All Cabinet Submissions and New Policy Proposals (NPPs) must be informed by gender analysis and include a Gender Analysis Summary.
The Gender Analysis Summary is a brief overview of the gender analysis undertaken for the proposal, which is recorded in the relevant section in the Cabinet Submission and NPP Impacts Table. Assumptions of gender neutrality (i.e. phrases such as ‘nil impacts’) are not sufficient and must be explained. See pages 21-22 for examples of Gender Analysis Summaries.
In addition to the Gender Analysis Summary, policy makers are encouraged to analyse and demonstrate consideration of gender throughout the NPP, so the analysis is embedded and informs the policy design.
The gender analysis in the NPP should also be applied and reflected in the Cabinet Submission. The Gender Analysis Summary for a Cabinet Submission with multiple NPPs should reflect the analysis for the Cabinet Submission as a whole.
When preparing a Gender Analysis Summary consider:
- Does the policy align with Working for Women and does it have the potential to advance gender equality? Reference the priority area/s and relevant outcomes.
- Are there existing gender inequalities related to the policy area? Such as inequalities in participation, responsibilities or distribution/access to resources.
- Does the proposed policy:
- Provide equitable access to services? Will the recipients access the service differently or be affected by the service differently?
- Promote participation of all people equally in decision making?
- Perpetuate or prevent gender based violence, including addressing risks of violence, and ensuring appropriate and trauma informed support/interactions with victim-survivors and/or perpetrators?
- Address or challenge gender stereotypes or roles?
- Are there gender norms or attitudes that may impact patterns of behaviour in the policy area?
- If yes, is it anticipated that this may lead to the policy having a different or disproportionate impact based on gender?
- What will that impact be? Will it have a positive or negative impact on gender equality?
- What gender disaggregated data, evidence or insights are available (refer to Appendix B for suggested data sources)? Are there intersectional data, evidence or insights (refer to Part 1.3)?
- What are the direct and indirect gender equality impacts of the policy?
- Do stakeholders identify or raise gender impacts?
- Has there been feedback, consultation or reviews on similar policies or programs that raise gender impacts?
- Can demographic data, evidence and insights, e.g. family composition, household types, income level, be used to infer the gender impact of a proposal?
The Gender Analysis Summary must make clear whether the policy, on balance has a:
- positive impact on gender equality
- The policy directly or indirectly improves outcomes for gender equality or narrows gender gaps.
- neutral impact on gender equality
- The policy does not have any direct or indirect benefits or costs for gender equality. There are no differential impacts based on gender in either its development or delivery, with consideration to all impacted parties and intersectional considerations (including the workforce, people, business and community).
- negative impact on gender equality
- The policy directly or indirectly produces burdens, negative outcomes or risks to certain people or groups based on gender. The policy has the potential to widen gender gaps.
Additionally, the Gender Analysis Summary should capture the findings from each step of the gender analysis, such as:
- any gendered context to the policy issue
- available and relevant gender disaggregated data and evidence
- differential impacts on different groups (e.g. First Nations people, people with disability, people living in rural or regional areas, people of low socio-economic status etc.)
- whether stakeholders identify a gender dimension to the issue
- clearly outlining any gendered impacts of the policy.
In a Gender Analysis Summary
Do
- Ensure analysis is targeted and proportional
- Outline how the policy aligns with the Working for Women priority area/s and relevant outcomes
- Clearly state whether the policy will have a gendered impact and what that impact will be (i.e. positive/neutral/negative impact on gender equality)
- Draw on and include relevant data and evidence where available, including stakeholder feedback and expert analysis
- Reflect how intersectional factors may compound gendered impacts
- Ensure any gendered impacts of the policy are transparent to decision
- Reflect how gendered norms and patterns, for instance around caring responsibilities, may influence access and outcomes
Don't
- Record a nil or neutral impact without explanation
- Reflect assumptions that gendered impacts are broadly the same for all women or make generalisations such as “all women” or “particularly women”
- Assume that equal access to a program or service results in equal outcomes
Example Gender Analysis Summary content
Positive impact
This proposal has a positive impact on gender equality and will contribute to the economic equality and security priority area of Working for Women: A Strategy for Gender Equality. In particular, this proposal supports Outcome 3.4: The retirement income gap closes. This proposal mandates the payment of superannuation with wages on a fortnightly basis and will improve the super balances of low income people, who are more likely to be women. It will address the misalignment of superannuation and wages which leads to one in five women being underpaid superannuation. People who are young or on lower incomes are more likely to be affected by underpaid superannuation and women are more likely to be represented in these groups. Modelling of the impact of underpaid superannuation in female dominated industries shows that it can result in an enrolled nurse having $44,000 less super at retirement, a personal assistant having $37,000 less super, and an aged care worker having $35,000 less super.
No or neutral impact
This proposal has a neutral impact on gender equality as it seeks funding to upgrade an existing ICT service delivered by government to members of the public. The proposal will result in client information being held on a secure cloud, rather than within an existing server, but will not affect clients’ experiences of the service or service centre staff experience – including staff experience in updating client information.
The proposal will maintain existing and best practice levels of protection for customer information for all people, regardless of gender.
The department administering the ICT program has close to a gender balance in both the ICT and service delivery workforce affected by the proposal. Women make up 45% of the ICT workforce and 51 of the service delivery workforce.
Negative impact
This proposal has been assessed as having a negative or uneven impact on gender equality. While the policy has not been designed to have a gender bias, existing workforce imbalances mean the impact of this proposal will be uneven. The existing workforce is made up of X% men and Y% women. As the proposal will provide resources to the existing male-dominated workforce, the benefits will flow mostly to men, which may aggravate the gender pay gap, or slow its closing. This is at odds with the economic equality and security priority area of Working for Women: A Strategy for Gender Equality (Working for Women).
The provision of resources to the existing workforce is necessary and urgent to smoothly transition from old industries into emerging industries. The negative/uneven impact of this proposal will be mitigated with the accompanying proposal (X refers). The accompanying proposal will provide targeted support for women to participate in new industries, to prevent replication of a gender segregated workforce. The proposal will contribute to the economic equality and security priority area of Working for Women. In particular, the proposal will support Outcome 3.1: The gender pay gap closes, and Outcome 3.2: Industries and occupations are less gender segregated.