Gender Balance on Australian Government Boards

Gender balance on government boards statistics

On 1 July 2016, The Australian Government committed to a target for women to hold 50 per cent of Government board positions. In addition, they set a target for men and women to each hold at least 40 per cent of positions on individual boards.

By setting, reporting on and meeting the target, 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 30 June 2023, women held 51.6 per cent of positions on Australian Government boards, meeting the Government’s target for women to hold 50 per cent of overall Australian Government board positions and maintaining the highest overall result since reporting began in 2009.

As at 30 June 2023, 42.3 per cent of Chair and Deputy Chair positions were held by women. 52.9 per cent of new appointments to Australian Government boards were women and 45.2 per cent of nominations by external organisations were for women.

The Government has committed to maintaining the target of 50 per cent representation of women on Australian Government Boards. This commitment includes giving further consideration to new targets for Chair and Deputy Chair positions and boosting board representation in portfolios that are lagging in gender diversity. The election commitment also addresses under-representation of people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in board positions.

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.