Women working in the NSW Public Sector

Making the public sector work better for women sets the agenda to improve women’s recruitment, development and retention across the public sector between 2008 and 2012.

The launch of Making the public sector work better for women on 4 September 2008 was broadcast live on our website. You can view the video here. For more information you can read the Making the public sector work better for women strategy or summary, as well as a fact sheet. The Spokeswomen’s Program Resource Kit has also been updated to support the strategy.

The Government is committed to improving the recruitment, development and retention of women in the public sector to meet current and anticipated workforce challenges, including an ageing workforce and skills shortages.

The NSW Government has a long-held commitment to improve gender equity in the public sector, and it has realised significant gains.

In 1995, the Government set a target that by 2003 women would represent 50% of public sector full time employment¹. In June 2006 women represented a record 60.5%²of all public sector employees - comparing favourably with women’s employment across the State, at 45% in May 2006³. Over the same period senior women’s public sector representation has doubled from 15.5% to 32.7%⁴.

Women’s increased employment in the NSW public sector contributes to improvements in the delivery of quality Government services for the people of New South Wales.

¹ Memorandum 95-50 Strengthening NSW Public Sector Equal Employment Opportunity Program
² Overview Report for the NSW Public Sector Workforce Profile 2006
³ Australian Bureau of Statistics – Catalogue Number 6105.0 – Australian Labour Force Statistics, May 2006, Table 1.3
⁴ Data complied by Public Sector Workforce Office from information provided by agencies