The Gender Equality Action Plan (the plan) is the Department of Education and Training’s (the department) strategic plan to promote workplace gender[1] equality as required by the Gender Equality Act 2020 (Vic) (the Act).
It sets out the department’s commitment to ensuring a gender equitable, safe, inclusive and respectful workplace for all staff, and to addressing gendered structural and cultural inequality across all that we do. It also has a focus on intersectional gender inequality[2], particularly the way in which identity characteristics such as age, sexuality and disability can exacerbate gender inequality.
This implementation plan accompanies the plan and provides specific actions and measures for the first year of the plan to deliver priorities in each of the focus areas.
Data and feedback indicate there are many similarities in the areas for action for both the Victorian Public Service (VPS) and Government Teaching Service (GTS) workforces. Consequently, the majority of actions in this implementation plan apply to both.
This implementation plan covers the first year of the plan and intends to establish strong foundations for future years.
The review, analysis and reporting of the progress of this implementation plan will influence the development of the following years’ annual implementation plans.
The complete list of priorities and more detail is included in the Gender Equality Action Plan.
Year 1, 2022 - Foundation
- Strengthen governance and accountability
- Improve data sources and systems
- Build awareness and engagement
- Review key policies.
Year 2, 2023 - Developing practice and skills
- Track and measure progress
- Upskilling and support our workforces
- Empower all staff and leaders to understand, share knowledge and drive gender equality in the workplace.
Year 3, 2024 - Embedding
- Embed gender equality in systems, policies, business planning and practices
- Address systemic and cultural barriers and resistance
- Establish gender equality as everyone’s responsibility.
Year 4, 2025 - Monitoring and continuous improvement
- Monitor implementation and impacts to target interventions
- Share knowledge and success to drive best practice and innovation
- Drive continuous improved data and evidence.
Footnotes
[1] The department recognises and embraces all gender identities and expressions. The action plan focuses on gender equality broadly, including the experiences of trans and gender diverse staff.
However, due to the very low numbers of staff who identify their gender as self-described in eduPay (0.2% of VPS staff and 0.1% of GTS staff), the workforce data analysis that contributed to the formation of the action plan focuses on comparisons of women and men.
[2] Section 6(8) of the Act outlines that gender inequality may be compounded by other forms of disadvantage or discrimination that a person may experience based on Aboriginality, age, disability, ethnicity, gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation, and other attributes.
The Commission for Gender Equality in the Public Sector refers to this concept as intersectional gender inequality.
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