Addressing gender inequality is essential to building Australia’s future and realising our social and economic ambitions. Australia has made significant gains towards gender equality. However, there is still a long way to go. Women continue to experience persistently high rates of gender-based violence, and gaps in pay and lifetime earnings. Women perform more unpaid caring and work, and also experience inequalities in health, leadership and other aspects of life.

The Office for Women (OFW) is the central gender equality institution in the APS, supporting government to advance gender equality, and improve social and economic outcomes for women. This includes driving whole-of-government efforts to implement Working for Women: A Strategy for Gender Equality (Working for Women).

Working for Women outlines the government’s vision for a gender-equal Australia, where people are safe, treated with respect, have choices, and have access to resources and equal outcomes, no matter their gender. It sets a path to achieve this vision, with a focus on gender-based violence, unpaid and paid care; economic equality and security; health; and leadership; representation and decision-making. Gender-responsive budgeting is a key tool for implementing the strategy, ensuring that gender analysis is at the centre of government decision-making and investment.

OFW will continue to work across government to ensure gender analysis informs policy design and investment decisions, by providing expertise, resources and access to evidence, and by collaborating with portfolio departments on key government priorities.

Addressing the crisis of gender-based violence is a priority for the Australian Government and National Cabinet. OFW will continue working closely with the Department of Social Services as the steward of the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032, and coordinate whole-of-government efforts to end gender-based violence and identify further opportunities to respond. This includes leading work to embed safety in government systems to stop abuse by perpetrators of family and domestic violence.

Progressing gender equality is a core economic imperative and key to unlocking productivity. OFW will continue working with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, and other partners, to shift the persistent structural barriers preventing women from achieving economic independence.

In 2025–26, OFW will maintain Australia’s strong history of championing gender equality and setting an international standard for the empowerment of women and girls globally, by demonstrating leadership in key international forums and exchanging good practice with other countries.

To ensure women’s diverse voices inform policy, OFW will continue to work with the women’s sector, experts, academics and advisory groups to understand women’s experiences and priorities. The Working for Women Program, administered by OFW, funds 5 national women’s alliances to elevate women’s diverse voices to inform policy development. It will also deliver the Working for Women Research Partnership over the next 5 years, to build the evidence base to drive economic equality.