The government recognises that gender equality is a global public good and is committed to Australia being a global leader on gender equality.
The government’s objective is to deliver outcomes for all Australians by ensuring gender equality and women’s empowerment is at the centre of all policy decisions at home, in our region and around the globe.
The government is committed to international efforts to advance gender equality and ensuring that existing commitments on gender equality are maintained.
The Office for Women supports the government’s mission by engaging internationally to share Australia’s domestic priorities and experiences on gender equality in relevant global fora; supporting international norm setting and the safeguarding of international standards and engaging with like-minded and other economies to safeguard and advance gender equality as a public good.
The Office for Women has a focus on mainstreaming gender in domestic policies, budget settings and impact analysis, supporting women’s increased economic participation through the provision of flexible and inclusive workforce policies and ensuring policy reform and investment in critical sectors where women are overrepresented, including the care economy. The Office for Women also supports on gender equality with respect to gender-based violence, sexual orientation and gender identity.
The Office for Women leads or supports the Minister for Women in a range of fora, including:
- promoting women and girls' human rights at a range of international forums, including the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), and the Commonwealth Women’s Affairs Ministers Meeting (CWAMM).
- promoting and advancing women’s economic empowerment and removal of structural barriers to gender equality through international and regional economic forums including relevant subfora in the G20, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). For 2023-2024, Australia will chair the APEC Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy (PPWE).
- Fulfilling Australia’s reporting requirements under a number of international conventions, resolutions and agreements including the 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
- Engaging bilaterally with other nations and regional organisations, particularly in the Indo-Pacific, to advance gender equality as a public good and to build support for global outcomes and safeguarding gender equality as a human right.
United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
The Office for Women supports the official Australian delegation, usually headed by the Minister for Women or another senior Minister, and includes Australian civil society, to engage in negotiations to advance the rights of women at the annual conference in New York. The theme of CSW67 in March 2023 was “innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”. Senator the Hon Malarndirri McCarthy, Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians, headed Australia’s official delegation to CSW67. Read Australia’s 2023 National Statement.
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Women and the Economy Forum
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is an organisation of 21 members committed to greater prosperity in the region by promoting and accelerating regional economic integration.
APEC consists of a number of work streams critical to ensuring balanced inclusive, sustainable, innovative and secure growth. In 2011, APEC introduced a Policy Partnership for Women in the Economy (PPWE) to ensure women’s economic empowerment and inclusion in the regional economy are high on APEC’s agenda. For 2023 and 2024, the Head of the Office for Women will chair the PPWE.
PPWE is the working group responsible for mainstreaming gender across APEC. The PPWE also reports to, and informs, Ministers and senior officials who participate in the APEC Women and the Economy (WEF). The WEF sets APEC’s activity and commitments to women’s rights and gender equality.
The first PPWE (PPWE I) was held in Palm Springs, Seattle, in February 2023 to advance women’s economic empowerment. Economies discussed: Gender and trade, climate change, the care economy, structural reform and global value chains. Read the PPWE.
The second PPWE (PPWE II) and the WEF will be held in Seattle, Washington from 17 – 20 August.
G20 Ministerial Conference on Women’s Empowerment (MCWE)
In 2021, Italy convened the inaugural Ministerial Conference for Women’s Economic Empowerment (MCWE), building on the G20 Alliance for the Empowerment and Progression of Women's Economic Representation (G20 EMPOWER). MCWE brings together Ministers for Women and related portfolios, together with civil society, academics, international organisations and private sector representatives, to discuss challenges and recommendations to address women’s empowerment.
The Minister for Women, Senator the Hon Katy Gallagher, represented Australia at the August 2022 conference. Read the Minister’s Statement on the care economy. The conference produced a Chair’s Summary, addressing the outcomes of discussion on these themes. Australia will be represented at the G20 MCWE in India, 2023 by the Ambassador for Gender Equality.
G20 Empower
The G20 EMPOWER alliance brings together business leaders and government officials to accelerate women’s empowerment and leadership. It aims to build networks within the private sector to share challenges, lessons learnt and best practices in the pursuit of advancing women’s leadership in the business sector and beyond. The forum is particularly focused on digital skilling across women’s entrepreneurship, leadership and empowerment.
Australia is represented in G20 EMPOWER by a public sector representative, Assistant Secretary of the Office for Women, and its private sector representative, CEO of Engineers Australia, Romilly Madew.