0.7pp | n/a |
| Proportion of women working part time | 54.8% | 54% | 54.1% | -0.7pp | Moderate (Holistic) |
| Proportion of men working part time | 26.1% | 26.7% | 27.9% | +1.8pp | Moderate (Holistic) |
| Gender gap in part-time work | -28.7% | -27.3% | -26.2% | +2.5pp | Moderate (Holistic) |
| People of self-described gender’s uptake of part-time work | 56.0% | 51.5% | 54.5% | -1.6pp | n/a |
Source: Workplace gender audit workforce data, 2021, 2023 and 2025.
Notes: To understand how to interpret the different types of progress ratings, see Data measures in Appendix 1. To read more about how the Commission calculates gender gaps, see Gender gaps in Appendix 1. Gender gaps are always calculated between men and women. A gap greater than zero is in favour of men, and a gap less than zero is in favour of women. The percentage point change column may not always reflect the exact difference between years due to rounding.
Table 1.2: Overall gender composition of senior leaders
| Measure | 2023 | 2025 | Percentage point change 2023-2025 | Progress |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proportion of women | 53.1% | 57.3% | +4.2pp | Improving |
| Proportion of men | 46.6% | 42.6% | -4.0pp | Improving |
| Proportion of people of self-described gender | 0.2% | 0.1% | -0.1pp | n/a |
Source: Workplace gender audit workforce data, 2023 and 2025.
Notes: To understand how to interpret the different types of progress ratings, see Data measures in Appendix 1. Senior leader data was introduced into the audit in 2023 and is not available for 2021. You can review the definition of senior leader in the audit guidance. The percentage point change column may not always reflect the exact difference between years due to rounding.
Table 1.3: Gender composition of workforce and senior leaders by industry (percentage of women)
| Industry | Total women 2023 | Senior leaders 2023 | Total women 2025 | Senior leader 2025 | Senior leader change percentage point 2023-2025 | Senior leader progress |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Community and cultural services | 58.9% | 52.2% | 61.6% | 59.0% | +6.8pp | Proportional |
| Finance and insurance | 62.9% | 45.1% | 64.3% | 52.1% | +7.0pp | Improving |
| Local government | 62.4% | 48.5% | 61.8% | 51.3% | +2.8pp | Improving |
| Other | 48.3% | 47.1% | 48.8% | 51.0% | +3.9pp | Proportional |
| Police and emergency services | 38.0% | 26.2% | 38.2% | 27.0% | +0.9pp | Improving |
| Public health care | 77.3% | 63.8% | 77.0% | 68.1% | +4.3pp | Improving |
| TAFE and other education | 60.0% | 54.8% | 60.0% | 50.8% | -4.0pp | Worsening |
| Transport | 27.3% | 35.3% | 29.4% | 35.0% | -0.3pp | n/a1 |
| Universities | 59.6% | 53.7% | 59.6% | 55.8% | +2.1pp | Proportional |
| Victorian Public Service | 69.7% | 55.1% | 69.5% | 58.4% | +3.3pp | Improving |
| Water and land management | 43.0% | 42.6% | 42.9% | 41.4% | -1.2pp | Proportional |
Notes: To understand how to interpret the different types of progress ratings, see Data measures in Appendix 1. The percentage point change column may not always reflect the exact difference between years due to rounding.
Signs of progress
More women worked in senior leader roles in 2025
While overall workforce composition stayed stable, women’s representation in senior leadership grew. In 2025, women held 57.3% of senior leader roles, up 4.2 percentage points from 53.1% in 2023. This brought the composition of senior leaders closer to the overall composition of the public sector workforce, which was around two-thirds women.
This is a positive shift towards proportional representation, and it is consistent with organisations strengthening pathways into leadership and addressing barriers to progression. While audit data shows the movement clearly, it cannot on its own identify the specific changes inside organisations that produced it.
As Indicator 3: Gender pay gaps explains in more detail, this increase in women’s representation in senior leadership has not been accompanied by improved pay equity. In fact, the gender pay gap among senior leaders widened between 2021 and 2025. This highlights that increasing women’s representation alone is not enough. Progress on representation and remuneration must occur in tandem if gender equality is to be achieved.
It is important to note that in gender-balanced organisations, the goal for senior leadership is a 45:45:10 split. In women-concentrated organisations, the goal is for leadership to mirror the broader workforce. Because the public sector is majority-women, movement towards women holding a proportional share of leadership – rather than men remaining overrepresented at the top – is the relevant measure of progress here. This should be understood alongside the equally important goal of increasing men’s representation in women-concentrated occupations and industries across the public sector, so that the workforce as a whole becomes more gender balanced.
Four out of 11 industries achieved proportional representation of women in leadership
Most industries shifted towards proportional representation of women in leadership between 2023 and 2025. Four industries of 11 reached it in 2025, up from 2 in 2023. These were:
- community and cultural services
- other
- universities
- water and land management.
Women remained underrepresented in senior leader roles in 6 out of 11 industries. In 2025, women’s underrepresentation was most pronounced in:
- finance and insurance (64.3% total women, 52.1% women senior leaders)
- police and emergency services (38.2% total women, 27.0% women senior leaders)
- Victorian Public Service (69.5% total women, 58.4% women senior leaders)
- local government (61.8% total women, 51.3% women senior leaders).
One industry was rated ‘worsening’: in TAFE and other education, women were 60.0% of the workforce but only 50.8% of senior leaders in 2025, down 4.0 percentage points.
There is still work to do to ensure women’s share of senior leadership mirrors the workforce in most industries.
The proportion of men working part time increased, and the gender gap in part-time work narrowed
In 2021, 54.8% of women worked part time, with this number lowering slightly in 2025 to 54.1%. At the same time, the proportion of men working part time increased slightly (26.1% in 2021, and 27.9% in 2025). As a result, the gender gap in part-time work reduced by 2.5 percentage points (from 28.7% in 2021 to 26.2% in 2025). The Commission assigned a holistic progress rating of ‘moderate’ to part-time work.
Both shifts are encouraging, but they sit within a more complex picture. Higher rates of part-time work among women are partly explained by the flexible conditions the public sector offers (Dangar et al. 2023). The sector’s ability to help people balance paid work and care is a genuine strength. It supports many women’s ongoing participation in paid work and benefits their broader wellbeing.
The challenge is twofold: to protect those valued flexible conditions, while also supporting more men to take up part-time and flexible options, so that care is shared more equally and part-time work is not treated as something primarily ‘for women’. Visible role-modelling of job sharing and flexible arrangements at all levels, including senior levels, is part of how that shift happens.
Areas for attention
Women continued to outnumber men both sector-wide and in most industries
In 2025, the overall composition of the Victorian public sector workforce was 66.1% women, 33.1% men and 0.8% people of self-described gender. Since 2021, women’s share of the workforce remained relatively steady, men’s fell 0.8 points, and people of self-described gender’s rose 0.7 points.
The long-term challenge is to attract and retain more men across the sector, while protecting the flexible, supportive conditions that draw many women to public sector work in the first place. These are not competing goals. Changing the gender composition across the sector and in industries is a long-term challenge. Industry and sector composition are unlikely to change markedly in a few years. But the gains in senior leadership and part-time work show that meaningful movement is possible and is already underway.
Commissioner expectations
The Commissioner expects steady progress towards gender balance across the workforce, including efforts to attract and retain a diverse workforce. This may involve working with education and training partners and focusing on workplace culture in gender-concentrated roles and organisations.
Progress starts with understanding the organisation’s starting position. For women-concentrated organisations, hiring more women is not itself a signal of progress, because the goal is balance at all levels.
Composition is hard to shift in historically segregated industries, so organisations should focus on the strategies that make the biggest difference. Look at composition level by level to see how representation plays out across the workforce. Focus in particular on pathways to leadership, so representation is equitable at senior levels. Culture matters as much as numbers. Organisations should ask:
- are women-concentrated roles and organisations attractive to men?
- are men-concentrated roles and organisations safe and welcoming for women?
- what part-time and flexible options exist for people with caring responsibilities, and are men encouraged to use them – recognising that a policy alone will not change culture?
- do people working part time or flexibly have genuinely equal access to career development?
Attractive part-time and flexible conditions are a strength of the sector, but they should never become a barrier to progression, and they should not be seen as ‘for women’ alone. Attracting and retaining men, and supporting them to work part time, matters just as much for achieving gender equality – at work and at home.
Footnotes
1: In 2025, the proportion of senior leaders who were women in the transport sector declined by 0.3 percentage points compared to 2021. Technically, this means the proportion of senior leaders who were women moved closer to the overall proportion of employees who were women. As such, this could be rated as ‘improving’. However, in some situations, men-concentrated organisations or industries might aim for a greater proportion of women in senior roles than those that are employed throughout their organisation. This can be a strategy to improve gender equality throughout the organisation or industry and encourage more women to enter. As such, seeing a drop in women leaders in this industry may not be viewed as improvement. For these reasons, the Commission has not assigned a progress rating to the transport industry.
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