Women in leadership
- A target of 50% of the workforce, in leadership roles, equates to 2,072 employees.
- At March 2024, 53.79% of employees or 2,229 of employees that identified as women are in leadership positions.
- This group is 157 employees over the target.
To address inequity the government is prioritising strategies to:
- reduce the gender pay gap – the difference between average annual earnings for male and female
employees as a proportion of average male earnings - increase women in leadership – at SO, SES2, SES3, SES4 and CEO levels (s122 and s155 contract, SO, SES
and CEO classified roles).
Gender pay equity dashboard
To build an evidence-based approach to equity and diversity in the public sector, the Office of the Special Commissioner publishes an annual Gender pay equity dashboard and works with agencies to analyse their workforce data to identify equity and diversity challenges.
- The gender pay gap in the Queensland public sector is 6.31%.
- This is lower than the gap for the Australian labour market of 13%.
- The gender pay gap on base salary decreased from 6.55% in June 2022 to 5.38% in June 2023.
- The gender pay gap on earnings reduced from 7.64% in June 2022 to 6.31% in June 2023.
Source: Queensland public sector, Gender pay equity dashboard 2023.
This significant progress shows that strategies to reduce the gender pay gap in the sector have been working.
Women in leadership initiative
The Special Commissioner’s Women in Leadership initiative investigates and addresses the under-representation of women at higher classification levels, and creates opportunities for networking and undertakes distinct research projects.
Women applying for Senior Executive Service roles
Understanding if women are applying for the most senior roles in the sector is one aspect to determine why there is under-representation of women in senior executive service (SES) positions.
- Women are applying for SES roles in lower numbers than their male counterparts.
- Women represent almost 70% of the sector workforce, but account for approximately one-third of applicants for SES roles.
Source: Applicant pools for Senior Executive Service (SES) positions between 2019 and 2023. Applicant data was available for more than half of those processes.
This under-representation of women as applicants occurs in most agencies and for most roles.
Under-representation was particularly evident in agencies that have traditionally male-dominated occupations such as agriculture, fisheries, resources, infrastructure, manufacturing and planning.
Women however, were also under-represented in applicant pools for female dominated agencies.
While women comprised only around one-third of applicant pools, they had a higher rate of success in being appointed, with around 60% of appointments being women.
This confirms other research that suggests women may be hesitant to apply unless they meet all the role criteria but, once they do apply, they are competitive applicants.
Women in leadership initiative: Senior women’s voices 2022
In 2022, 38 of the sector’s most senior women were interviewed to understand the experience of women leaders and to gain greater insight into gender disparities.
All interviewees discussed the importance of visibility and exposure to leaders, networks and other forums. Several interviewees noted that visibility and exposure seemed to be a key factor in promotion and allocation of opportunities.
Many interviewees perceived that women are held to a higher standard than men and had to work harder to prove they were meritorious. This is consistent with literature findings.
Some interviewees perceived that men were promoted more quickly than women and were more likely to be encouraged to apply for vacant roles than women.
Most interviewees believed that they had been provided with good development opportunities throughout their career through, for example, higher duties, mobility and lateral transfers. They also noted that men tended to have a more linear career trajectory while women were often likely to take a horizontal move at the same level.
The women interviewed had mixed experiences with the recruitment and selection process.
Around one-third had a positive experience, and several noted the importance of encouragement to apply from their Director-General or those around them.
However, some other interviewees had a less positive experience, due to factors including the composition of selection panels, masculine conceptions of merit, and selection processes that did not cater for alternate personality and leadership styles.
A range of organisational barriers were also identified including:
- bias and assumptions being made about appropriate or suitable work for women
- an absence of appropriate networking opportunities
- work hours and work/life balance
- imposter syndrome, where women question their readiness for roles or perceive that they are unwelcome by male colleagues at senior levels.
Employee experiences
The Working for Queensland survey does not capture information on salary, but does capture information on role – individual contributor, team leader, program leader, executive and chief executive. Results show Women in executive and chief executive positions are slightly more engaged than men at the same levels (83% score for women and 82% for men).
The 2023 survey also suggests women, at all levels, felt overwhelmingly positive about issues of gender equity.
- 78% felt their manager or supervisor is committed to gender equity.
- 74% felt their senior manager is committed to gender equity.
- 69% felt their executive group is committed to gender equity.
- 76% felt they had the same access to career development opportunities as male colleagues.
- 74% felt they had the same access to promotion as male colleagues.
- 73% felt their professional opinions and insights were as likely to be supported as male colleagues.