Representation

There has been a gradual increase in the representation of women in the Public Sector over the last ten years. The same is true for Local Government indoor workers and University staff.

As reported last year, the number of women higher education workers in Universities was down in 2004 (n= 4,296) compared to the previous year. However, the number has risen by 11.4% (up to 4,785) in 2005.

The representation of women Local Government outdoor workers continues to remain at very low levels in 2004 (11.8%).

Employment statistics show that women are less likely to be permanent than men in all sectors. For example, in 2005 permanency rates for women in the public sector are 69.5% compared to 78.7% for men. Women are also more likely to be part time, with 42.3% of permanent and fixed term women in the public sector being part time, compared to 8.1% of men. Other sectors show similar differences. For further details see Appendices 2-4.

Distribution

The Equity Index measures the distribution of women across all levels of employment and compares it to the distribution of all staff. The optimal Equity Index is 100, which would indicate an equitable distribution of women. Representation refers to the percentage representation of women as a diversity group in the workforce compared to the representation of the diversity group in the community as a whole. The matrix shows the position of women in each of the sectors, the proportional representation of women is shown on the horizontal axis and the evenness of their distribution across salary scales (the Equity Index) is shown on the vertical axis.

Data for 2005 show small increases in the Equity Index for women in all Sectors except Local Government outdoor workers. The Equity Index for women in the Public Sector increased by 6.8% over the last year, up from 59 in 2004 to 63 in 2005. Over the last 5 years it has increased by 18.9%, up from 53 in 2001.

Similarly, the Equity Index for female higher education workers in Universities only went up by 2.7% from 74 in 2004 to 76 in 2005. There has been an 8.6% increase over the last 5 years, up from 70 in 2001.

The Equity Index for female Academics remained relatively unchanged in 2005.

The Equity Index for female Local Government outdoor workers has decreased from 85 in 2003 to 81 in 2004.

Public Sector Senior Executive Service and Management Tiers

The under representation of women at senior levels is evident in the ranks of the Public Sector Senior Executive Service (SES) where women account for only 23.9% of all positions. In addition, they only hold 23.1% of Management Tier 1 (CEO) positions. The representation of women is lower in Western Australia’s executive ranks than in the Commonwealth and in most other Australian states.

In the last year the number of women in the SES increased by 13.0% from 77 in 2004 up to 87 in 2005.

The number of women in Tier 1 management positions only increased from 24 positions in 2004 to 27 positions in 2005.

In 2005, the number of women in Tier 2 and Tier 3 management positions did not increase significantly. Women are significantly under represented in management tiers when compared to their overall representation in public employment.

Local Government: Management Tiers

Women in Local Government remain under represented at all levels of management and there has been a decline in representation over the last year.

The low representation of women at Tier 1 (2.8%) (Chief Executive Officer level) is of concern. Representation at Tier 2 (corporate executive level) has increased to 19.4% in 2004, compared to 16.6% the previous year. This is also low relative to other sectors.

Universities: Management Tiers

For Universities the representation of women at Tier 2 has dropped to 29.6%, which is comparable to 2003 levels.

There has been a corresponding increase in Tier 3 (managers reporting to corporate executive) in the last year, up from 27.8% in 2004 to 35.6% in 2005.

These shifts have largely been due to a restructure in one university.

Representation of women across the salary levels

The percentage of women in the Public Sector at Salary Ranges 7 to 10 has increased over the last 5 years. In 2005 women represented 30.9% of all staff in Salary Ranges 7 to 10, however, levels remain relatively low compared to representation of the group in the community. Similarly, women only represented 25.4% of all staff in Salary Ranges 9 to 10.

For Local Government, women indoor workers represented 25.8% of all staff in salary ranges 7 to 11.

For Universities, women represented only 18.9% of Academics at Levels D to E. However, they represent 49.6% of higher education workers at salary ranges 7 to 11 (Refer to Appendices).

Distribution of women across salary ranges in the Public Sector

Perceptions of Women in the WA Public Sector

In looking at groupings of related issues covered in staff perception surveys there are three organisational cultural attributes where employee perceptions about equity and diversity issues in the Public Sector were noticeably different between female and male staff.

Females were more positive than males for all attributes. The differences were most apparent for the attributes that indicate perceptions about discrimination by managers, management communication and the extent to which diversity groups are equally welcomed in the workplace.

In 2004-05, for each of these attributes women were between 10 and 20% more positive than men, indicating they agree more strongly than men with the propositions that managers: are less likely to discriminate based on culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds or gender; are more likely to equally welcome men and women and people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds; and communicate effectively more often.