2022-25 Gender equality action plan: Department of Education

Author:
Department of Education
Date:
25 Oct 2023

The department's Gender Equality Action Plan for 2022-25 (the action plan) affirms our commitment to promoting workplace gender equality, ensuring a gender equitable and respectful workplace for all staff in government schools and our corporate workplaces.

The action plan was developed following the completion of a workplace gender audit and extensive consultation with our government school and corporate workforces, as well as key stakeholders including the employee representatives and staff-led networks.

This collaboration ensured the plan considered diverse perspectives and voices, with more than 15,000 DET staff contributing.

The action plan sets out the department’s key focus areas to address gendered structural and cultural inequality in our workplaces. It has a focus on intersectional gender inequality, particularly the way in which identity characteristics such as age, sexuality and disability can exacerbate gender inequality.

The annual implementation plans have specific initiatives and priorities to progress our commitments in the action plan. The Year 1 Implementation Plan has now been closed out and the plan is now in its second year. The Year 2 Implementation Plan sets out actions that build on the progress of year 1 with a focus on tracking and measuring progress, upskilling our workforces and empowering all staff to drive gender equality.

The Gender Audit Summary Report 2021 is the department’s baseline data, describing the data for a range of measures against the Commission for Gender Equality in the public sector’s workplace gender equality indicators.

The data from the 2021 audit has informed the development of the 4-year plan and points to areas where action is needed to address imbalances.

Audit reports will be produced periodically across the life of the plan and will help us to track our progress and identify where to focus our future actions in our annual implementation plans.

Where we want to be

The focus of the work is to:

  • Promote equality in the composition of our workforces
  • Reduce the gender pay gap
  • Ensure a safe, inclusive and respectful workplace for all staff.

Updated