The Hodgman majority Liberal Government has a vision that empowers and enables Tasmanian women and girls to fully participate in our economic, social, political and community life.
Today is Equal Pay Day which is an important reminder that a gender pay gap still exists in Australia.
Equal Pay Day on August 28 marks the 59 additional days from the end of the previous financial year that women must work, on average, to earn the same amount as men earned that year.
The Hodgman Liberal Government is taking direct action to reduce gender-based inequalities and to empower Tasmanian women to play a bigger role in all aspects of Tasmanian life.
The Tasmanian Women’s Strategy 2018-21 was released in May 2018 and the first priorities under the Financial Security for Women Action Plan, include:
We have also set a target of 50 per cent representation of women across government boards and committees by July 2020.
To increase the number of women with the skills to serve on boards, funding of $400,000 over eight years (including new funding of $200,000 over four years announced in the 2019-20 State Budget) has been provided for the women in leadership scholarship program.
And we are seeing strong progress, as at March 2019, women made up 50 per cent of directors on all State-owned companies (up from 44 per cent on August 2018), women currently make up 54.28 per cent of directors on Government Business Enterprises and the percentage of women in senior executive positions within the Tasmanian State Service has been increased to 42.9 per cent.
There is always more we can do and our Strategy will help Tasmanian women to thrive into the future.