Chapter 5: Equity and diversity

Abbreviations

A list of the abbreviations used in this report is available in the Glossary

Women in the APS

As noted above, the representation of women in the APS continued to rise this year reflecting the fact that women were more represented in engagements (65.2%)⁷ than separations (55.2%). If this trend continues, it will lead to an acceleration in the feminisation of the APS.

The proportional representation of men and women, however, varies widely between agencies. Of agencies with more than 1000 ongoing employees, BoM had the highest proportion of men (80.1%), followed by Defence (63.5%). Medicare Australia (80.3%) and Human Services (76.7%) had the highest proportion of women (see Figure 5.1).

Figure 5.1: Representation of women and men in agencies with more than 1000 ongoing employees, June 2006⁸

Source: APSED

Table 5.2 shows that women are still under-represented at higher classifications. However, there have been significant gains for women over time, particularly at the EL and SES levels.

Table 5.2: Ongoing staff: proportion of women by classification, 1997, 2005, 2006
	1997 (%)	2005 (%)	2006 (%)
Trainee & Grad APS	50.4	52.5	53.8
APS 1-2	54.6	62.1	62.6
APS 3-4	59.4	65.0	67.1
APS 5-6	42.1	51.9	53.1
Executive	28.0	40.2	42.2
SES	19.7	33.2	34.8
Total	48.1	54.2	55.8
Source: APSED

There is also some evidence that this trend is accelerating. Figure 5.2 shows that women’s representation among engagements and promotions to EL and SES classifications was higher than their representation at these levels.

Figure 5.2: Ongoing staff: Engagement and promotion rates for women, 2005–06

Source: APSED

In addition, Table 5.3 shows that women’s representation in both the EL and SES classification groups is higher for younger age groups. For the SES, however, women are less represented in the under 40 group than they are in the 40–44 group.

Table 5.3: Ongoing staff: Proportion of women by age group in EL and SES classifications, June 2006
	Under 40 (%)	40-44 (%)	45-49 (%)	50 & over (%)
EL	52.1	45.2	37.9	31.6
SES	38.6	44.5	37.0	28.4
Source: APSED

Large agencies with the highest representation of women in the SES are Health (56.4%), DEST (53.8%), ASIC (51.7%), Human Services (51.6%) and DEWR (51.4%). The large agencies with the lowest representation of women at SES levels are BoM (20.0%), DVA (21.2%), Defence (21.6%) and DAFF (23.3%). The considerable variation across agencies suggests that, despite overall gains, some agencies could be more pro-active in encouraging women to apply for more senior positions.

Women in the APS are less likely to have graduate qualifications than are men, with 49.9% of women having a bachelor degree or higher compared to 54.0% of men at June 2006.

Agency support for the employment of women

Reflecting increases in overall employment, employees had high levels of satisfaction that their agencies supported the employment of women. Eighty-four per cent of employees agreed that their agency actively encourages the recruitment and employment of women. Younger workers (less than 25 years) and employees in large agencies were more likely to agree that their agency actively encourages the recruitment and employment of women than other workers. Agreement levels in all large agencies were high, ranging from 72% to 93%.

Most employees also agreed that their agency actively encourages the retention of women, although agreement levels were somewhat lower (71%). Employees in large agencies were again more likely to agree, as were employees in small agencies. The level of agreement in large agencies was again relatively high ranging from 55% to 82%.

Consistent with these results, 82% of employees did not believe that gender was a barrier to success in the workplace. Agreement levels for SES employees were particularly high (97%). The level of agreement was again high across all large agencies ranging from 68% to 91%.

There was no difference between men and women’s views about the support for women in their agency.

These results are excellent. They compare very well with other sectors of the economy and position the APS well as an employer of choice for women.

Reflecting the high level of agreement that agencies support the employment of women, there was little difference in women’s and men’s satisfaction with a range of employee engagement factors (see Figure 5.3).⁹ However, women tended to be slightly more satisfied than men with the factors ‘Current job’ and ‘Understanding current role’.

Figure 5.3: Employee satisfaction with factors identified through factor analysis—women and men, 2005–06

Source: Employee survey

Women also tended to report slightly higher overall levels of job satisfaction than men (see Chapter 3).

Excluding Medicare Australia, the proportion for 2005–06 was 59.9%.
As mentioned in Chapter 2, unlike in previous years, APSED data for DHS includes CSA and CRS Australia which are both legally part of the Department. Separate employee survey results for CSA and CRS Australia, however, are provided where they are significantly different from the APS average on important variables. DHS itself was too small for employees to be included in the employee survey.
Full details of the factor analysis, including details of the methodology and questions used, are in Appendix 4.