Rebecca Gredley
(Australian Associated Press)

AUSTRALIAN GENDER EQUALITY IN 2018

Economic Security

* Women are less likely to work than men, and those who do work are more likely to be under-employed, part-time or casual.

* Men earn more overall, with women earning 89 per cent of male earnings.

* Women nearing retirement have about 37 per cent less superannuation than men.

Education

* Female engineering graduates now have higher starting salaries than males, $65,000 compared to $63,500.

* Across the majority of other industries male graduates earn slightly more than female graduates, $60,100 to $59,000.

* Fewer men than women have a bachelor-level degree.

Health

* Women live longer than men, 84.6 years compared to 80.4.

* Obesity levels are similar for men and women, while men are much more likely to be overweight.

* Men are three times as likely to take their own lives, and twice as many young women have anxiety compared to men.

Leadership

* 83 per cent of CEOs are male, 17 per cent female.

* Commonwealth government boards and bodies are 57 per cent men, 43 per cent women.

* Over the past decade the proportion of women has been higher in the Senate (38 per cent) compared to the House of Representatives (26 per cent).

Work/life balance

* Almost all parental care leave in the private sector was taken by women.

* Twice as many women as men provide primary care to a person with a disability.

Safety and justice

* Prisoners are almost 12 times more likely to be male.

* Women are more than four times as likely to be sexually assaulted.

* Men and women experience similar rates of physical or threatened violence.

* Women are more likely to be sentenced for illicit drug offences, fraud, deception, while men are more likely to be sentenced for intending to cause injury, sexual assault, robbery

(Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics Gender Indicators 2018)