Ninth periodic report submitted by Australia under article 18 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

Question 1: Women’s rights and gender equality - the pandemic, recovery efforts and global crises

On this page

  1. Health response
  2. Financial support
  3. Women's safety
  4. Responses to future crises
  1. The Government's response to COVID-19 involved development of national health strategies and plans, that considered the diverse health needs of Australians,7 Recognising COVID-19 would exacerbate existing gender inequalities and violence against women in Australia, the Government implemented measures to guard against backsliding on gender equality and women's empowerment, and future‑proof against other global crises.
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Health response

  1. The Government implemented health-related initiatives targeted to women.
    • $11.4 million to the Multicultural Centre for Women's Health (March 2022 to February 2024) to establish Health in My Language programs, delivering COVID‑19 vaccine information and health education to culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) people in their languages;
    • $9.7 million to BreastScreen Australia in 2022 for surge capacity to support women who missed or delayed breast and cervical cancer screening due to COVID‑19.
  2. Australia assessed its national capacity as 'high' (score: 5/5) against International Health Regulations Indicator C1.2 – gender equality in health emergencies – in the 2022 States party self-assessment annual reporting tool.8 Contributors include:
    • the Government expanded its approach to gender budgeting. Since 2023-24 gender-responsive budgeting has been embedded across the budget process. All government agencies are required to conduct gender analysis on new policy proposals.
  3. The Australian National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security 2021-2031 notes humanitarian crises disproportionally affects women and girls, with 60% of maternal mortality occurring in humanitarian and fragile settings.9 Government actions adopts a gender‑responsive approach to resilience, relief and recovery in humanitarian action, stabilisation, development and disaster management. Including engaging men and boys in protecting and advocating for the rights and inclusion of women and girls in humanitarian assistance.
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Financial support

  1. Women were more likely to experience economic insecurity during COVID-19 due to factors including existing labour market inequalities, disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work, and female‑dominated industries being most affected by health restrictions.
  2. The Government delivered a series of economic support during COVID-19 that benefited women, including:
    • JobKeeper Payments: the largest fiscal measure in Australia's history, operating between March 2020 and March 2021 to support businesses and households with temporary/targeted payments. On average, 55% of JobKeeper recipients were men and 45% were women, compared with men and women's pre‑pandemic shares of employment of 52.9% and 47.1% respectively;10
    • 'Coronavirus Supplement', provided as an additional top-up for new and existing recipients of select social security payments, approximately 54% of recipients were women;
    • Economic Support Payments to eligible social security recipients, Family Tax Benefit Recipients, veterans, income support recipients and concession card holders. 58% of first payment recipients were women and 60% of second payment recipients were women;
    • COVID Disaster Payments: supported around 2 million Australians with over $9 billion in payments, particularly in the later stages of the pandemic. The temporary payment began once a state reached 70% full vaccination of its population (16-years and older).
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Women's safety

  1. COVID-19 coincided with the onset or escalation of physical and sexual violence against women by a current or former cohabiting partner. Groups more likely to experience this included First Nations women, young women aged 18 to 24, women with a restrictive health condition, women with disability, pregnant women, migrant and refugee women (including those on temporary visas), and women experiencing financial stress.11
  2. The Government provided $130 million to state and territory governments in 2020 under the National Partnership on COVID-19 Domestic and Family Violence Responses, for support services for women and children experiencing or at risk of violence during COVID-19. The Government provided $260 million to the National Partnership in 2021-23, a further $159 million for 2023-25, and will invest an additional $351 million over the next 5 years on a renewed National Partnership Agreement on Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence Responses to frontline services. Government funding to states and territories for frontline violence services continued during this time.
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Responses to future crises

  1. The Government's COVID-19 Response Inquiry12 (report delivered October 2024) reviewed the Government's response and identified opportunities to improve Australia's preparedness for future pandemics. The inquiry considered mechanisms to better respond to the needs of groups, across genders, age, disability, socio-economic status, geographic location, First Nations and CALD communities.
  2. The Government is committed to a gender-responsive approach to climate change, disaster and crisis mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery efforts including leadership and advisory positions. Future disaster management arrangements must be inclusive and provide opportunities for diverse representation and meaningful governance participation.
  1. 7 Australian Health Sector Emergency Response Plan for Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the National COVID-19 Health Management Plan for 2023. Australia was one of the first countries in the world to recognise the mental health impacts of the pandemic and develop a National Mental Health and Wellbeing Pandemic Response Plan, released in May 2020. ↩
  2. 8 World Health Organization Electronic IHR States Parties Self-Assessment Annual Reporting Tool   ↩
  3. 9 UNFP, Trends in Maternal Mortality: 1990-2015 – estimates by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, the World Bank and the UN Population Division, United Nations, New York.  ↩
  4. 10 See, Independent Evaluation of the JobKeeper Payment ↩
  5. 11 Australian Institute of Criminology, 'Who is most at risk of physical and sexual partner violence and coercive control during the COVID-19 pandemic?', February 2021 ↩
  6. 12 Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, 'COVID-19 Response Inquiry Report', 29 October 2024. ↩
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