Gender Balance on Australian Government Boards Report 2021-22

The Gender Balance on Australian Government Boards Report is prepared annually by the Office for Women, and reports on the Government’s performance against its gender diversity target. As of June 2022, women held a record 51.4 per cent of Australian Government board positions, the highest overall result since reporting began in 2008.

Chair and Deputy Chair Roles

At 30 June 2022, women held 41 per cent of Chair and Deputy Chair positions across all Government Boards.

This result is 1.9 percentage points higher than the 30 June 2021 result, when women held 39.1 per cent of Chair and Deputy Chair positions.

Figure 2 details the portfolios results for the gender balance of Chair and Deputy Chair positions on 30 June 2022.

Figure 2: Gender balance of Chair and Deputy Chair positions as at 30 June 2022, by portfolio

Social Services (including Services Australia) 80%, Health 59.3%, Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications 42.2%, Prime Minister and Cabinet 40.0%, Industry, Science, Energy and Resources 39.3%, Agriculture, Water and the Environment 35.1%, Foreign Affairs and Trade 33.3%, Education, Skills and Employment 33.3%, Treasury 32.3%, Defence (including Veteran's Affairs) 31.3%, Finance 28.6%, Home Affairs 28.6%, Attorney-General's 25%.

Table 4: Gender balance of Chair and Deputy Chair positions as at 30 June 2022, by portfolio

Portfolio Number of boards Number of filled Chair and Deputy Chair positions Number of Chair and Deputy Chair positions filled by women Percentage of Chair and Deputy Chair positions filled by women, as at
30 June 2022		 Percentage point difference from 30 June 2021 to 30 June 2022
Agriculture, Water and the Environment 34 37 13 35.1 5.4
Attorney-General's 8 8 2 25.0 8.3
Defence (including Veterans' Affairs) 14 16 5 31.3 -8.8
Education, Skills and Employment 20 21 7 33.3 -13.8
Finance 6 7 2 28.6 -21.4
Foreign Affairs and Trade 24 24 8 33.3 -9.6
Health 48 54 32 59.3 12.6
Home Affairs 7 7 2 28.6 6.4
Industry, Science, Energy and Resources 27 28 11 39.3 1.4
Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications 94 147 62 42.2 3.4
Prime Minister and Cabinet 15 20 8 40.0 -1.2
Social Services (including Services Australia) 5 5 4 80.0 -20.0
Treasury 21 31 10 32.3 5.6
TOTAL 323 405 166 41.0 1.8