Baseline report

Data

In February 2024, women’s participation rate was 62.9 per cent, compared to 70.7 per cent for men. 

In 2023, the participation rate was lowest for:

• Women aged 65 years and over (11.6 per cent) followed by women aged 55 to 64 years (63.5 per cent). It was highest for women aged 24-34 years (82.6 per cent).
• Women who aren’t married (57.8 per cent) compared to married women (66.3 per cent).
• Women born in countries other than the main English-speaking countries (60.5 per cent) compared to women born in the main English-speaking countries (60.8 per cent) and women born in Australia (63.7 per cent).
• Women whose highest level of educational attainment is year 12 or below (47.4 per cent). It was highest for women with a diploma or above (76.8 per cent).
• Single mothers with non-dependent children (42.2 per cent). It was highest for women in couple families with dependent students over the age of 15 years (85 per cent).

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Data source

Labour Force, Australia | Australian Bureau of Statistics

Released monthly

Data

In 2020-21, median superannuation gaps (men minus women):

• Under 18: $120 (39.1 per cent)
• 18-24 years: $299 (7.1 per cent)
• 25-29 years: -$285 (-1.7 per cent - women have higher balances than men)
• 30-34 years: $6,133 (14.7 per cent)
• 35-39 years: $16,661 (22.5 per cent)
• 40-44 years: $29,127 (27.3 per cent)
• 45-49 years: $43,275 (30.9 per cent)
• 50-54 years: $54,059 (32.4 per cent)
• 55-59 years: $60,549 (31.7 per cent)
• 60-64 years: $53,190 (25.1 per cent)
• 65-69 years: $12,753 (6.0 per cent)
• 70-74 years: $4,102 (1.9 per cent)
• 75 years or more: $5,206 (3.0 per cent)
• Total (all ages): $14,914 (21.7 per cent)

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Data source

Individuals statistics | Australian Taxation Office

Released annually

Data

In 2022-23, there were 273,648 specialist homelessness services clients, of which 59.4 per cent were women. 

• 21.1 per cent of female clients were aged 25-34 years
• The main source of income for female clients were the Parenting payment (25.6 per cent), JobSeeker payment (23.9 per cent) and Disability support pension (12.1 per cent)
• For women the most common main reason for seeking assistance was family and domestic violence (16.3 per cent), for men it was housing crisis (11.2 per cent)
• 65.1 per cent of all young people presenting alone to services were women
• 59 per cent of female clients were in major cities, 34.3 per cent were in regional areas and 6.7 per cent were in remote and very remote areas
• 28.6 per cent of female clients were Indigenous
• 52.8 per cent of older clients seeking assistance were female
• 2.3 per cent of female clients had a disability
• 32.8 per cent of female clients had a mental health issue
• 87.2 per cent of all clients were born in Australia
• 14.7 per cent of all clients spoke a language other than English at home; 20.6 per cent of these spoke Aboriginal English

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Data source

Specialist homelessness services annual report 2022–23, Data | Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

Released annually

Data

On Census night 2021, 122,494 people were estimated to be homeless; 55.9 per cent of these were male and 44.1 per cent of these were female.

• 51 per cent of Indigenous Australians experiencing homelessness are female.
• 23.4 per cent of women experiencing homelessness are Indigenous.
• Young females had a homelessness rate of 70 people per 10,000 and young males had a rate of 71 per 10,000.
• Young females were more likely than males to be in supported housing (26.6 per cent) or staying temporarily with other households (9.9 per cent).
• Older females had a rate of 19 people per 10,000 and older males had a rate of 34 per 10,000.
• Older females were more like to be living in severely crowded dwellings (30.5 per cent), staying temporarily with other households (26.7 per cent) or in supported accommodation (16.9 per cent).

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Data source

Estimating Homelessness: Census, 2021 | Australian Bureau of Statistics (via TableBuilder)

Released every five years