Gender Balance on Australian Government Boards

Gender balance on government boards statistics

In 2024, the government strengthened its commitments to achieving and maintaining gender balance on Australian Government boards through the release of Working for Women: A Strategy for Gender Equality.

The government renewed its targets for:

1. Women to hold 50% of all Australian Government board positions.
2. Women to hold at least 40% of Australian Government board positions at the individual board level.

The government also agreed to new targets for:

3. Women to hold 50% of Australian Government board positions at the portfolio level.
4. Women to hold 50% of Chair and Deputy Chair positions on Australian Government board positions at the portfolio level.

The government also agreed to expand the scope of gender balance on Australian Government boards reporting to include all positions on reportable boards and advisory bodies. The expanded scope will come into effect for the 2024-25 gender balance reporting period.

By setting targets, reporting progress and meeting targets, the government is providing:

• leadership to the community, in both the public and private sectors
• opportunities for women to exercise leadership
• opportunities for greater economic participation by women
• an increase in the economic value of government boards by engaging both women and men in decision-making
• cultural change within the professional community to promote gender equality in the decision-making sectors of government.

The government tracks performance against gender balance targets across four metrics:

1. The overall gender balance of Australian Government board positions
2. The gender balance of Chair and Deputy Chair positions on Australian Government boards
3. The gender balance of new appointments to Australian Government boards, and
4. The gender balance of people nominated for Australian Government board positions by external organisations.

Overall gender balance on government boards

As at 31 December 2023, women held 53.2% of positions on Australian Government boards, meeting the government’s target for women to hold 50% of overall Australian Government board positions and maintaining the highest overall result since reporting began in 2009.

As at 31 December 2023, 44.0% of Chair and Deputy Chair positions were held by women. Women represented 58.8% of new appointments to Australian Government boards and 65.5% of nominations by external organisations were for women.

Annual reports

The Gender Balance on Australian Government Boards Report 2022-2023 provides a gender analysis of the composition of Australian Government boards for the period 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023.

Available reports:

• Gender Balance on Australian Government Boards Report 2022-2023
• Gender Balance on Australian Government Boards Report 2021-2022
• Gender Balance on Australian Government Boards Report 2020-2021
• Gender Balance on Australian Government Boards Report 2019-2020
• Gender Balance on Australian Government Boards Report 2018-2019
• Gender Balance on Australian Government Boards Report 2017-2018
• Gender Balance on Australian Government Boards Report 2016-2017

To access previous years’ Gender Balance on Australian Government Boards reports, you can visit Trove.