Women in Australia 2007

Table of Contents

• Part 1: Population Characteristics
  • Population size and structure
  • Net overseas migration
  • References
• Part 2: Family and Living Arrangements
  • The changing face of the family
  • Changes in family relationships
  • Caring for children
  • Caring for other people
  • Household work
  • Managing work and family
  • Grandparents raising children
  • References
• Part 3: Health and Mortality
  • How healthy are Australian women?
  • Has women's health improved over time?
  • What illnesses do women suffer?
  • Mental health
  • How many women die each year?
  • What are the causes of female deaths?
  • Breast and cervical cancers
  • Health risk factors
  • Sexual and reproductive health
  • References
• Part 4: Work and Economic Resources
  • Labour force participation
  • Small business
  • Voluntary work
  • Women's incomes
  • Superannuation
  • References
• Part 5: Education and Training
  • Secondary education
  • Higher education participation
  • Higher education award completions
  • Graduate work and salaries
  • Vocational education and training
  • Apprenticeships and traineeships
  • Educational attainment
  • References
• Part 6: Women and Leadership
  • Women in Government
  • Private company directors and managers
  • Women's leadership by industry group
  • References
• Part 7: Women and Crime
  • Violence against women
  • Perceptions of safety
  • Attitudes and beliefs about domestic violence
  • Other crimes against women
  • Female prisoners
  • References
• Glossary

Part 1: Population Characteristics 

Summary:

• As at June 2006, women comprised 50.2% of the population.
• Life expectancy at birth has increased over the last 100 years for men and women, but on average, women live for longer than men. However, the gap between male and female longevity is decreasing.
• On average, Australian women are older than men and the proportion of the female population aged 65 and over is higher than that of males.
• Net overseas migration adds more men than women each year to the population, but it has little effect on the sex ratio or ageing of the population.
• Australia's fertility rate has been below the replacement level (2.1 babies per woman) since the late 1970s. The total fertility rate currently stands at 1.81.
• The fertility rate has gradually increased since 2001.
• Childbearing is increasingly being delayed.
• Continued low fertility and delayed childbearing may be related to increases in the age at which people marry and a decline in marriage rates.

In this part:

• Population size and structure
• Net overseas migration
• References

Population size and structure

Population size

The size of Australia's population has changed over the last century. In 1901 Australia's population was 3,788,123 and there were 110 men to 100 women.1 As at 30 June 2006 Australia's resident population was estimated at 20,605,5002 and women comprised the majority (50.2%) of the population (10,348,070).

At the time of the 2001 Census, the size of the resident Indigenous population was estimated at 458,520. Women accounted for 50.4% of the total Indigenous population.3

In 1901, 22.9% of the population was born overseas. By 2001, this had increased to 28.2% of the population and approximately one-quarter of Australian women were born overseas.4 Figure 1.1 shows that the largest proportion of women born overseas came from the United Kingdom (25%). This is almost three times the proportion of women who arrived from New Zealand, and nearly five times the proportion of women who settled here from Italy.

Population structure

Age structure

A major trend in Australia over the last 50 years has been the ageing of the population. Declining fertility since the 1960s has led to slow growth of the population in the younger age groups. Movement of the 'baby boomer' generation (those born between 1946 and 1960) into retirement and increased longevity have contributed to rapid growth in the proportion of the population in older age groups.

Figure 1.1: Top 10 overseas countries of birth for Australian women

Source: 2001 Census of Population and Housing, ABS Cat. No. 2015.0 (Reissue), Table B06.

The ageing trend can be measured in terms of the increase in the median age of the population and by examining the age structure of the population. Figure 1.2 shows that the median age of men and women has increased steadily over time. Prior to 1927, the median age of men was higher than the median age of women. Since 1929, the median age of women has been higher than the median age of men. In 2005, the median age for women was 37.4 years and the median age for men was 35.9 years.5

Figure 1.2: Trends in median ages of men and women, 1925–2005

On average, migrant women are older than Australian born women. In 2005 the median age of Australian overseas born women was 47.1 years.6

Figure 1.3 shows how the age structure of the population has changed since 1901. In 1901, the majority of the population was aged less than 29 years. In 2005, the majority of men and women were aged 30 years or older. In 1901, 4% of the population was aged 65 years and over,1 and this grew to 13.1% by 2005.5 However, in 2005, there were more women than men aged 65 years or over. Men aged 65 years or over accounted for 11.9% of the male population, whereas comparably aged women accounted for 14.3% of the female population. In the same year there were over twice the number of women than men aged 85 years and over.5

Figure 1.3: Proportion of population by age and sex, 1901 and 2005

Source: Australian Historical Population Statistics, ABS Cat. No. 3105.0.65.001, Table 19.

The structure of the Indigenous female population differs from the non- Indigenous female population. On average, Indigenous women are younger. The median age of Indigenous women in 2001 was 21.4 years compared to 36.8 years for non-Indigenous women.7

Despite being younger on average than non-Indigenous women, Indigenous women, on average, are older than Indigenous men. The median age of Indigenous men in 2001 was 19.6 years.7

Why is the female population ageing?

Increasing life expectancy

One aspect of the ageing population is increasing life expectancy. A trend over the last century has been longer life expectancy for men and women. However, life expectancy has consistently been higher for women than for men, although the gap between male and female longevity is closing (Figure 1.4). In 2005 the life expectancy at birth for women was 83.3 years compared to 78.5 years for men.8 This means that women, on average, live for 4.8 years longer than do men.

Figure 1.4: Trends in life expectancy at birth by gender, 1961–2001

The life expectancy at birth for Indigenous women (64.8 years)8 is nearly 20 years less than the life expectancy for all Australian women. However, it is higher than the life expectancy of Indigenous men (59.4 years).

Declining fertility

Another aspect of the ageing population is declining fertility. At the beginning of the 20th century, the total fertility rate was approximately 3.5 babies per woman. Figure 1.5 shows that following a brief decline in the 1920s and 1930s, there was a large and sustained increase in Australia's total fertility rate from the end of World War II to the mid 1960s. This period has come to be known as the Baby Boom. Australia's total fertility rate peaked at 3.1 in 1947 and again in 1961 at 3.5.9 Fertility declined from the mid 1960s, with a sharp fall from 2.9 in 1971 to 1.9 in 1981, and then a gradual decrease to 1.7 in 2001. In 1977, Australia's fertility rate fell below replacement level (2.1 babies per woman) and has remained there ever since.10 Since 2001, fertility has gradually increased and, in 2005, the total fertility rate was 1.81 babies per woman, which has been the highest rate since 1995.11

Figure 1.5: Trends in Australia's total fertility rate 1925–2005

Source: Births, Australia, 2005, ABS Cat. No. 3301.0, Table 6.1.

The decline in Australia's fertility was greater for Indigenous women than for all women, especially during the 1970s. In the early 1960s, the Indigenous total fertility rate was approximately 5.8 babies per woman.1 In 2005, the estimated Indigenous total fertility rate was 2.06 babies per women, which is still higher than the total fertility rate for all women.11

Delayed childbearing

The age at which women first give birth has a major impact on the overall fertility rate. Delayed childbearing reduces the total fertility rate in several ways: it shortens the number of total childbearing years; women who have children later in life tend to have fewer children; and delayed childbearing increases the risk of lifetime childlessness.

There has been a trend towards women delaying childbearing in Australia. Figure 1.6 shows that prior to the 1970s, the median age of mothers progressively decreased. Subsequent to the 1970s, the median age of mothers steadily increased, reaching a record 30.7 years in 2005.

Figure 1.6: Trends in median age of mothers, 1925–2005

Source: Australian Historical Population Statistics, ABS, Cat. No. 3105.0.65.001, Table 37 & Births, Australia, 2005, ABS Cat. No. 3301.0.

For most of last century, fertility rates were highest among women aged between 25 and 29 years. In 2005, for the sixth year in a row, fertility was highest for women aged between 30 and 34 years, followed by women aged between 25 and 29 years. The number of births among women aged between 30 and 39 years has increased, whereas fertility rates for younger women (those below 30 years) have been decreasing, although this trend has slowed since 2001 (Figure 1.7).

Figure 1.7: Trends in age-specific fertility rates for Australian women, 1925–2005

Source: Australian Historical Population Statistics, ABS Cat. No. 3105.0.65.001, Table 39 & Births, Australia, 2005, ABS Cat. No. 3301.0, Table 6.2.
Mothers aged less than 15 years are included in the 15–19 year group and mothers older than 49 years are included in the 45–49 year group.

Despite the increasing fertility among older women, it has not offset the decline in fertility among younger women. For example, in 1985, women aged 20–24 years and 25–29 years had 95.8 and 146.0 births per 1,000 women respectively.10 In 2005, women in these age groups had 52.9 and 103.0 births per 1,000 women respectively. Women aged between 30 and 34 years are only having 117.5 births per 1,000 women.11

The opposite trend in age-specific fertility patterns has been observed among Indigenous women. Women under 30 years of age accounted for almost threequarters of the total Indigenous fertility rate in 2005.11 In 2005 the median age of Indigenous mothers was about 6 years younger than for all mothers (24.5 years).

Childlessness

Another factor affecting declining fertility is the increasing number of women with no children. Estimates of current rates and future projections of childlessness in Australia range from 19.7% to 28%.12, 13,14,15 The proportion of women remaining childless has increased over time in each age group. For women aged 25–29 years in 1981, 35% were childless, while 59% of women of the same age in 2001 were childless. In 1981, 8% of 40-44 year old women were childless. By 2001, this had increased to 13% of women of this age.16 At the time of the 1976 Census, 4% of women who had passed common childbearing age (45–49 years old) remained childless. By 1986, the proportion had increased to 9% and, in 1996, 11% of women in this age group had not given birth to a child.17

The relationship between marriage and fertility

The findings from a recent survey on fertility decision making in Australia18 showed that declining fertility is not due to Australians not wanting children. Only 8% of women surveyed definitely wanted to remain childless. Reasons given for not wanting children included financial considerations, lifestyle choices, career and employment priorities, relationship issues, and health. Most men and women surveyed reported wanting to have children and the average ideal number of children was 2.4 for men and 2.5 for women. The 'ideal number of children' is well above the replacement level. Most men and women expected to achieve their ideal family size, but those who did not were more likely to expect to have a smaller rather than a larger family. Married people in their twenties and thirties were most likely of all respondents to want, expect and to have children. For those who were not currently in a relationship, difficulties in finding a partner was the main reason why they expected to have fewer children than they wanted. Thus, this study found a strong relationship between partnership status and fertility.

Indeed, Australian women typically do wait until marriage before having children, but this trend is slowing. Although the proportion of exnuptial births has steadily increased, especially over the last 20 years—a trend that largely reflects an increase in births to cohabiting couples—the majority (67.8%) of all births in 2005 were to married mothers (Figure 1.8).

Figure 1.8: Proportion of births by marital status of mothers, 1980–2005

Source: Births, Australia, ABS Cat. No. 3301.0, data available on request.

Over the last three decades, there has been a steady increase in the age at which people marry and a decline in marriage rates. Some of the decline in fertility rates may be linked to these changes in marriage patterns.19

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Net overseas migration

Net overseas migration is the excess of permanent and long term arrivals to Australia over permanent and long term departures from Australia. During the year ending 31 March 2006, net overseas migration added 134,500 people to the Australian population, an increase of 14% in net overseas migration over the previous year.2 Figure 1.9 shows a large net gain from migration of people under 30 years of age, and there was a net decrease of 934 men and 508 women in the 50-59 years age group. Net overseas migration added more males (68,987) than females (65,571) in all age groups except for those aged 20-29 and 60 years and over. Figure 1.10 shows that over the last 10 years, net overseas migration has added more men than women to Australia's population.

Figure 1.9: Net overseas migration by gender and age, 2005–06

Source: Migration, Australia, ABS Cat. No. 3412.0, data available on request. Data for ages 70 years and over not shown due to small numbers (80 for men and 88 for women).

Figure 1.10: Net overseas migration by gender, 1995–96 – 2005–06

Source: Migration, Australia, ABS Cat. No. 3412.0, data available on request.

Despite the younger ages of immigrants and the higher number of male immigrants, the impact of net overseas migration has little effect on the sex ratio and the ageing of Australia's population.20 McDonald and Kippen21 demonstrated that the first 80,000 net immigrants per year would substantially slow the ageing of the population, but at higher levels, there would be diminishing returns.

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References

1. AusStats, 1901 Australian Snapshot, ABS Cat. No. 1301.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
2. Australian Demographic Statistics June 2006 Quarter, ABS Cat. No. 3101.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
3. Australian Historical Population Statistics, 2006, ABS Cat. No. 3105.0.65.001, Table 16, Indigenous population, age and sex, States and Territories, 30 June 2001 (2001 Census based).
4. Census of Population and Housing, Selected Social and Housing Characteristics, Australia, 2001, ABS Cat. No. 2015.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
5. Population by Age and Sex, Australian States and Territories, June 2005, ABS Cat. No. 3201.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
6. Migration Australia, ABS Cat. No. 3412.0. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Data available upon request.
7. 2001 Census of Population and Housing. Population Characteristics, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, ABS Cat. No. 4713.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
8. Deaths, Australia, 2005, ABS Cat. No. 3302.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
9. Australian Social Trends, 2004. ABS Cat. No. 4102.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
10. Australian Historical Population Statistics, 2006, ABS Cat. No. 3105.0.65.001, Table 39.
11. Births, Australia, 2005. ABS Cat. No. 3301.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
12. Merlo, R. & Rowland, D. (2000). 'The prevalence of childlessness in Australia'. People and Place, 8, (2), 21–32.
13. McDonald, P. (1998). 'Contemporary fertility patterns in Australia: First data from the 1996 Census'. People and Place, 6, (1), 1-13.
14. Australian Demographic Statistics September Quarter 1999, ABS Cat. No. 3101.0 and Births, Australia 1998, ABS Cat. No. 3301.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
15. Australian Social Trends, 2005, ABS Cat. No. 4102.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
16. Births, Australia, 2001, ABS Cat. No. 3301.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
17. Year Book, Australia, 2006, ABS Cat. No. 1301.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
18. Weston, R., Qu, L., Parker, R., & Alexander, M. (2004). 'It's not for lack of wanting kids…' A report on the Fertility Decision Making Project, Report No. 11. Australian Institute of Family Studies and the Australian Government Office for Women, Department of Family and Community Services.
19. 19. DeVaus, D. (2002). 'Marriage, births and fertility'. Family Matters, 63, Spring/Summer, 36-39.
20. Migration, 2004-05, ABS Cat. No. 3412.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
21. McDonald, P. & Kippen, R. (1999). The impact of immigration on the ageing of Australia's population. DIMA Discussion Paper, May. Canberra: Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs.

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Part 2: Family and Living Arrangements 

Summary:

• The proportion of couples with children is decreasing and couples without children, lone parents, and lone person households are increasing.
• Marriage rates are decreasing and divorce rates are increasing, although both rates show signs of stabilising since 2001.
• Men and women are marrying at increasingly older ages.
• The number of de facto relationships as a precursor or alternative to marriage is increasing.
• Women continue to do the majority of housework and child care.
• More women than men care for the elderly and people with a disability. After age 65 years a higher proportion of men than women care for their spouses.
• Women, more than men, use a variety of arrangements to manage work and family responsibilities. These include part-time work, flexible working arrangements, formal and informal child care and paid and unpaid leave.

In this part:

• The changing face of the family
• Changes in family relationships
• Caring for children
• Caring for other people
• Household work
• Managing work and family
• Grandparents raising children
• References

The changing face of the family

Household types

At the time of the 2003 Family Characteristics Survey,1 there were 7.64 million households in Australia. Figure 2.1 shows that between 1992 and 2003 there have been some changes in the types of Australian households. Family households were the most common type of household at both points in time. However, as a proportion of all households, family households have decreased from 74.3% in 1992 to 71% in 2003. Lone person households have increased from 21.9% of all households in 1992 to 25.2% of all households in 2003.

Figure 2.1: Australian household types, 1992 and 2003

Source: Family Characteristics, June 2003, ABS Cat. No. 4442.0, Table 1.

Families are characterised by the presence of certain relationships at the time of the survey, such as couples in a registered or de facto marriage, parent-child and other blood relationships.

Lone person households

At the 2001 Census count, there were 1.6 million people living alone and women accounted for 54.7% of all people living alone. People aged 65 years and over were more likely to live alone than people in other age groups (Figure 2.2). Between the ages of 25 and 54 years, men were more likely than women to live alone. After the age of 55 years, more women than men lived alone. Women accounted for about three-quarters of all people aged 65 years and over living alone.2

Figure 2.2: Number of men and women living alone by age, 2001

Source: Census of Population and Housing, Selected Social and Housing Characteristics, Australia, 2001, ABS Cat. No. 2015.0, Table B14.

Family types

In 2003, the most common type of family consisted of couples with children, accounting for 46% of all families (Figure 2.3). The proportion of couple families with children has decreased over time and the percentages of one-parent families and couple families without children have increased.

Figure 2.3: Australian family types, 1992–2003

Source: Family Characteristics, June 2003, ABS Cat. No. 4442.0, Table 7.

A child is a person of any age who is a natural, step or foster child, usually resident in the same household as the couple or lone parent and does not have a child or partner of their own living in the household.

Figures for 'Other' families not shown.

One-parent families

In 2003, the majority of one-parent families (83.2%) were headed by lone mothers. As a proportion of all one-parent families, lone mother families have decreased slightly from 84.2% in 1992.1

Lone mothers tend to have younger children living with them than do lone fathers. In 2003, 47.9% of all children living with lone mothers were aged 0–11 years compared to 28.6% of children in lone father households (Figure 2.4). Nearly three-quarters of all children living with lone fathers (71.4%) were aged 12 years or over, compared to 52.1% of children in lone mother households.

Figure 2.4: Proportion of children in one-parent families by age of youngest child and gender of parent, 2003

Source: Family Characteristics, June 2003, ABS Cat. No. 4442.0, Table 8.

The majority of one-parent families in 2003 were formed through separation and divorce (Figure 2.5). A large proportion of lone parents had never been married, particularly lone mothers. The proportion of one-parent families formed through widowhood was relatively small, but a slightly higher proportion of lone fathers than lone mothers had been widowed.

Figure 2.5: Registered marital status of lone fathers and lone mothers, 2003

Source: Family Characteristics, June 2003, ABS Cat. No. 4442.0, Table 18.

Totals do not add up to 100% as data for lone parents who reported their marital status as married have been excluded.

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Changes in family relationships

Marriage

Trends in the marriage rate

Throughout the last century, the crude marriage rate has fluctuated in accordance with prevailing economic and social conditions (Figure 2.6).3 Australia witnessed a 'marriage boom' from the post World War II period to the early 1970s. The highest crude marriage rate ever recorded was 12 marriages per 1,000 people in 1942. The boom appeared to end in the mid to late 1970s and marriage steadily declined to rates significantly lower than those recorded prior to the marriage boom. The lowest rate of 5.3 marriages per 1,000 people was recorded in 2001. The crude marriage rate increased slightly to 5.5 in 2004.4

Figure 2.6: Crude marriage rate, 1904–2004

Source: Australian Historical Population Statistics, 2006, ABS Cat. No. 3105.0.65.001, Table 92.

As with the crude marriage rate, the first marriage rate has also fallen over the last few decades. Table 2.1 shows that between 1966 and 2001, falls in the first marriage rate occurred across all ages for both men and women, especially among younger brides and grooms. The teenage marriage rate also declined substantially. In 1966, the first marriage rate for men aged between 15 and 19 years was 14.9 and this reduced to 0.9 in 2001. For comparably aged women, the first marriage rate decreased from 61.5 in 1966 to 4.2 in 2001.

Source: Australian Social Trends, 1995, ABS Cat. No. 4102.0 & Marriages and Divorces, Australia, 2002, ABS Cat. No. 3310.0.

Delaying marriage

Figure 2.7 shows that Australian men and women are marrying at increasingly older ages. In 2004, the median age at marriage for men was 31.5 years, rising marginally from 31.2 years in 2003 and 31 years in 2002. For women, the median age at marriage rose from 28.9 years in 2002 to 29.1 years and 29.2 years in 2003 and 2004 respectively.

Figure 2.7: Median age at marriage by gender, 1979–2004

Source: Year Book Australia, 2001, ABS Cat. No. 1301.0 & Marriages, Australia, 2004, ABS Cat. No. 3105.0.65.001.

Cohabiting (de facto marriages)

Part of the trend towards fewer and delayed marriages can be attributed to an increasing propensity for Australians to cohabit in de facto relationships. The Australian Bureau of Statistics defines de facto couples as those who live together as a couple but are not registered as married. Data specifically relating to de facto relationships were first collected during the 1982 Family Survey. At that time, 5% of all couples were de facto couples.5 This figure rose to 10.1% of all couple families in Australia at the time of the 1996 Census. By 2001 this proportion had increased to 12.4%.2

Figure 2.8 shows that de facto relationships are more popular among people aged between 25 and 34 years and the likelihood of being in a de facto relationship decreases with age. These patterns are true for both men and women. For the age group 15–24 years, more women than men are in de facto relationships and, in the older age groups, men slightly outnumber women.

Figure 2.8: Proportion of de facto partners by age group and gender, 2001

Source: Marriages and Divorces, Australia, 2002, ABS Cat. No. 3310.0.

Figures 2.9 and 2.10 show the distributions of de facto partnerships by the registered marital status of each male and female partner between 1991 and 2001. De facto relationships were mainly comprised of men and women who had never been married or were divorced. Over time, the proportions of men and women who were in de facto marriages and were 'never married' had increased, whereas the proportions of de facto partners who were 'separated' had decreased.

Figure 2.9: Female de facto partners by registered marital status, 1991–2001

Source: Marriages and Divorces, Australia, 2002, ABS Cat. No. 3310.0.

Totals may not add to 100% as a small minority of people reported both living with a de facto partner and being married. These figures have not been included.

Figure 2.10: Male de facto partners by registered marital status, 1991–2001

Source: Marriages and Divorces, Australia, 2002, ABS Cat. No. 3310.0.

Totals may not add to 100% as a small minority of people reported both living with a de facto partner and being married. These figures have not been included.

Divorce

The prevalence of divorce

At the 2001 Census count, 619,476 women aged 15 years and over were divorced. An additional 277,399 were separated. The number of divorced and separated women in 2001 represented 11.8% of the female population aged 15 years and over.6

Trends in the divorce rate

In 2005, there were 52,399 divorces granted in Australia.7 Figure 2.11 shows that crude divorce rates were fairly low during the early decades of last century. A peak in the crude divorce rate followed the introduction of the Family Law Act 1975 between 1976 and 1980 as the backlog of divorce applications were finalised. Since then the crude divorce rate has remained fairly stable, fluctuating between 2.5 and 2.9. In 2005 the crude divorce rate was 2.6.

Figure 2.11: Crude divorce rate, 1905–2005

Source: Australian Historical Population Statistics, 2006, ABS Cat. No. 3105.0.65.001, Table 97.

Coinciding with an increasing age at marriage has been an increasing age at divorce. Table 2.2 shows the age-specific crude divorce rates for women between 1983 and 2005. In 1983, women aged 25–29 years experienced the highest divorce rate, followed by those aged between 30 and 34 years. In 2005, women's marriages were most likely to end between the ages of 35 and 44 years.

Source: Divorces, Australia, 2003, 2004 & 2005, ABS Cat. No. 3307.0.55.001.

The increasing age at divorce can also be seen in changes in the median age of divorce. The median age at divorce has increased from 34.5 years in 1954 to 40.8 years in 2005.8

Remarriage

In 2004, about one-quarter of all marriages consisted of at least one person who had previously been married, compared to 12% of marriages in 1974 (Figure 2.12). Previously married women were slightly less likely than previously married men to remarry. For example, in 2004, 23.1% of brides and 24.4% of grooms were divorced or widowed prior to their respective remarriages.9

Figure 2.12: Proportion of marriages consisting of divorced and widowed men and women at remarriage, 1974 and 2004

Source: Marriages, Australia, ABS Cat. No. 3306.0.55.001, data available on request.

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Caring for children

A common method for assessing who cares for children in families is to measure the time mothers and fathers spend in activities that they undertake in relation to their children. This is usually undertaken through time-use studies. The Australian Bureau of Statistics conducted time-use studies in 1992 and 199710 and has undertaken another time-use study during 2006.11

Table 2.3 shows that in 1997, mothers spent more time on child care than did fathers. Caring for younger children involved more time investment by parents, as did having two or more children in the family.

Source: Australian Time Use Survey, 1997, ABS Cat. No. 4153.0, data available upon request.

Time-use diaries used in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children provide estimates of the time parents spent with children in 2004.12 The survey data are limited to parents of infants aged 3–19 months and children aged 4–5 years. Results from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children are not comparable to the Australian Time-Use Surveys due to variations in the study design, the sample, and in the coding of activities.

The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children found that in 2004, mothers spent an average of just over 15 hours per day with infant children and over 12 hours per day with 4–5 year old children (Table 2.4). This was approximately double the time that fathers spent with children.

Table 2.4 also shows that women who were not in the labour force spent the most time with children and that time decreased slightly as the number of hours in paid work increased. The difference between mothers not in the labour force and those employed full-time in the average time spent with children was 3.7 hours for infants and 3.9 hours for 4–5 year olds.

Fathers' time spent with children showed a modest relationship with maternal employment hours. Specifically, fathers spent a little more time with their children when mothers spent more time in paid work. Fathers spent the most time with children when mothers worked full-time hours.

Source: Baxter, J., Gray, M., Alexander, M., Strazdins, L., & Bittman, M. (Unpublished report). Mothers and fathers with young children: Paid employment, caring and wellbeing. An analysis of Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, Table 5.2.

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Caring for other people

All carers

The results of the 2003 Disability, Ageing and Carers Survey showed that about 2.6 million Australians provided care to others who needed assistance because of old age or disability. Women comprised 54% of all carers.13 However, gender differences in caring interacted with age, as shown in Figure 2.13.

Figure 2.13: All carers, rates of caring for an elderly person or person with a disability by age and gender, 2003

Source: Disability, Ageing and Carers: Summary of Findings, Australia, 2003, ABS Cat. No. 4430.0, Table 27.

In 2003, there was little difference in the proportions of male and female carers up to the age of 34, with about 10% of the population caring for an elderly person or person with a disability. The likelihood of caring then increased with age for men and women but, between the ages of 35 and 64 years, the proportion of women undertaking caring was higher than the proportion of men. Caring by women peaked between the ages of 45 and 64 years, when approximately one in four women had caring responsibilities for elders and/or people with disabilities. After age 64 years, rates of caring among women rapidly declined and caring by men accelerated.

Primary carers

The highest levels of assistance to elderly people and people with disabilities are provided by primary carers. In 2003, about one in five carers (474,600) were primary carers.13

Table 2.5 shows that 71.3% of all primary carers were women. Table 2.5 also shows that women did the majority of primary care for disabled children and disabled or aged parents at all ages. Women were also more likely than men to care for their ageing or disabled partner, until after age 65 years, when a higher proportion (but still lower number) of men cared for a partner. However, 5.5% of female primary carers aged 65 or over were caring for a disabled child and a further 8.2% were still caring for one of their parents.

Source: Disability, Ageing and Carers: Summary of Findings, Australia, 2003, ABS Cat. No. 4430.0, Table 30.

In 2003, the majority (58.2%) of female primary carers spent 20 hours per week or more undertaking care of an elderly person or a person with a disability, including 39.5% who spent in excess of 40 hours per week engaged in these duties.14

Other characteristics of female primary carers are listed in Table 2.6. Compared to women who were not carers, women with primary caring responsibilities had a lower labour force participation rate, had a lower median gross income per week, and were more likely to have a government pension or allowance as their principal source of income.

Source: Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia, 2003, ABS Cat. No. 4430.0, data available on request.

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Household work

The most accurate estimates of the time spent in household work are derived through time-use surveys.15 The most recent time-use data in Australia were collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics during the 1997 Time-Use Survey, which showed that even when women worked full-time, they spent a lot more time doing housework than their partners did.16

Estimates of the time Australians spent in household work in 2001–2003 were also collected as part of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey.17 Respondents were asked to report how much time per week they spent on housework and household errands (cleaning the house, washing, preparing meals and clean-up, ironing, sewing and doing errands such as shopping and banking) and outdoor work (home and car maintenance and gardening). Table 2.7 reproduces the HILDA Survey results, which confirm the findings of the 1997 Australian Time-Use Survey that women do the majority of housework and men do the majority of outdoor maintenance. When combined, the time women spent in all household work was more than the time men spent in those tasks. Gender differences were most pronounced for partnered men and women. Thus, living with a partner increased the time spent in household work for women more than for men, particularly for women employed part-time. On average, partnered women spent nearly 30 hours per week and partnered men about 15 hours per week in household work.

Among partnered women, those not in the labour force spent the most time in housework and outdoor tasks, followed by unemployed women. Partnered women employed part-time spent about eight hours more engaged in household work than partnered women employed full-time.

Source: B. Headey, D. Warren & G. Harding (2006). Families, incomes and jobs: A statistical report of the HILDA survey. Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.

In couples where both partners worked full-time, women spent seven hours per week more than men doing housework and household errands (Figure 2.14). Men did the majority of outdoor maintenance, but the time men spent doing these tasks was less than the time women spent doing housework and errands.

Figure 2.14: Average hours per week couples spent in housework and household errands and outdoor tasks when both partners worked full-time by gender, 2003

Source: B. Headey, D. Warren & G. Harding (2006). Families, incomes and jobs: A statistical report of the HILDA survey. Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.

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Managing work and family

Flexible work arrangements

Figure 2.15 shows that in 2005, Australian parents used a variety of work arrangements to care for their children and those arrangements varied by gender and family type. Mothers were far more likely than fathers to use one of a number of working arrangements to assist with child care – 67% of fathers in couple families, in comparison to 26% of mothers, did not use any work arrangements to allow them to attend to child care responsibilities.

Flexible work hours was the most popular arrangement used by both mothers and fathers, especially lone fathers. Couple mothers used these arrangements more often than couple fathers.

Working part-time was the second most popular option for over a third of couple and lone mothers, whereas only small proportions of lone and couple fathers used this arrangement. Fathers were more likely to work from home than to work part-time. Shiftwork and job sharing were used less frequently as a means to manage work and family commitments.

Figure 2.15: Work arrangements used to care for a child in couple and lone families with children aged 0–12 with at least one parent employed, 2005

Source: Child Care, Australia, 2005, ABS Cat. No. 4402.0 (Reissue), Table 23.

Figure 2.16 shows the use of working arrangements to enable care for children has increased for both fathers and mothers between 1996 and 2005.

Figure 2.16: Use of working arrangements to care for children 1996–2005

Source: Child Care, Australia, ABS Cat. No. 4402.0 (Years 2002 and 2005 Reissue).

Paid and unpaid leave

The Australian Bureau of Statistics Pregnancy and Employment Transitions Survey collected data on the type and duration of leave taken by employed women and their partners who had a child younger than two years of age and took a break from work when their child was born. The results are shown in Tables 2.8 and 2.9.

Upon the birth of their child, mothers were most likely to use a combination of paid and unpaid parental leave, whereas paid leave was the most common form of leave used by their partners. The majority (66%) of paid leave taken by mothers' partners was annual/recreation/long service leave. One-third of partners (34%) used paid paternity/parenting leave.18

Source: Pregnancy and Employment Transitions, Australia, November 2005, ABS Cat. No. 4913.0, Table 10.

Totals may not add up to 100% as women may have taken a combination of leave types.

Source: Pregnancy and Employment Transitions, Australia, November 2005, ABS Cat. No. 4913.0, Table 24.

The duration of leave taken by mothers and their partners when their child was born is shown in Figures 2.17 and 2.18. The figures show that the majority of women took leave for six months or more, whereas career breaks of longer than two weeks were rare for men.

Figure 2.17: Duration of leave taken by mothers for birth of their child, 2005

Source: Pregnancy and Employment Transitions, Australia, November 2005, ABS Cat. No. 4913.0, Table 10.

Figure 2.18: Duration of leave taken by partners for birth of child, 2005

Source: Pregnancy and Employment Transitions, Australia, November 2005, ABS Cat. No. 4913.0, Table 24.

Formal and informal child care

The Australian Bureau of Statistics Child Care Survey collects information about the use of non-parental child care. The surveys have been conducted in 1996, 1999, 2002 and 2005. In 2005, the survey included children aged between 0 and 12 years. The scope of previous surveys was children aged between 0 and 11 years.

How many children receive child care?

In June 2005, the number of Australian children aged between 0 and 12 years who received non-parental child care was 1,553,400, representing 45.8% of all children in that age range.19 Over half (54.2%) of those children used informal care only, 28.9% received formal care only and 16.9% used a combination of formal and informal care.20

The use of child care and the type of child care used varied according to the age of the child (Table 2.10). The use of child care peaked at ages 2 and 3 years, when over 70% of all children in these age groups received some type of care. The use of child care was lowest for children aged less than 1 year and for children aged 9 years and over. Formal child care only and a combination of formal and informal child care were most common for children aged between 2 and 4 years. The use of informal child care only showed little variation according to the age of the child. Across most ages, approximately one-quarter of all children received informal child care only in 2005.

Source: Child Care, Australia, June 2005 (Reissue), ABS Cat. No. 4402.0, Table 1.

* Estimate has a relative standard error of 25% to 50% and should be used with caution.

More Australian children are now in non-parental child care than nearly a decade ago. Between March 1996 and June 2005, there was a net increase of 88,600 in the number of children aged between 0 and 11 years who received child care. This was comprised of an additional 177,100 children who received formal care only (66% increase) and 80,500 more children who received a combination of formal and informal care (45% increase). The number of children who received informal care only decreased by 169,000.

Which families use child care?

Table 2.11 shows that the use of child care varied according to family type. The proportion of children in lone parent families using child care (55.6%) was higher than the proportion of children in couple families using child care (43.8%). Where children received child care, both lone and couple parents were more likely to use informal than formal child care.

Source: Child Care, Australia, June 2005 (Reissue), ABS Cat. No. 4402.0, Table 3.

Totals may not add to 100% due to rounding.

Types of formal child care used

Figure 2.19 shows that the most commonly used types of formal care were long day care and before and/or after school care. Over the period March 1996 to June 2005, the numbers of children aged 0-11 years who attended before and/or after school care increased from 111,700 to 227,000, an increase of 115,300 or 103%. Over the same period, the number of children who attended long day care increased by 146,000 (82%), from 177,700 to 323,800. There were no other substantial changes in the numbers of children attending other types of formal care between 1996 and 2005.

Figure 2.19: Number of children aged 0–11 years by type of formal care 1996–2005

Source: Child Care, Australia, June 2005 (Reissue), ABS Cat. No. 4402.0, Table 27.

The use of formal child care and the type of child care used varied according to the age of the child (Table 2.12). The use of formal child care for very young children (up to 1 year of age) was low. Between the ages of 1 and 4 years, the use of formal child care in long day centres was higher, peaking at age 3. At age 5, when most children have started preschool or primary school, the use of long day care centres tapered off and the usage of before and/or after school care increased.

Source: Child Care, Australia, June 2005 (Reissue), ABS Cat. No. 4402.0, Table 1.

* Estimates have a relative standard error of 25% or higher and should be used with caution.

The average time children spent in formal child care in 2005 was 13.6 hours per week.19 Figure 2.20 shows that the majority of children used formal child care for less than 20 hours per week. The proportion of children who used formal child care for 35 hours per week or more was 7.3%.

Figure 2.20: Proportion of children aged 0-12 years by weekly hours of formal care, 2005

Source: Child Care, Australia, June 2005 (Reissue), ABS Cat. No. 4402.0, Table 4.

Types of informal child care used

In relation to informal care, grandparents are the main providers (Table 2.13). Approximately one-third of all children aged 1–2 years and one-quarter of all children aged younger than one year and between 3–4 years were cared for by grandparents. After children reached school age, they were less likely to be cared for by grandparents.

The average time children spent in informal child care was 15 hours per week and the median time spent in informal child care was seven hours per week. Figure 2.21 shows that the distribution of time spent in informal child care is positively skewed, whereby 57.8% of children received informal care for less than 10 hours a week. There was also a relatively high proportion (8.1%) of children who received informal care for 45 hours or more per week.

Figure 2.21: Proportion of children aged 0–12 years by weekly hours of informal care, 2005

Source: Child Care, Australia, June 2005 (Reissue), ABS Cat. No. 4402.0, Table 4.

Source: Child Care, Australia, June 2005 (Reissue), ABS Cat. No. 4402.0, Table 1.

* Estimate has a relative standard error greater than 25%.

Why do parents use child care?

The use of formal and informal child care is strongly related to women's employment status. Figure 2.22 shows that, in families where the father was employed, less than a third of all children younger than 13 years of age received child care when the mother was not employed. The proportion of children receiving child care increased to 51% in families where the mother was employed part-time and nearly two-thirds of children in families where mothers worked full-time received child care.

Figure 2.22: Families with father employed—proportion of children aged 0–12 years using formal and informal child care by employment status of mother, 2005

Source: Child Care, Australia, 2005, ABS Cat. No. 4402.0 (Reissue), Table 21.

These data are consistent with the main reasons given by parents for using child care. For nearly two-thirds of all parents using formal child care, 'workrelated' was the main reason given for child care use. 'Work-related' was also the main reason given by parents for using informal care, although a high proportion of children also received informal child care for 'personal' reasons (Table 2.14).

Source: Child Care, Australia, 2005, ABS Cat. No. 4402.0 (Reissue), Tables 6 and 7.

a 'Work related' included 'looking for work' and 'work-related study/training'.

b 'Personal' included 'other study/training', 'sport', 'shopping', 'entertainment/social activity', 'give parents(s) a break/ time alone', 'voluntary/community activity', 'caring for relatives', 'ill/in hospital/visited doctor/dentist', 'other parentrelated matter'.

c 'Beneficial for child' included 'good for child' and 'prepare for school'.

Note: Parents who gave 'personal', 'beneficial for child', or 'other' reasons for using child care may have also been working.

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Grandparents raising children

Grandparents become the guardians of their grandchildren largely because of court decisions or informal arrangements between grandparents and parents or authorities.21

In 2003, there were 22,500 Australian families in which grandparents were the guardians of 31,100 grandchildren aged 17 years or under (Table 2.15). The majority of families were comprised of one or two children aged between 5 and 11 years. Most grandparent carers were aged 55 years or over (61.3%). Almost half of grandparent families (47%) were lone grandparent families and the majority of those lone grandparents were women (93%).2 In two-thirds of grandparent families, affecting two-thirds of all children being cared for by grandparents, neither grandparent was employed.

Source: Australia's Welfare 2005, AIHW Cat. No. AUS65.

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References

1. Family Characteristics Survey, June 2003, ABS Cat. No. 4442.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
2. Australian Social Trends 2005, ABS Cat. No. 4102.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
3. Year Book Australia 2001, ABS Cat. No. 1301.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
4. Marriages, Australia 2004, ABS Cat. No. 3306.0.55.001. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
5. Australian Social Trends, 1995, ABS Cat. No. 4102.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
6. Australian Historical Population Statistics, ABS Cat. No. 3105.0.65.001. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
7. Divorces, Australia, 2005, ABS Cat. No. 3307.0.55.001. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
8. Year Book, Australia, 2001, ABS Cat. No. 1301.0 & Divorces, Australia, 2005, ABS Cat. No. 3307.0.55.001. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
9. Marriages, Australia, ABS Cat. No. 3306.0.55.00. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Data available on request.
10. How Australians Use Their Time, ABS Cat. No. 4153.0 (Years 1992 and 1997). Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics. Time use data were collected using a household questionnaire and 48-hour diary of how people spent their time. Diaries were completed by respondents aged 15 years and over. Responses were self-reports in respondents' own words. Child care activities related to activities parents reported undertaking for their children. This included active care: the physical and emotional care of children, such as teaching, helping and reprimanding, and playing, reading, and talking with children; passive care: requiring only the passive involvement of the parent, such as minding or supervising children, excluding the time spent minding children while parents are asleep; and associated child care: includes activities such as any travel or communication relating to child care such as visiting schools. Time-use studies often classify activities into primary activities (the main activity being done at the time) and secondary activities (other activities being done concurrently). Data presented are for primary activities only.
11. As at the date of this publication, the results of the 2006 Time Use Survey were not available.
12. Baxter, J., Gray, M., Alexander, M., Strazdins, L., & Bittman, M. (Unpublished report). Mothers and fathers with young children: Paid employment, caring and wellbeing. An analysis of Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Australian Institute of Family Studies. The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children employed a 'light' timeuse diary to measure the time that infants and children aged 4–5 years spent in specific activities and whom they were with during the activities. Parents completed the diaries about their child's day—one on a weekday and one on a weekend. Only weekday diaries were analysed. Analyses were limited to activities undertaken by the child only when the mother or father was present. The presence of the parent during the child's activities does not necessarily indicate child care involvement nor does the coding system encompass child care related activities that are done by the parent(s) in the child's absence. Activities were pre-coded into 22 activities for the infant cohort and into 26 pre-coded activities for the 4–5 year cohort. Children's activities related to sleeping, resting, personal care, interactive care, education, passive play, active play, other play, and travel. Data included both primary and secondary activities.
13. Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia, 2003, ABS Cat. No. 4430.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
14. Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia, 2003, ABS Cat. No. 4430.0, Australian Bureau of Statistics. Data available on request.
15. Robinson, J. P. (1999). The time-diary method: Structure and uses. In W. E. Pentland, A. S. Harvey, M. P. Lawton & M. A. McColl (Eds.), Time use research in the social sciences, (pp. 47–89). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
16. How Australians Use Their Time, 1997, ABS Cat. No. 4153.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics. Housework was categorised as domestic work and included food and drink preparation and clear up, laundry, ironing, clothes care, house cleaning, gardening, grounds and animal care, home maintenance, improvement and car care, household management, and travel and communication associated with domestic work. Time Use Surveys were conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 1992 and 1997. Another survey was conducted during 2006. At the time of this publication, the results of the 2006 Time Use Survey were not available.
17. Headey, B., Warren, D., & Harding, G. (2006). Families, incomes and jobs: A statistical report of the HILDA survey. Melbourne: Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
18. Pregnancy and Employment Transitions, Australia, November 2005, ABS Cat. No. 4913.0, Table 23. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
19. Child Care, June 2005 (Reissue), ABS Cat. No. 4402.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
20. Child care refers to arrangements (other than care by resident parents) made for the care of children aged 0-12 years. Formal child care refers to the regulated care that takes place away from the child's home (long day care, before and/or after school care and family day care). Informal child care refers to non-regulated care that takes place in the child's home or elsewhere. It includes care by family members, friends, neighbours, babysitters and nannies.
21. Fitzpatrick, M & Reeve, P. (2003). Grandparents raising grandchildren – a new class of disadvantaged Australians. Family Matters, 66, Spring/Summer, 54–57.

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Part 3: Health and Mortality 

Summary:

• The majority of women report being healthy.
• More women are now surviving breast and cervical cancer than 10 years ago, largely due to improved treatments and early detection through screening.
• Nearly 4 in 5 women suffer from at least one long term ill-health condition.
• The prevalence of injuries, mental and behavioural problems, cancer, diabetes and arthritis is increasing among women.
• Anxiety and mood disorders are the most common forms of mental and behavioural problems experienced by women.
• Women use medication for mental well-being more than men do.
• Australian women do not eat enough fruit and vegetables, nearly half are overweight or obese and about one-third do not exercise.
• The consumption of alcohol at levels that pose a health risk and excess weight are on the rise among women.
• Being overweight or obese, a lack of exercise and daily tobacco use are associated with poorer health.
• Girls are becoming sexually active at earlier ages.

In this part:

• How healthy are Australian women?
• Has women's health improved over time?
• What illnesses do women suffer?
• Mental health
• How many women die each year?
• What are the causes of female deaths?
• Breast and cervical cancers
• Health risk factors
• Sexual and reproductive health
• References

How healthy are Australian women?

The Australian Bureau of Statistics regularly conducts the National Health Survey to collect a wide range of information relating to the health and wellbeing of all Australians. Surveys were conducted in 1995, 2001, and 2004–05.

When asked to rate their own general health in 2004–05, 85% of Australian women assessed their health as good, very good or excellent. Only about one in 25 women rated their health as poor. Figure 3.1 shows that women reported slightly better health than men.

Figure 3.1: Self-assessed health of Australian men and women, 2004–05

Source: 2004-05 National Health Survey, ABS Cat. No. 4364.0, Table 3.

Women's self-rated health varied according to age (Figure 3.2). In 2004-05, more young women assessed their health as very good or excellent, compared with women in older age groups. The decline in perceptions of good or excellent health was most noticeable at ages 45–54 years.

Figure 3.2: Women's self-assessed health by age, 2004–05

Source: 2004–05 National Health Survey, ABS Cat. No. 4364.0, Table 3.

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Has women's health improved over time?

Figure 3.3 indicates that women surveyed in 2004-05 reported experiencing better health than women surveyed in 1995. Since 1995, there has been an increase in the proportion of women who perceived their health to be very good or excellent and a commensurate decrease in the proportion of women who rated their health as fair.

Figure 3.3: Trends in women's self-assessed health, 1995–2004–05

Source: 2004–05 National Health Survey, ABS Cat. No. 4364.0, Table 3.

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What illnesses do women suffer?

The National Health Survey also collected information on a range of diseases, illnesses, conditions, and disorders that had lasted for at least six months or were likely to do so. These are collectively referred to as 'long term conditions'.

In 2004–05, 78.4% of women compared to 75% of men reported at least one long term condition. The proportion of women who reported at least one long term condition represents a modest increase over 1995 (76.4%).

Figure 3.4 shows that the prevalence of women's long term conditions increases with age, with sharp increases in the number of women reporting long term conditions occurring between the ages of 0–14 years and 15–24 years and then again after age 44 years. Figure 3.4 also shows that the proportions of women aged 15–44 years with one or more long term condition has increased slightly between 1995 and 2004–05, whereas the proportion of young girls (0–14 years) with a long term condition has decreased over the same period.

Figure 3.4: Women with long term conditions by age, 1995 and 2004–05

Source: 2004-05 National Health Survey, ABS Cat. No. 4364.0, data available on request.

*As a proportion of all women in each age group

Table 3.1 shows the ten most common conditions for women and men in 2004–05. Men and women generally suffered from the same set of common conditions, although the prevalence rates varied by gender. Women were more likely than men to suffer long and short sightedness. Migraine was a top ten condition for women but not for men, and hayfever and allergic rhinitis, asthma, hypertensive disease, chronic sinusitis, and arthritis were more prevalent among women than men.

Source: 2004–05 National Health Survey, Australia, ABS Cat. No. 4364.0, Table 4.

Table 3.2 shows age differences for women with long term conditions. In 2004–05, asthma was the most common condition for young girls. At ages 15–24 years, there was a large increase in the proportion of young women with short sightedness and hayfever and allergic rhinitis. Between the ages of 25–44, back disorders and pain and migraine became more common. At mid-age (45-64), there was a sharp increase in the prevalence of long sightedness and arthritis, and at ages 65 and over, arthritis, hypertensive disease, high cholesterol, and deafness joined the list of common conditions reported by women.

Source: 2004–05 National Health Survey, ABS Cat. No. 4364.0, data available on request.

Figure 3.5 shows the trends in long term conditions among women between 1995 and 2004–05. Although there were some methodological variations between the 1995 and 2004–05 National Health Surveys, comparable data can be used to identify trends for some selected conditions.

Figure 3.5: Selected long term conditions for women, 1995–2004–05

Source: 2004–05 National Health Survey, ABS Cat. No. 4364.0, data available on request.

Data for 1995 for injury and malignant neoplasms not available.

The prevalence of injuries and mental and behavioural problems is increasing among Australian women. Upward trends were also evident for malignant neoplasms, diabetes, and arthritis and osteoporosis.

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Mental health

The most recent estimate of the prevalence of mental health conditions in the Australian population has been derived from self-report data collected during the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2004–05 National Health Survey. This survey collected self-reports on long term mental or behavioural disorders, the use of medications for mental well-being, and ratings of psychological distress.

Long term mental or behavioural disorders

In 2004–05, 11.4% of women and 10% of men reported having a long term mental or behavioural problem (Table 3.3). Anxiety-related problems and mood (affective) problems were the most commonly reported conditions. Women were 1.5 times more likely than men to report each of these conditions. Men were 2.5 times more likely than women to report alcohol and drug problems.

Source: 2004–05 National Health Survey, ABS Cat. No. 4364.0, Table 4.

The use of medication for mental well-being

Nearly one in four women reported using medication for mental well-being, compared to 14.3% of men. The most commonly used pharmaceutical medications were antidepressants and sleeping tablets for both men and women, but levels of use were highest among women.

Psychological distress

In 2004–05, the majority of men and women reported low levels of psychological distress (Table 3.4). However, low levels of psychological distress were more common among men than women. Just over 15% of women reported high to very high psychological distress, compared to 10.8% of men. About one in four women reported moderate psychological distress.

Table 3.4 also shows trends in self-reports of psychological distress. Between 2001 and 2004–05, the proportions of men and women reporting low levels of psychological distress decreased slightly, although the decrease was larger for men than women. This movement was accompanied by increases in the proportions of men and women reporting moderate levels of psychological distress. For men, there was a concomitant increase in reports of high to very high psychological distress, but the proportions of women reporting these levels of distress remained stable between 2001 and 2004–05.

Source: 2004–05 National Health Survey, ABS Cat. No. 4364.0, Table 14.

Psychological distress measured by the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale-10 items (K10). The K10 is scored from 10 to 50. Psychological distress scores are grouped as follows: Low=10–15; Moderate=16–21; High=22–29; and Very high=30–50.

Totals may not add to 100% due to rounding.

Table 3.5 shows that ratings of moderate to high psychological distress were more prevalent among younger women and generally decreased with age. Very high psychological distress was more prevalent among women aged between 35–64 years, peaking between the ages of 45–54 years.

Source: 2004–05 National Health Survey, cited in Australia's Health 2006, AIHW Cat. No. AUS 73, Table 2.31.

Psychological distress and self-assessed health status

Figure 3.6 shows a relationship between self-assessed health status and psychological distress among women in 2004–05. Low levels of psychological distress were related to ratings of excellent/very good health. On the other hand, very high psychological distress was strongly associated with fair/poor health.

Figure 3.6: Women's self-assessed health status by level of psychological distress, 2004–05

Source: 2004–05 National Health Survey, ABS Cat. No. 4364.0, data available on request.

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How many women die each year?

In 2005, there were 67,241 male and 63,473 female deaths.1 A major trend in Australia over the last century has been the steady reduction in death rates. The female death rate fell from 1,691 to 511 deaths per 100,000 women between 1909 and 2004 (See Figure 3.7). The male death rate fell from 2,234 to 770 deaths per 100,000 men over the same period.

Figure 3.7: Age-standardised death rates by gender, 1909–2004

Source: Australian Institute of Health & Welfare National GRIM Books, All causes combined, (ICD10 ), Australia, 1907–2004 & Australia's Health, 2006, AIHW Cat. No. AUS 73 Table S16.

Despite longer life expectancy and lower death rates, Australia's growing and ageing population has resulted in an increase in the total number of deaths over time (Figure 3.8). Between 1909 and 2004, the total number of deaths per year has almost trebled. Each year, there have been more male than female deaths, although the gender gap in the number of deaths is closing.

Figure 3.8: Number of deaths by gender, 1909-2004

Source: Australian Institute of Health & Welfare National GRIM Books, All causes combined, Australia, 1907–2004.

There were 2,141 registered Indigenous deaths in Australia in 2005 and women accounted for 42.7% of those deaths.1 Death rates between 2001 and 2005 across all ages were higher for Indigenous than non-Indigenous women. Between the ages of 15 and 64 years, death rates for Indigenous women were at least three times the rate of other Australian women. The greatest difference occurred among those aged between 35 and 44 years, where death rates for Indigenous women were at least six times those recorded for non-Indigenous women (see Table 3.6).

Source: Deaths, Australia, 2005, ABS Cat. No. 3302.0, Table 9.5.

(a) Data for Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Northern Territory only. Indigenous rates based on observed Indigenous deaths and are likely to be underestimated.

(b) Except at age 0.

Indigenous women also die at younger ages than do non-Indigenous women. The median age at death for Indigenous women in 2005 ranged between 48 and 66 years compared to between 71 and 84 years for non-Indigenous women. The lowest median ages at death for Indigenous females in 2005 were observed in South Australia (47.5) and the Northern Territory (50.4). In contrast, non-Indigenous women in South Australia have the highest median age at death (83.7), living 36 years longer than their Indigenous neighbours.1

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What are the causes of female deaths?

The top 10 causes of death in Table 3.7 were responsible for 57% of all male and 61% of all female deaths in 2004. Ischaemic heart disease (commonly called coronary heart disease or heart attack and related disorders) and cerebrovascular disease (stroke) were the two leading causes of death, accounting for nearly 30% of all female deaths and over one-quarter of all male deaths. Strokes were notably more frequent causes of death for women than for men. 'Other heart diseases' (which includes heart failure) was the third leading cause of death for women. Prostate cancer and breast cancer were two prominent sex-specific causes of death. Among women only, dementia and related disorders and pneumonia and influenza were among the ten leading causes of death. Suicide and diabetes were leading causes of death for men, but not for women.

Source: Australia's Health, 2006. AIHW Cat. No. AUS73, Table 2.19.

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Breast and cervical cancers

How many women are diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer?

In Australian women, the breast is the most common site for cancer, with 12,027 new cases in 2002.2 The number of breast cancer cases registered between 1996 and 2002 has increased and is projected to increase further in 2006 and 2011 (Table 3.8). The projected increases are due, in part, to population growth and the rapid ageing of the female population, and also reflect increases in incidence rates due to the improved detection of smalldiameter breast cancers through the national mammographic screening program, BreastScreen Australia.3

Table 3.8 also shows that there were 689 new cases of cervical cancer in 2002. The number of new diagnoses and the incidence rate of cervical cancer dropped in 2002 relative to 1996. Further decreases in the number of cases and the incidence rate are projected to continue into the future.

Sources: Australia's Health, 2006. AIHW Cat. No. AUS73, Table 2.25, Breast Cancer in Australia: An overview, 2006, AIHW Cat. No. CAN29, Table 1.3, Cervical screening in Australia 2003-04. AIHW, Cat. No. CAN28, Tables 85 & 92.

(a) Projections

(b) Per 100,000 persons age-standardised to the Australian population as at 30 June 2001.

Breast and cervical cancer survival

Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related deaths among Australian women.2 In 2004, there were 2,641 deaths due to breast cancer, representing small increases of 0.7% and 2.2% over 1996 and 2001 respectively (Table 3.9). However, the mortality rate has decreased substantially by 18.5% from 28.7 deaths per 100,000 people in 1996 to 23.4 deaths per 100,000 people in 2004. This trend in the breast cancer mortality rate is in the opposite direction to the incidence trend. Thus, although the number of diagnosed cases of breast cancer has increased in Australia over recent years, more women are now surviving the illness.

Table 3.9 also shows that the numbers of deaths from cervical cancer and the mortality rate have declined over time. The death rate from cancer of the cervix has dropped by 40.6% between 1996 and 2004.

Source: Australia's Health, 2006. AIHW Cat. No. AUS73, Table 2.26.

Deaths per 100,000 persons age-standardised to the Australian population as at 30 June 2001.

Why are more women surviving breast and cervical cancer?

Evidence suggests that the risk of illness and death from breast and cervical cancer can be lowered through population-based screening and effective follow-up treatment. The success of BreastScreen Australia and the National Cervical Screening Program has been a major contributing factor to reductions in breast and cervical cancer mortality over recent years.3

The National Cervical Screening Program targets all women aged between 20 and 69 years. BreastScreen Australia is aimed specifically at women aged between 50 and 69 years and its objective is to achieve a 70% participation rate by women in the target group. Figure 3.9 shows that participation rates for breast cancer and cervical screening were fairly high, although participation rates for breast cancer screening were below target. The proportion of women who have participated in the National Cervical Screening Program has fallen in recent years (from 63.4% in 1998–99 to 60.7% in 2002–03). The proportion of women aged between 50 and 69 years screened by BreastScreen Australia increased from 52.3% in 1996–97 to 57.1% in 2001–02, but decreased to 56.1% in 2002–03.

Figure 3.9: Women's participation rates for breast cancer and cervical screening, 1996–97 – 2002–03

Source: BreastScreen Australia Monitoring Report 2002–2003, AIHW Cat. No. CAN 27 & Cervical Screening in Australia 2003–04, AIHW Cat. No. CAN 28.

Participation rates for BreastScreen Australia are for women aged between 50 and 69 years and for women aged between 20 and 69 years for the National Cervical Screening Program.

Rates are age-standardised to the 2001 Australian total population.

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Health risk factors

The 2004–05 National Health Survey collected information on a number of lifestyle behaviours and related factors that are recognised as the major risks to health and longevity. These health risk factors are defined in Table 3.10 and the prevalence of these health risk factors among Australian men and women in 2004–05 is shown in Figure 3.10.

Figure 3.10: Health risk factors by gender, 2004–05

Source: Chronic diseases and associated risk factors in Australia, 2006, AIHW Cat. No. PHE 81, Table 3.7.

Source: Chronic diseases and associated risk factors in Australia, 2006, AIHW Cat. No. PHE 81, Table 3.6 & 2004–05 National Health Survey, ABS Cat. No. 4364.0, Glossary.

The most common health risk factor for women was inadequate vegetable consumption, affecting 84% of all women aged 18 years or more and 40% of women had inadequate fruit consumption. Nearly half (45%) of all women were classified as overweight or obese and one-third of all women undertook very low levels of physical activity. Nearly one in five women was a current smoker, although more men than women used tobacco daily. Over one in 10 women (11.7%), compared to 15.4% of men, reported drinking alcohol at risky levels. Overall, nearly 96% of all Australian women had at least one of the risk factors reported.

Health risk factors and age

Women's health risk factors varied with age (Table 3.11). Cigarette smoking and risky alcohol consumption were higher among younger women and decreased with age. Poor diet was common across all ages, but was reported slightly more often by younger women. High blood pressure and high cholesterol were more prevalent among older women. Physical inactivity affected about one-third of all women until age 65, when it became more prevalent. About one in four younger women was overweight and the prevalence of excess weight rose sharply at ages 25-44 years and then again at ages 45–64 years.

Source: Chronic diseases and associated risk factors in Australia, 2006, AIHW Cat. No. PHE 81, Table 3.10.

Trends in health risk factors

Comparisons with the 2004–05 National Health Survey and the two previous surveys conducted in 2001 and 1995 give an indication of the degree to which women's health risk behaviours have changed over time. Figure 3.11 shows that the proportion of women who were current smokers remained relatively stable. The proportion of women drinking at risky or high risk levels increased from 6.2% to 11.7%. There was a modest reduction in the proportion of women who did not exercise, from 35.4% in 1995 to 34.4% in 2004–05, but an increase in the proportion of women who were classified as overweight or obese.

Figure 3.11: Trends in selected risk factors among women, 1995 – 2004–05

Source: 2004–05 National Health Survey, Summary of Results, ABS Cat. No. 4364.0, Tables 21, 22, 23, and 25.

Health risk behaviours show associations with self-assessed health (Table 3.12). Women who were classified as overweight/obese, were sedentary and were current daily smokers were more likely than other women to rate their health as fair or poor.

Source: National Health Survey, Australia, 2004–05, ABS Cat. No. 4364.0, data available on request.

Sexual and reproductive health

Sexual experience

In 2005, 97.3% of women aged 16 years and over reported ever having had a sexual experience.4

The 2002 Secondary Students and Sexual Health Survey found that by Year 12, nearly half of all students had engaged in sexual intercourse (Table 3.13). Table 3.13 also shows that between 1997 and 2002, there has been an increase in the proportion of students who had ever had sexual intercourse by Year 10, but the increase was larger for girls than for boys. Thus, the age of girls' initiation of sexual intercourse has declined. For Year 12 students, the proportion of students who had ever had sexual intercourse increased slightly for boys, but decreased marginally for girls.

Source: Smith, A., Agius, P., Dyson, S., Mitchell, A., & Pitts, M. (2003). Secondary Students and Sexual Health 2002, Results of the 3rd National Survey of Australian Secondary Students, HIV/AIDS and Sexual Health. Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health & Society, La Trobe University.

Sexually transmissible infections

Some sexually transmissible infections are notifiable through the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System.5 The two most common sexually transmissible infections are believed to be human papillomavirus and genital herpes. However, these infections are not notifiable and their prevalence is unknown.3

Table 3.14 shows the number of new cases of sexually transmissible infections notified in 1996 and 2005 for women. In 2005, chlamydia was the most frequently reported infection, and showed the biggest increase in the number of infections among women between 1996 and 2005. The number of infections of gonorrhoea is also on the rise among Australian women. Large reductions in the numbers of new cases of hepatitis A and hepatitis C were seen over the same period.

Source: National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis and sexually transmissible infections in Australia Annual Surveillance Report, 2001 and 2006.

Induced abortions

The total number of induced abortions performed each year in Australia is not recorded, except in South Australia and Western Australia. Medicare claims and hospital data are available, but these are unreliable as neither data set has complete coverage of induced abortion.6

Attempts have been made to extrapolate South Australian findings to national data7 or to combine the Medicare and hospital datasets with adjustments.8 Both methods estimated that the number of induced abortions in Australia in 2003 was about 84,000, at a rate of 19.7 abortions per 1,000 women.

Table 3.15 indicates that the highest estimated number of induced abortions in 2003 was in the 20–24 year age group and the lowest among girls younger than 15 years of age.

Source: Grayson, N., Hargreaves, J., & Sullivan, E. A. (2005). Use of routinely collected national data sets for reporting on induced abortion in Australia. AIHW Cat. No. PER 30, Table 3.4. Induced abortions refer to medically induced abortions and exclude spontaneous abortions ('miscarriages').

The estimated induced abortion rate per 1,000 women increased from 17.9 in 1985 to peak at 21.9 in 1995. Since 1996, the abortion rate has steadily declined (See Figure 3.12).

Figure 3.12: Estimated abortion rate per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years, Australia, 1985–2003

Source: Chan, A. & Sage, L. C. (2005). Estimating Australia's abortion rates 1985–2003. Medical Journal of Australia, 182, (9), 447–452.

Teenage births

In 2005, there were 10,744 births to mothers younger than 20 years of age, accounting for 4.1% of all births in 2005.9 As a proportion of all births, teenage pregnancies have shown a modest decline since 1996 (Figure 3.13).

Figure 3.13: Teenage births as a proportion of all births, 1996–2005

Source: Australian Social Trends, 2006, ABS Cat. No. 4102.0, Family and Community: National Summary & Births, Australia, 2005, ABS Cat. No. 3301.0.

Reasons for not using contraception

Protection against pregnancy

The Australian Study of Health and Relationships was conducted between 2001 and 2002 and provided estimates of sexual health behaviours and attitudes in the Australian population. The Australian Longitudinal Study of Health and Relationships is currently underway. The study aims to explore issues of reproductive and sexual health behaviours and attitudes, relationship formation, health status and behaviour, and family demographics, as well as changes to Australians' sexual health behaviours and attitudes over time.10

Of all women aged between 16 and 59 years at risk of unplanned pregnancy in 2001–02, 94.8% used some form of contraception. Women who did not use contraception were asked the main reason for not doing so (Table 3.16). The most common reason related to side-effects and contraindications of contraceptives, affecting nearly one in four women not using contraception. Amongst this group, one in five at-risk women reported leaving it to chance when they had babies and similar numbers of women reported ambivalence towards contraception.

Source: Richters, J., Grulich, A. E., de Visser, R. O., Smith, A. M. A., & Rissel, C. E. (2003). Sex in Australia: Contraceptive practices among a representative sample of women. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 27, 210–216, Table 2.

Women were defined as at risk of unplanned pregnancy if they had at least one male sexual partner in the last year, had vaginal intercourse, were not past menopause, pregnant, trying to get pregnant or infertile, and their partner was not infertile.

Protection against sexually transmitted infection

The most effective way to reduce the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted infection is by using condoms during sexual activity. The Secondary Students and Sexual Health Survey in 2002 found that 57.8% of girls reported using a condom at the most recent sexual encounter. Year 10 girls (69%) were more likely than Year 12 girls (49.8%) to report using a condom. Both Year 10 and Year 12 girls were less likely to report using a condom at the most recent sexual encounter in 2002 relative to 1997.11

The reasons given by students for not using a condom are shown in Table 3.17. Reported knowledge of a partner's sexual history, trusting one's partner, and sex 'just happening' were the most common reasons given by adolescent girls for not using condoms the last time they had sex.

Source: Smith, A., Agius, P, Dyson, S., Mitchell, A., & Pitts, M. (2003). Secondary students and sexual health, 2002: Results of the 3rd National Survey of Australian Secondary Students, HIV/AIDS and Sexual Health, Monograph Series Number 47. Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health & Society, La Trobe University, Table 5.17.

Table 3.18 shows that among adults, condom use is more frequent among casual sexual partners than among regular live-in or non-live in partners. In 2001-02, 69.4% of women and 71.1% of men reported sometimes and always using a condom during sexual activity in the last six months with a casual partner.

Source: de Visser, R. O., Smith, A. M. A., Rissel, C. E., Richters, J., & Grulich, A. E. (2003). Sex in Australia: Safer sex and condom use among a representative sample of adults, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 27, (2), 223–229, Table 2.

Maternal deaths

Death from pregnancy is rare in Australia. During the three-year period 2000–2002, there were 95 maternal deaths. They are classified into direct deaths (death from pregnancy complications), indirect deaths (deaths from pre-existing diseases complicated by pregnancy), incidental deaths (the pregnancy is unlikely to have contributed significantly to the death) and late deaths (direct or indirect death between 43 days and 365 days after termination of pregnancy).

In 2000–2002, the majority of maternal deaths were due to indirect causes (Table 3.19). The main causes of indirect deaths were cardiac disease, infection, psychiatric causes, haemorrhage, cancers or tumours and asthma. There was also a rise in indirect maternal deaths and a decrease in incidental deaths from the previous triennium. These changes are due, in part, to changes in the classification of some deaths.

Source: Maternal deaths in Australia, 2000–2002, AIHW Cat. No. PER32, Table 1.

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References

1. Deaths, Australia, 2005, ABS Cat. No. 3302.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
2. Breast cancer in Australia: An overview, 2006. Cancer Series Number 34. AIHW Cat. No. 29. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare & National Breast Cancer Centre.
3. Australia's Health, 2006. AIHW Cat. No. AUS 73. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
4. Australian Longitudinal Study of Health and Relationships, Wave 1 Summary 2005, Table 3, viewed 12/12/2006.
5. National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis and sexually transmissible infections in Australia Annual Surveillance Report, 2001 and 2006. Canberra: National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, University of New South Wales & Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
6. Pratt, A., Biggs, A., & Buckmaster, L. (2005). How many abortions are there in Australia? A discussion of abortion statistics, their limitations, and options for improved statistical collection. Parliamentary Library Research Brief no. 9, 2004–05, 14 February 2005. Parliamentary Library (http://www.aph.gov.au/library), viewed 13/11/2006.
7. Chan, A. & Sage, L. C. (2005). Estimating Australia's abortion rates 1985–2003. Medical Journal of Australia, 182, (9), 447–452.
8. Grayson, N., Hargreaves, J., & Sullivan, E. A. (2005). Use of routinely collected national data sets for reporting on induced abortion in Australia. AIHW Cat. No. PER 30. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare National Perinatal Statistics Unit, Sydney.
9. Births, Australia, 2005. ABS Cat. No. 3301.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
10. Australian Longitudinal Study of Health and Relationships. Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health & Society, La Trobe University. (http://www.latrobe.edu.au/alshr/ALSHR_about.htm), viewed 16/11/2006. Results of current survey were unavailable at the time of preparing this publication.
11. Smith, A., Agius, P, Dyson, S., Mitchell, A., & Pitts, M. (2003). Secondary students and sexual health, 2002: Results of the 3rd National Survey of Australian Secondary Students, HIV/AIDS and Sexual Health, Monograph Series Number 47. Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health & Society, La Trobe University.

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Part 4: Work and Economic Resources 

Summary:

• Women's labour force participation has increased over the last 10 years to 57.8% in December 2006. During this time, over 1 million new jobs have been created for women.
• Women's part-time and full-time work has increased substantially over the last 10 years.
• Increases in part-time and full-time work for women were evident across most industries.
• Among full-time employees, on average, men work longer hours than women do. For part-time work, gender differences in hours worked are dependent upon the industry and occupation in which the employee works.
• In June 2004, women accounted for 31.9% of all small business operators.
• Slightly more women than men undertake volunteering in Australia.
• Volunteering is highest among women aged between 35-44 years who work part-time and have dependent children.
• There has been strong growth in women's full-time earnings over the last 10 years.
• In May 2004, the gender pay gap was 8% for average hourly ordinary full-time earnings.
• 89.7% of women have superannuation contributions made by their employers.
• Women are less likely than men to have superannuation and women's average superannuation balances are lower than men's.

In this part:

• Labour force participation
• Small business
• Voluntary work
• Women's incomes
• Superannuation
• References

Labour force participation

Labour force participation in Australia has increased from 63.5% of the population in December 1996 to 64.9% of the population in December 2006. In December 2006, women comprised 45.1% of the total labour force.1 Trends in labour force participation vary according to gender. The labour force participation rate for women aged 15 years and over increased from 54.0% in December 1996 to 57.8% in December 2006 and men's labour force participation decreased from 73.3% to 72.3% over the same period (Figure 4.1).

Figure 4.1: Seasonally adjusted labour force participation of population aged 15 years and over by gender, December 1996-December 2006

Source: Labour Force, Australia, Spreadsheets, December 2006, ABS Cat. No. 6202.0.55.001, Table 02.

Labour force participation by marital status

Figure 4.2 shows variations in women's labour force participation rates by marital status between December 1996 and December 2006. In December 1996, the participation rates of married women (54.8%) and unmarried women (54.4%) were fairly similar. Each group of women has increased its participation over the last 10 years, but the increase was greater for married women. At December 2006 the participation rate for married women (60.4%) was higher than the participation rate for all women (57.8%).

Figure 4.2: Labour force participation rates of women aged 15 years and over by marital status, December 1996 and December 2006

Source: Labour Force, Australia, Detailed – Electronic delivery, December 2006, ABS Cat. No. 6291.0.55.001, Table 01.

Figures are not seasonally adjusted (original data).

Labour force participation by age

Women's labour force participation varies by age. Figure 4.3 shows that in December 1996, employment rates for women declined at ages 25–34 years, then slightly increased at ages 35–44 years, and then steadily decreased again with age. Over the last 10 years, large increases in labour force participation of older women have resulted in a reversal of the trend of declining participation for women aged 45–54 years.

Figure 4.3: Labour force participation rates of women aged 20 years and over by age group, December 1996 and December 2006

Source: Labour Force, Australia, Detailed – Electronic delivery, December 2006, ABS Cat. No. 6291.0.55.001, Table 01.

Figures are not seasonally adjusted (original data).

Labour force participation of women aged 55 years and over has remained generally low over the last decade. However, the participation rate for these women proportionally increased the most over the last 10 years. The participation rate for women aged 60–64 years nearly doubled; for women aged 65 years and over, the participation rate increased from 2.7% in 1996 to 4.5% in 2006; and for women aged 55–59 years, it increased by 17.7 percentage points.

It should be noted that part of the growth in women's employment in the older age ranges will be due to the ageing of the population, whereby women are taking jobs with them as they progress into the older age cohorts.

A smaller increase in the labour force participation rate over the last 10 years was observed for women aged between 25 and 44 years and the participation rate for women aged 20–24 remained relatively stable.

Labour force participation of mothers

Figure 4.4 shows the labour force participation rates in December 2006 at the aggregate level and by age group for single women, lone parents with and without dependent children, partnered women with dependent children, and partnered women without dependent children. Participation rates for lone mothers aged 20-24 years without dependents, partnered and lone mothers aged 60 years and over with dependent children, and lone mothers aged 65 years and over without dependent children are not shown as there were very small numbers of women in these particular groups.

Figure 4.4. shows that although at the aggregate level, labour force participation rates are highest for partnered and lone mothers with dependent children, mothers' labour force participation rates are age dependent. For partnered and lone mothers with dependent children, participation rates remain relatively low at all ages, except at ages 45-54 years and 55-59 years respectively. At age 60 years and over, there are few women with dependent children.

Figure 4.4: Labour force participation rates of women aged 20 years and over by family type and age, December 2006

Source: Labour Force Survey, ABS Cat. No. 6291.0.55.001, data available on request. Participation rates not shown where the numbers participating are less than 5,000 in the weighted data, but numbers are included in totals.

Figure 4.5 shows that between June 1996 and June 2006, increased labour force participation applied to all age groups of mothers. Among all mothers with dependent children, those aged between 35-54 years had the highest labour force participation rates in 1996 and this trend continued into 2006.

Figure 4.5: Labour force participation rates of mothers aged 20 years and over with children aged 0-14 years by age group of mothers, June 1996 and June 2006

Source: Labour Force Survey, ABS Cat. No. 6291.0.55.001, data available on request.

Figure 4.6 shows variations in labour force participation according to the age of the youngest child for 1996 and 2006. The data show that increased participation in paid work over the last 10 years applied to each group of mothers. However, in 1996, there was a distinct relationship between the age of the youngest child and labour force participation, which persisted into 2006. Specifically, labour force participation rates remained low where mothers were caring for very young children and then grew as the age of the youngest child increased. Thus, the labour force participation rate in Australia for mothers with children under 5 years was 52.7% in June 2006, rising to 73.0% when the youngest child was aged between 5 and 9 years, and increasing slightly again to 77.4%—well above the participation rate for all women—when the child was aged between 10 and 14 years.

Figure 4.6: Labour force participation rates of mothers aged 15 years and over with children aged 0-14 years by age group of youngest child, June 1996 and June 2006

Source: Labour Force Survey, ABS Cat. No. 6224.0.55.001, data available on request.

Employment of parents with very young children

Data from The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children provide information on the percentage of mothers and fathers employed in the first year of an infant's life in 2004.2 Table 4.1 shows the employment rates of mothers and fathers by the age of the infant in months. Less than one-quarter of mothers with infants aged 3–5 months were employed and this proportion increased to about half of all mothers with infants when the child was more than one year old. Rates of employment were higher for partnered mothers than for lone mothers. No relationship between the age of the infant and employment rates was apparent for fathers.

Source: Baxter, J., Gray, M., Alexander, M., Strazdins, L., & Bittman, M. (Unpublished report). Mothers and fathers with young children: Paid employment, caring and wellbeing. An analysis of Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, Table 3.2.

Trends in full-time and part-time employment

As at December 2006, 44.6% of all employed women were employed part-time and 70.1% of all part-time employees were women (Table 4.2).

Between December 1996 and December 2006, 1,005,300 new jobs have been created that employ women, representing 52% of all new jobs (Table 4.2). This additional employment of women comprised equal numbers of new full-time and part-time jobs.

For men over the same period, the increase in full-time paid work was larger than the increase in part-time work. However, the proportion of men employed part-time increased from 11.7% in December 1996 to 15.5% in December 2006.

Source: Labour Force, Australia, Spreadsheets, December 2006, ABS Cat. No. 6202.0.55.001, Table 02.

Trends in women's full-time and part-time employment by marital status

Table 4.3 shows that between December 1996 and December 2006, there was a slightly higher increase in full-time employment than part-time employment for married women. On the other hand, unmarried women increased their participation in part-time more than full-time paid work over the same period.

Source: Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, Electronic Delivery, December 2006, ABS Cat. No. 6291.0.55.001, Table 01. Figures are not seasonally adjusted (original data).

Trends in women's full-time and part-time employment by age

Trends in women's part-time and full-time work between December 1996 and December 2006 also varied according to age group (Figure 4.7). Increases in both full-time and part-time paid work occurred for all age groups of women, with larger proportional growth for women aged 45 years and over. For women aged 45 to 59 years, increases in full-time employment were higher than increases in part-time employment. The opposite was true for women aged 60 years and over. Part-time employment increased at a slightly higher rate than full-time employment and, at December 2006, more women in this age group were employed on a part-time than a full-time basis.

Figure 4.7: Number of women aged 20 years and over employed full-time and part-time by age, December 1996 and December 2006

Source: Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, Electronic Delivery, December 2006, ABS Cat. No. 6291.0.55.001, Table 01.

Figures are not seasonally adjusted (original data).

In 1996, slightly more women aged 35–44 years were employed full-time than part-time. Over the last 10 years, a larger increase in part-time employment than in full-time employment has resulted in equal numbers of women in this age group now in part-time and full-time jobs.

There were relatively small proportional increases in both full-time and parttime employment for women aged between 20 and 24 years and full-time employment remained more common than part-time employment for this age group in December 2006.

Trends in mothers' full-time and part-time employment

Table 4.4 shows that between June 1996 and June 2006, trends in mothers' part-time and full-time employment varied according to the presence or absence of dependent children aged 0–14 years in the household.

Source: Labour Force Survey, ABS Cat. No. 6291.0.55.001, data available on request.

* Includes wife or partner with no children and with children aged 15 years and over.

In 1996, employment for women with no dependent children was more likely to be full-time than part-time. This trend continued through to 2006, with a larger increase over the last 10 years in full-time than part-time employment.

The opposite is true for women with dependent children. In 1996, this group of mothers was more likely to be employed on a part-time rather than a full-time basis. Over the last 10 years, employment growth was greater for parttime work than for full-time work and employment for this group of mothers remained more commonly part-time in 2006.

Table 4.5 shows the number of women employed part-time and full-time in June 1996 and June 2006 according to the age of the youngest dependent child. In 1996, paid work was largely part-time for women with a child aged between 0–9 years, but more commonly full-time when the youngest child was older than 10 years of age. Over the last 10 years, there have been larger increases in the numbers of mothers working part-time than full-time, regardless of the age of the youngest child. The result of this has been that as at June 2006, work for all mothers with children aged between 0–14 years was more commonly part-time.

Source: Labour Force Survey, ABS Cat. No. 6224.0.55.001, data available on request.

Industries in which women work

With the exception of only a few industries, the labour force in Australia is largely segmented by gender (see Figure 4.8). As at November 2006, differences in the numbers of male and female employees were largest in the construction, mining, education, and health and community services industries. The former two industries employed large numbers of men, but few women. The opposite is true for the latter two industries. Four of the 17 industries—retail trades; property and business services; education; and health and community services—employed over 58% of all employed women.

Figure 4.8: The number of employed men and women aged 15 years and over by industry, November 2006

Source: Australian Labour Market Statistics, January 2007, ABS Cat. No. 6105.0, Table 2.4.

Figure 4.9 shows that in November 2006 there were slightly more women employed on a full-time than part-time basis across most industry types, except in four groups: the cultural and recreational services; construction; accommodation, cafes and restaurants; and retail trades industries. The retail trades sector was overwhelmingly the largest employer of women who worked part-time. This was also true for men, but there were over twice as many women as men working part-time in the retail trades industry.

Figure 4.9: The number of employed women aged 15 years and over by industry and employment status, November 2006

Source: Australian Labour Market Statistics, January 2007, ABS Cat. No. 6105.0, Table 2.4.

Between August 1996 and August 2005, large increases in the numbers of employed women were evident across most industries, except in the agriculture, forestry and fishing; manufacturing; and wholesale trade industries (Figure 4.10).

Figure 4.10: Percentage change in the number of employed women aged 15 years and over by industry and employment status, August 1996 - August 2005

Source: Australian Labour Market Statistics, July 2006, Data Cubes, ABS Cat. No. 6105.0, Table 3.

The electricity, gas and water supply industry reported the strongest percentage growth in women working either part-time or full-time, although in absolute terms, this represented only 5,800 women. The majority of the increases in part-time and full-time paid work for women over the last 10 years were concentrated in the retail trade; health and community services; education; and property and business services industries. The growth of part-time and full-time employment for women in property and business services since 1996 has seen this industry overtake the education industry as the third highest employer of women.3

Occupations in which women work

In November 2006, 40% of all employed women worked as either elementary or intermediate clerks, sales and service workers. A further 22.6% were employed as professionals. Figure 4.11 shows a disparity within and across occupations in the gender mix of employees, especially among tradespersons and clerical, sales and service workers. The distribution of male and female employees was fairly equal for professionals.

Figure 4.11: Number of employed men and women aged 15 years and over by occupation group, November 2006

Source: Australian Labour Market Statistics, January 2007, ABS Cat. No. 6105.0, Table 2.4.

More women worked part-time than full-time in the clerical, sales and service worker occupation groups. Full-time work was more common than part-time work for women employed as managers and administrators, associate professionals, and professionals (Figure 4.12).

Figure 4.12: Number of employed women aged 15 years and over by employment status and occupation group, November 2006

Source: Australian Labour Market Statistics, January 2007, ABS Cat. No. 6105.0, Table 2.4.

Since 1996, there have been substantial percentage increases in the number of women employed full-time as managers and administrators, professionals, and associate professionals (Figure 4.13). Other occupations showed declines or only modest increases in the number of full-time female employees. The largest decreases were observed for full-time advanced clerical and service workers and intermediate production and transport workers.

Figure 4.13: Percentage change in the number of employed women aged 15 years and over by occupation group and employment status, August 1996 - August 2005

Source: Australian Labour Market Statistics, July 2006, Data Cubes, ABS Cat. No. 6105.0, Table 4.

In relation to part-time positions, the number of female labourers and related workers decreased between 1996 and 2005. There was strong percentage growth in part-time work for female professionals, associate professionals and managers and administrators. However, in absolute terms, between August 1996 and August 2005, slightly more additional women were employed as part-time intermediate and elementary clerical sales and service workers (274,500) than in professional or associate professional positions (226,500).3

Hours worked

Table 4.6 shows that average weekly full-time hours in May 2006 varied across industries and occupations. However, across all industries and occupations, on average, men worked longer hours than women.

Table 4.6 also shows that for part-time jobs, there were some gender differences in hours worked per week according to industry and occupation. On average, men and women working part-time worked similar hours per week.

Between June 1996 and June 2006, average full-time weekly working hours decreased slightly from 37.6 hours to 37.4 hours for women and from 42.3 hours to 41.0 for men.4 Trends in part-time hours are in the opposite direction. Women working part-time in June 2006 worked an average of 16.3 hours per week compared to 15.7 hours in June 1996 and the average weekly hours of men working part-time increased over the same period from 14.8 hours to 16.1 hours.

Source: Australian Labour Market Statistics, July 2006, ABS Cat. No. 6105.0, Table 2.6.

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Small business

The Australian Bureau of Statistics defines a small business as a non-agricultural business with less than 20 employees.5

In February 1995, women accounted for 33.9% of all small business operators. Between 1995 and 1997, the proportion of small businesses operated by women increased to 35.2%. In June 2004, women comprised 31.9% of all small business operators (Figure 4.14).

Figure 4.14: Proportion of female small business operators in Australia, 1995–2004

Source: Characteristics of Small Business, ABS Cat. No. 8127.0 (Years 1997, 2001, 2004).

Female small business operators were most likely to be in business with a male partner. In 2004, the majority of small businesses (62%) were operated by an individual male or predominantly by men. Just over one-fifth of small businesses (21.5%) were run by equal numbers of men and women and 16.5% were operated by an individual woman or predominantly by women.6

Age differences in female small business operators

Figure 4.15 shows that in both 1995 and 2004, younger women were much less likely to run a small business, whereas the predominant age group at both periods for female small business operators was 30 to 50 years, with over half of women running small businesses (63%) in this age group in 2004.

Figure 4.15: Proportion of female small business operators by age, 1995–2004

Source: Characteristics of Small Business, ABS Cat. No. 8127.0 (Years 1997, 2001, 2004).

Since 1995 there has been a drop in the proportions of female small business operators younger than 50 years of age and a commensurate increase from 19% to 28.7% in the proportion of female small business operators aged greater than 50 years.

Gender differences in other characteristics of small business Small businesses run predominantly by women are more likely than those run predominantly by men to be operated at home (39.1% in comparison to 16.7%).6

Relative to small businesses run predominantly by men, those run predominantly by women are less likely to employ staff and are more likely to have been in operation for shorter periods of time (Table 4.7). Small businesses with equal numbers of men and women operators are most likely to employ larger numbers of staff and to remain in operation for longer.

Source: Characteristics of Small Business, 2004, ABS Cat. No. 8127.0.

Totals may not add to 100% due to rounding.

Gender differences in hours worked in small business

Figure 4.16 shows that the majority of female small business operators worked part-time hours (less than 35 hours per week) (60.4%). Working between 1–10 hours per week was fairly common among these women. On the other hand, 80% of male small business operators worked full-time hours, with a large percentage working very long hours.

Figure 4.16: Usual weekly hours worked by small business operators by gender, 2004

Source: Characteristics of Small Business, 2004, ABS Cat. No. 8127.0, Table 1.2.

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Voluntary work

Based on the results of the 2002 Australian Bureau of Statistics General Social Survey, over one-third (35%) of all Australian women had undertaken voluntary work in the previous 12 months. This participation rate represents a substantial increase from the results of the Voluntary Work Surveys in 1995 and 2000 (see Table 4.8). A slightly higher proportion of women than men have undertaken voluntary work in Australia.

Source: Voluntary Work, Australia 2000, ABS Cat. No. 4441.0, Table 2 and General Social Survey, Summary Results, 2002, ABS Cat. No. 4159.0, Tables 2 & 3.

As shown in Figure 4.17, volunteering was highest among women aged between 35 and 44 years. After age 44 years, voluntary participation generally declined as women aged and was lowest among women aged 75 years and over.

Figure 4.17: Voluntary work participation of women aged 18 years and over by age group, 2002

Source: General Social Survey, Summary Results, ABS Cat. No. 4159.0, Table 3.

Figures 4.18 and 4.19 show that in 2000, employed parents were most likely to undertake voluntary work. Among men, participation in voluntary work was highest for fathers and for men who were employed full-time. Women employed part-time and partnered women with dependent children were more commonly volunteers than other women.

Figure 4.18: Voluntary participation rates of men and women aged 18 years and over by employment status, 2000

Source: Voluntary work, Australia, 2000, ABS Cat. No. 4441.0, Table 2.

Figure 4.19: Voluntary participation rates of all men and women aged 18 years and over by family status, 2000

Source: Voluntary work, Australia, 2000, ABS Cat. No. 4441.0, Table 2.

Volunteers undertake a variety of activities. In 2000, the most common activities undertaken by volunteers were fundraising, management, teaching, and administration (Figure 4.20). Women were more likely than men to engage in fundraising, food preparation, and teaching. Male volunteers were much more likely than female volunteers to be involved in activities such as repairs, maintenance and gardening, and coaching.

Figure 4.20: Voluntary participation rates of men and women aged 18 years and over by activity type, 2000

Source: Voluntary work, Australia, 2000, ABS Cat. No. 4441.0, Table 21.

In 2000, the median time spent in voluntary work was 1.4 hours per week. Women spent more time volunteering (1.4 hours per week) than men (1.2 hours per week). The time spent undertaking volunteering activities increased with age (Figure 4.21). The gender difference in time spent volunteering was greatest among people aged 35–44 years and 75 years and over.

Figure 4.21: Median weekly hours spent volunteering by men and women aged 18 years and over, 2000

Source: Voluntary work, Australia, 2000, ABS Cat. No. 4441.0, Table 4.

Estimates for 75+ age group have a relative standard error of between 25% and 50% and should be used with caution.

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Women's incomes

Women's earnings

Average female full-time adult ordinary time earnings were $941 per week in November 2006. The average earnings of all women employees, including junior and part-time employees were $666 per week.7

Industry differences in women's earnings

In November 2006, women's average weekly full-time ordinary time earnings varied according to the industry in which they worked (Figure 4.22). Full-time earnings were highest in the mining industry, followed by the education and electricity, gas and water supply industries. Women's average full-time earnings were lowest in the retail trades and accommodation, cafes and restaurant industries.

Figure 4.22: Real values of average weekly full-time seasonally adjusted ordinary time earnings for female employees aged 21 years and over by industry, November 2006

Source: Average Weekly Earnings, November 2006, ABS Cat. No. 6302.0, Time Series Spreadsheets. Table 2 – Average Weekly Earnings of Employees, Australia (Dollars) Seasonally Adjusted. Nominal dollar values have been converted into constant dollar (December quarter 2006) values by FaCSIA using the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Trends in women's full-time earnings

Figure 4.23 shows trends in women's full-time earnings for each quarter between November 1996 and November 2006. Women's average weekly full-time ordinary time earnings increased steadily between November quarter 1996 and May quarter 2000 and then decreased in the August quarter 2000. Real earnings around this time were influenced across the board with a temporary spike in inflation due to the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). Women's full-time earnings gradually increased again between the November quarters in 2000 and 2005. In the November quarter 2006, women's full-time earnings increased slightly following three consecutive decreases in each quarter between February 2006 and August 2006. Overall, between November 1996 and November 2006, full-time ordinary time earnings for women have increased in real terms, that is, after taking account of inflation, by $149.00 per week. This represents an 18.8% real increase.

Figure 4.23: Real quarterly values of average weekly full-time seasonally adjusted ordinary time earnings for female employees aged 21 years and over, November 1996-November 2006

Source: Average Weekly Earnings, November 2006, ABS Cat. No. 6302.0, Time Series Spreadsheets. Table 2 – Average Weekly Earnings of Employees, Australia (Dollars) Seasonally Adjusted. Nominal dollar values have been converted into constant dollar (December quarter 2006) values by FaCSIA using the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Women's earnings growth by industry

Average weekly full-time ordinary time earnings growth for women occurred across all industries between November 1996 and November 2006 (Figure 4.24). Earnings growth in real terms was largest in the mining industry, followed by the finance and insurance, electricity, gas and water supply, government administration and defence, and wholesale trade industries. Average weekly full-time earnings growth was smallest in the cultural and recreational services industry, followed by the transport and storage, and health and community services industries.

Figure 4.24: Percentage change in real values of full-time seasonally adjusted ordinary time earnings for female employees aged 21 years and over by industry, November 1996-November 2006

Source: Average Weekly Earnings, November 2006, ABS Cat. No. 6302.0, Time Series Spreadsheets. Table 2 – Average Weekly Earnings of Employees, Australia (Dollars) Seasonally Adjusted. Nominal dollar values have been converted into constant dollar (December quarter 2006) values by FaCSIA using the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Gender gap in earnings

As at November 2006, using adult full-time seasonally adjusted average weekly ordinary time earnings, the ratio of female to male earnings was 0.84. In other words, women's average weekly earnings ($941) were 84% of men's average weekly earnings ($1,125). This represents a gender earnings gap of 16%.7

However, as women, on average, work fewer hours per week than men, an examination of the gender pay gap requires a measure that incorporates an adjustment for differences in the number of hours worked per week. The Australian Bureau of Statistics provides estimates of the average hourly ordinary full-time earnings using data derived from the Employee Earnings and Hours Survey.8

In May 2004, among non-managerial employees, the ratio of female to male average hourly ordinary full-time earnings was 0.92, resulting in a gender earnings gap of 8%. The gender gap in earnings has narrowed slightly since 1996, when the ratio of female to male average hourly ordinary full-time earnings among adult non-managerial employees was 0.91.

Figure 4.25 shows a gender pay gap in each industry in 2004 and its size varied across industry groups. The smallest gap between the full-time earnings of men and women was in government administration and defence (2%). The gender pay gap was most disparate in the finance and insurance industry (23%). Larger gender differences in earnings were also evident in the industries of personal and other services and mining.

Figure 4.25 also shows that between 1996 and 2004, the gender pay gap decreased in some industries and increased in others. Larger increases in the ratio of female to male average hourly ordinary full-time earnings were observed in the accommodation, cafes and restaurants and mining industries. The largest increase in the gender pay gap occurred in the communication services industry.

Figure 4.25: Female/male earnings ratio among full-time adult non-managerial employees by industry, 1996 and 2004

Source: Employee Earnings and Hours, May 1996 and May 2004, ABS Cat. No. 6306.0.

Income Support

As at June 2004, there were nearly 2.6 million women in receipt of income support payments, compared to 1.8 million men (Table 4.9). The Age Pension, Parenting Payments and Partner Allowances went predominantly to women. Since 1996, there has been an increase in the number of people, particularly men, receiving the Age Pension and Parenting Payment.

In 1996 men formed 35.6% of Age Pension recipients. At that time 570,328 men and 1,032,506 women received the Age Pension.9 In June 2004, 40.6% of Age Pension recipients were men.

In 1996, 93.6% of Single Parenting Payments were paid to women.10 By June 2004, the proportion of Single Parenting Payment recipients who were women dropped slightly to 92.2%.

Source: Statistical Paper No. 3: Income support customers: A statistical overview 2004.

Australian Government Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.

Excludes Carers Allowance.

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Superannuation

Employee superannuation coverage

Under the Superannuation Guarantee Act, employers are obliged to make superannuation contributions on behalf of most employees. Some employees are exempt, such as employees aged less than 18 years who are not working more than 30 hours per week, employees aged 70 years and over and employees who were paid less than $450.00 (before tax) in a calendar month.10

In August 2005, 89.7% of all female employees and 91.1% of male employees reported that their employer provided superannuation. More women who were employed full-time (96.7%) than employed part-time (81.8%) reported that they were provided with superannuation by their current employer.11

Gender differences in superannuation savings

An analysis of data collected in 2002 during the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey revealed that women are less likely than men to have superannuation and women have lower superannuation balances than men across all age groups (Table 4.10).

Source: Clare, R. (2004). Why can't a woman be more like a man – gender differences in retirement savings. Paper presented at the ASFA 2004 National Conference and Super Expo, Super: Saving the Nation, Adelaide Convention Centre, 10–12 November 2004, Table 1.

When women's part-time work and their tendency to not participate in the paid labour force are considered, their superannuation balances become smaller (Table 4.11). The superannuation balances of women currently employed parttime are about one-half of the superannuation balances of women employed full-time. The average superannuation balance for women currently not in the labour force is 36% of the balance accumulated by women employed full-time.

Source: Clare, R. (2004). Why can't a woman be more like a man – gender differences in retirement savings. Paper presented at the ASFA 2004 National Conference and Super Expo, Super: Saving the Nation, Adelaide Convention Centre, 10–12 November 2004, Table 2.

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References

1. Labour Force, Australia, Spreadsheets, December 2006, Table 02, Labour force status by sex – Seasonally Adjusted, ABS Cat. No. 6202.0.55.001. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
2. Baxter, J., Gray, M., Alexander, M., Strazdins, L., & Bittman, M. (Unpublished report). Mothers and fathers with young children: Paid employment, caring and wellbeing. An analysis of Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, unpublished report. The definition of employed differs from the standard Australian Bureau of Statistics definition. Women who were on paid or unpaid maternity or other types of parental leave and also those on leave without pay were classified as being not employed in this dataset.
3. Australian Labour Market Statistics, July 2006, Data Cubes, ABS Cat. No. 6105.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
4. Labour Force Australia, June 1996 and June 2006, ABS Cat. No. 6291.0.55.001, Australian Bureau of Statistics, data available on request.
5. Characteristics of Small Business, 2004, ABS Cat. No. 8127.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
6. Characteristics of Small Business, 2004, ABS Cat. No. 8127.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics. Home based businesses have been identified based on two definitions: (1) where most of the work was carried out at the home(s) of the operator(s), these businesses are defined as 'operated at home'; (2) where the business has no other premises owned or rented other than the home(s) of the operator(s), those businesses are referred to as 'operated from home'. Some overlap does occur.
7. Average Weekly Earnings, November 2006, ABS Cat. No. 6302.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics. Average Weekly Earnings data are available quarterly and provide the most recent estimates of female employee wages. Average weekly ordinary-time earnings are payments for award, standard or agreed hours of work, including allowances, penalty payments, bonuses and commissions. Excluded are items such as overtime payments, retrospective pay, pay in advance, leave loading and termination payments. Average weekly ordinary-time earnings are calculated before deductions, including income tax. The Survey does not collect information relating to the characteristics of employees, hourly rates, or occupation.
8. Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2004, ABS Cat. No. 6306.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics. The data provide an estimate of average hourly ordinary-time earnings, which is derived by dividing mean weekly ordinary-time earnings by mean weekly ordinarytime hours paid for. It does not include overtime pay. The relevant populations are full-time and part-time non-managerial employees. Managerial and junior rates of pay are excluded. The most recent survey at the time of preparing this publication was May 2004.
9. Statistical Paper No. 1: Income support customers: A statistical overview 2002. Australian Government Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.
10. Australian Taxation Office. Superannuation guarantee — a guide for employers. (http://www.ato.gov.au/super/content.asp?doc=/content/19818.htm&page=9#P1...), viewed 08/01/2007.
11. Employee Earnings, Benefits & Trade Union Membership, August 2005, ABS Cat. No. 6310.0, Table 15. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.

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Part 5: Education and Training 

Summary:

• More women than men are being educated at secondary school and at university.
• There are more women than men graduating from university with a Bachelor degree.
• Women's participation rates in many non-traditional areas of study have increased over the last decade.
• There are fewer women than men in Engineering, Information Technology and Architecture and Building courses at universities.
• There are more women than men in Health, Education, and Society and Culture courses at universities.
• The employment prospects of graduates have improved over the last 10 years. However, male graduates are slightly more likely than female graduates to be employed full-time.
• Female graduate starting salaries have increased and are 95.2% of male graduate starting salaries.
• The overall numbers of women enrolled in vocational education and training courses and in apprenticeships and traineeships have grown over the last 10 years.
• Between 1996 and 2005, the number of women in apprenticeships and traineeships has increased four fold.

In this part:

• Secondary education
• Higher education participation
• Higher education award completions
• Graduate work and salaries
• Vocational education and training
• Apprenticeships and traineeships
• Educational attainment
• References

Secondary education

In Australia school attendance is compulsory up to the age of 15 or 16 years. Generally, the first non-compulsory level of education in Australia is the first of the final two years of high school or college (Years 11 and 12).1

In 2005 there were 1.1 million full-time students in Years 7 to 10. Just over half (51%) were boys. At the same time there were 424,091 students in Years 11 and 12 and the gender imbalance was reversed. Girls comprised 51.8% of all Years 11 and 12 students.2

Figure 5.1 shows that the number of secondary students who continued on to Year 12 has increased between 1995 and 2005. Girls are more likely than boys to continue onto Years 11 and 12. In 2005 the gender difference in the retention rate was just over 11 percentage points (81.0% for girls compared to 69.9% for boys).

Figure 5.1: Apparent retention rates of full-time students from Year 7/8 to Year 12 by gender, 1995 and 2005

Source: Schools, Australia, 2005, ABS Cat. No. 4221.0.

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Higher education participation

Over the past 30 years, women's participation in all levels of education has increased to the extent that, currently, slightly more women than men participate in higher education. Figure 5.2 shows the rate of women's participation in higher education since 1996. Women have consistently accounted for the majority of higher education students.3

Figure 5.2: Women's participation in higher education, 1996–2004

Source: Department of Education, Science and Training. Unpublished data & Students: Selected Higher Education Statistics 2000, 2002, 2004.

Data do not include overseas students.

In 2005, women accounted for 54.5% of all higher education students, with 521,328 women enrolled, representing an increase of 1.5% on 2004 levels.4

In 2005, there were 8,370 Indigenous higher education students. A total of 5,469 or 65.3% were women.4

Fifty-seven percent of students who applied for admission to university in 2006 were women. Women were slightly more successful than men in gaining entry to university, with 58% of female applicants offered places in 2006.5

Despite these improvements, women have continued to be under-represented in some areas of study. In the 1990 report, A Fair Chance for All,6 the Australian Government identified women as educationally disadvantaged in non-traditional areas of study and set a target for 15% participation by women in Engineering and 40% participation in other non-traditional courses, including Business Studies, Economics, and Science. In 2001, broad field of study categories were replaced by broad field of education categories, with non-traditional areas of study for women identified as Natural and Physical Sciences, Information Technology, Engineering and Related Technologies, Architecture and Building, Agriculture, Environmental and Related Studies, Management and Commerce, and Economics and Econometrics.

With the exception of Information Technology, the targets have been substantially met. More women than men have been commencing Natural and Physical Science courses for the past several years. In 2001, there were 12,468 female compared to 11,534 male commencements in this field. In 2005, commencements in this field increased more for women (13,468) than for men (11,622). In 2005, women accounted for 15.4% of Engineering enrolments, 52.8% in Natural and Physical Sciences, 40.7% in Architecture and Building, 47.8% in Agriculture, Environmental and Related Studies, and 48.8% in Management and Commerce.5

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Higher education award completions

Figure 5.3 shows the number of award course completions for all domestic7 students from 1996 to 2004. The number of award completions has increased over the reported period for both men and women. Women have consistently completed more courses than men. The proportion of domestic higher education completions by women was 58.1% in 2004.

Figure 5.3: Number of domestic higher education completions by gender, 1996–2004

Source: Department of Education, Science and Training. Selected Higher Education Statistics 2005, Appendix 2.2.

The highest proportion of domestic higher education completions in 2004 was for Bachelor degrees, where female graduates significantly outnumbered males (See Table 5.1). Women completed 49.9% of domestic Master's degrees. Although women's share of Doctoral degrees was 49.4% in 2004, there was a slight tendency for more women than men to complete these degrees by coursework than by research.

Source: Department of Education, Science and Training. Selected Higher Education Statistics 2005, Appendix 2.7.

Figure 5.4 shows the number of completed higher education courses in 2004 for male and female domestic students according to the broad fields of education. Among domestic students, women's completion rates were greater than or nearly equal to men's completion rates for Natural and Physical Sciences courses (55.3%), Agriculture, Environmental and Related Studies (47.6%), and Management and Commerce (48.4%). Women continue to be under-represented among domestic course completions for Engineering (15.7%), Information Technology (25.4%) and Architecture and Building (40.6%). Nearly twice as many women as men completed Society and Culture courses and approximately three times as many women as men completed Health and Education courses.

Figure 5.4: Number of domestic higher education award completions by field of education and gender, 2004

Source: Department of Education, Science and Training. Selected Higher Education Statistics 2005, Appendix 2.7.

Data for Food, hospitality and personal services not shown due to small numbers (10 for men and 13 for women).

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Graduate work and salaries

Every year, Graduate Careers Australia conducts the Graduate Destination Survey to determine the work and study destinations and salaries of new Bachelor degree graduates. The results of those surveys for graduate work activities for the years spanning 1997 to 2006 are summarised in Table 5.2.

Relative to 1997, graduate employment figures for 2006 indicate an improvement in employment prospects for female (and male) graduates. Figures for 2005 and 2006 suggest that graduate employment opportunities may be recovering from a gradual decline following a fall from a high point in 2000. For three years running there has been a drop in the percentage of graduates not working while seeking full-time employment.

Between 1997 and 2001, of all graduates who were available for full-time employment, men were more likely than women to be employed full-time. The figures for 2002 to 2004 show a relatively equal proportion of female and male graduates employed full time in the labour force. Since 2005, male graduates were again more likely than female graduates to be employed full-time.

Source: Graduate Careers Australia, Graduate Destinations (Years 1999 to 2006)

In 2006, the median average starting salary for female graduates was $40,000, up from $39,000 in 2005. In 2006, the overall salary for female graduates was 95.2% of male earnings, down slightly from 97.5% in 2005, but substantially higher than 92.3% of male earnings in 1999 and 92.8% in 2000.8

In 2006, women's starting salaries were roughly equal to men's for graduates from Engineering, Physical Sciences, Dentistry, Art and Design, and Agricultural Science. Women's starting salaries were higher than men's in the fields of Optometry (109.6% of male earnings), Pharmacy (104.9% of male earnings), Biological Science (102.6% of male earnings), and Social Work (102.4% of male earnings). Women earned markedly less than men in the fields of Medicine (89.1% of male earnings), Social Sciences (89.5% of male earnings), and Architecture and Building (91.5% of male earnings).

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Vocational education and training

The number of Australian women undertaking vocational education and training courses has increased by nearly 27% from 623,800 in 1996 to 789,500 in 2005 (see Figure 5.5). In 2005, women accounted for 48% of all enrolments, up from 46.5% in 1996.

Figure 5.5: Number enrolled in vocational education and training by gender, 1996–2005

Source: NCVER Australian Vocational Education and Training Statistics: Table 1, Students by sex, 1995–2005.

There are differences between men and women in chosen fields of study for vocational education and training. In 2005, women dominated enrolments in the fields of Society and Culture; Management and Commerce; Creative Arts; Education; Health; and Food, Hospitality and Personal Services. Enrolment rates were fairly equal for the Natural and Physical Sciences. Men formed the majority of enrolments in the fields of Architecture and Building; Engineering and Related Technologies; Agriculture, Environmental and Related Studies; and Information Technology (Figure 5.6).

Figure 5.6: The number of Vocational Education and Training enrolments by field of education and gender, 2005

Source: NCVER Australian Vocational Education and Training Statistics: Table 42, Students by major qualification by course field of education for 2005.

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Apprenticeships and traineeships

Figure 5.7 shows that between December 1996 and December 2005, the number of women in apprenticeships and traineeships has increased four-fold. As at 31 December 2005, women accounted for just over one-third (34.1%) of all apprentices and trainees, up from 20.3% in December 1996.

Figure 5.7: Number of apprentices and trainees in-training by gender, 1996-2005

Large proportions of all new apprenticeships and traineeships for the 12 months to June 2006 were in the Intermediate Clerical, Sales and Service Workers (31.7%) and Tradespersons and Related Workers (28.4%) occupational groups (Table 5.3). Most (85.9%) of the new apprentices and trainees in the Tradespersons and Related Workers occupation group were men, whereas 70% of new apprentices and trainees in the Intermediate Clerical, Sales and Service Workers were women.

Source: NCVER, National Apprentice and Trainee collection, September 2006 estimates, unpublished data.

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Educational attainment

In May 2006, just over 7 million Australians reported having a non-school qualification. This number represented 52.4% of all people aged between 15 and 64 years. There were nearly 3.4 million women who held nonschool qualifications, accounting for 50.4% of all women aged 15–64 years, which is slightly lower than 54.5% of all comparable men who held similar qualifications.9

Women's share of non-school educational qualifications has increased from 44.1% in 1996 to 48.3% in May 2006.10

As at May 2006, Certificate and Bachelor degrees were the most common qualifications held by men and women. Men were more likely to hold a Certificate III/IV and women were most likely to hold a Certificate I/II. More women than men held Bachelor degrees. Women were also more likely than men to have been awarded an Advanced or Graduate Diploma and men were more likely than women to hold a postgraduate degree (Figure 5.8).

Figure 5.8: Level of highest non-school qualification by gender, 2006

Source: Education and Work, May 2006, ABS Cat. No. 6227.0, Table 9.

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References

1. Year Book, Australia 2006, ABS Cat. No. 1301.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
2. Schools, Australia, 2005. ABS Cat. No. 4221.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
3. There were changes in 2001 to the categorisation of courses and to the methods of counting student enrolments. It may not be practical to compare figures prior to 2001 with data after that date.
4. Selected Higher Education Statistics, 2005. Department of Education, Science and Training.
5. Department of Education, Science and Training. Unpublished data.
6. A Fair Chance for All: National and Institutional Planning for Equity in Higher Education: A Discussion Paper. Department of Employment, Education and Training and National Board of Employment, Education and Training, February 1990. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.
7. Domestic students excludes overseas students.
8. GradStats, Number 10, December 2005 and Number 11, December 2006.
9. Education and Work, May 2006, ABS Cat. No. 6227.0. Canberra: Australia Bureau of Statistics.
10. Australian Social Trends, 2006, ABS Cat. No. 4102.0 and Education and Work, May 2006, ABS Cat. No. 6227.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.

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Part 6: Women and Leadership 

Summary:

• Women account for 34.3% of all seats on Australian government controlled boards and bodies.
• Women hold 20% of roles of Chair or Deputy Chair on Australian government boards.
• 28.3% of Commonwealth parliamentarians are women.
• In the private sector, 8.7% of board directorships are held by women.
• 6 out of the top 200 Australian companies had female Chief Executive Officers in 2006.
• Women hold 12% of all executive managerial positions in the private sector and 35% of senior executive positions in the public service.

In this part:

• Women in Government
• Private company directors and managers
• Women's leadership by industry group
• References

Women in Government

Commonwealth Parliament

As at 28 November 2006, there were 64 female members of the Commonwealth Parliament. There were 27 women in the Senate and 37 women in the House of Representatives. This brings women's participation in Parliament to 28.3%, rising from 25.4% following the 1998 Federal election and 14% following the 1993 election.1 As yet, there have been no Indigenous female members of the Commonwealth Parliament.2

Australian government boards and bodies

As at 30 June 2006, women occupied 34.3% of positions on Australian government boards and bodies where the Australian Government has total control over the appointment. This represents an increase of 5.4 percentage points since June 1996 (See Figure 6.1). Women held 20% of roles of Chair or Deputy Chair on Australian government boards.3

Figure 6.1: Women on Australian government boards and bodies 1995–96 – 2005–06

Source: APPOINT Report 2006: A statistical analysis of the composition of Australian government boards and bodies 1 July 2005 – 30 June 2006, Office for Women, Table 8.

Women's representation on Australian government boards and bodies varies across government departments (See Figure 6.2). As at 30 June 2006, women's representation on government boards and bodies was over 50% for the Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. The Departments of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Health and Ageing and Human Services all recorded figures over 40%. Three departmental boards and bodies still had representation of women under 20%.

Figure 6.2: Women on Australian government boards and bodies by department, June 2006

Source: APPOINT Report 2006: A statistical analysis of the composition of Australian government boards and bodies 1 July 2005 – 30 June 2006, Office for Women, Table 1.

Australian Public Service

Women now comprise the majority (55.8%) of the Australian Public Service, an increase over 47.7% in 1996.4 Figure 6.3 shows that women's representation at the APS 1–6 levels range from 51.4% (APS 6) to 68.4% (APS 4). Women account for 42.2% of all executive positions and 34.8% of all senior executive positions.4 However, between 1997 and 2006, growth in female representation at the executive and senior executive service levels has been faster than the growth in representation at lower classifications and women's representation at the APS 1–2 levels has declined substantially (Figure 6.4).

Figure 6.3: Employees in the Australian Public Service by classification group and gender, June 2006

Source: State of the Service Report 2005-06, Australian Public Service Commission, Figure 2.7.

Figures are weighted and indexed. Weighting uses the total number of ongoing employees at June 1997 as a base. Weighting eliminates the effects that the change in the overall size of the APS has on representation. The index is given a value of 100 at June 1997, and rises and falls proportionally with the particular group's change in the weighted number over time.

SES1 – SES3 relate to levels of the Senior Executive Service
EL1 and EL2 relate to Executive Levels 1 and 2
Less senior classification levels range from APS1 to APS6.

Figure 6.4: Change in the number of women at selected classifications, weighted and indexed, 1997–2006

Source: State of the Service Report 2005-06, Australian Public Service Commission, Figure 2.8.

Of Indigenous people in the Australian Public Service, 66.3% are women. Indigenous women occupy 36.8% of senior executive service positions held by all Indigenous people. This equates to 0.9% of all women in senior executive service positions in the Australian Public Service. At the APS 1–2 levels, Indigenous women held 63.8% of all positions held by Indigenous people at these levels, representing 4.8% of all women at these levels.5

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Private company directors and managers

Since 2002, the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) has conducted a census to measure the status of women on boards and women executive managers in the nation's top 200 companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). Figure 6.5 shows the status of women in leadership positions as at 1 February 2006.

Figure 6.5: Women in leadership positions in top 200 ASX companies, February 2006

Source: 2006 EOWA Australian Census of Women in Leadership, Figure 1.

Board directors

In 2006, women held 8.7% of board directorships in the top 200 ASX companies (129 seats out of 1,487), a slight improvement over 8.2% in 2004.6 Over the same period, there has also been an increase from 10.2% to 13.5% in the percentage of companies with two or more female board directors and an increase from 7.1% to 12% in the percentage of companies in which women comprise 25% or more of the board. However, there has been a slight decline in the overall representation of women on boards. In 2006, 50% of all companies surveyed had at least one female Board Director, compared to 50.3% in 2004 and 51.5% in 2003.

Executive managers

Women accounted for 12% of all executive managerial positions in the top 200 ASX companies in 2006. This represented a small increase from 11.4% in 2004. The percentage of companies with at least one female Executive Manager slightly increased from 59.4% in 2004 to 60.5% in 2006. More companies had two or more women Executive Managers in 2006 (30%) than in 2004 (26.4%).

Chief Executive Officers

In 2006, there were six female Chief Executive Officers in the nation's top ASX 200 companies.

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Women's leadership by industry group

Figure 6.6 shows the percentage representation of women on boards and female executive managers by industry group for the top ASX 200 companies. The telecommunications services, retailing, consumer services, banks, and insurance industries have the highest percentages of female Executive Managers and female Board Directors. The automobiles and components, commercial services and supplies, and capital goods industries all have fewer than 5% female Board Directors and low representations of female executive managers.

Figure 6.6: Female Board Directors and Executive Managers for Australia's top 200 ASX companies by industry group, 2006

Source: 2006 EOWA Australian Census of Women in Leadership, Figures 14 & 15.

References

1. Parliament of Australia, Parliamentary Library. (http://www.aph.gov.au/library/), viewed 28/11/2006.
2. Australian Electoral Commission. History of the Indigenous Vote, AEC, August 2006.
3. APPOINT Report 2006: A statistical analysis of the composition of Australian Government Boards and Bodies 1 July 2005 – 30 June 2006. Office for Women, Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.
4. State of the Service Report 2004–05 & 2005–06. Australian Public Service Commission.
5. Australian Public Service Commission. Statistical Tables, 2006.
6. 2006 EOWA Australian Census of Women in Leadership. North Sydney: Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workforce Agency.

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Part 7: Women and Crime 

Summary:

• Domestic violence is the leading contributor to death, disability and illness in Victorian women under the age of 45 years.
• In 2002-03, domestic violence was estimated to cost the Australian economy $8 billion each year.
• At least 1 in 17 women is a victim of violence each year.
• Fewer women reported being assaulted than 10 years ago.
• Women are mostly assaulted at home, often repeatedly, by a man they know.
• Women often talk to family or friends about the violence they are experiencing rather than go to the police or a support agency.
• Women tend not to report assault because victims trivialise the incident or fear retaliation from the offender.
• However, more women are reporting violence to police than 10 years ago.
• Many people still believe that men are biologically driven to rape and female victims 'ask for it'.
• An increasing number of people believe that men and women equally commit domestic violence.
• The number of female prisoners is increasing at a faster rate than male prisoners and for the more serious violent crimes.

In this part:

• Violence against women
• Perceptions of safety
• Attitudes and beliefs about domestic violence
• Other crimes against women
• Female prisoners
• References

Violence against women

How many women experience violence?

It is difficult to estimate the true prevalence rate of violence against women as definitions and methods of data collection vary between jurisdictions, agencies, and surveys.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics' national Crime and Safety Survey,1 which measures the extent of crime in our community, estimated that about 5% of Australian women had experienced assault at least once in the prior year.

The Australian component of the 2004 International Violence Against Women Survey2 showed that 57% of women reported some level of physical and/or sexual harm over their life course (that is, since the age of 16 years). Nine percent of women reported experiencing sexual violence only, 23% reported experiencing physical violence only, and 25% of women experienced both types of violence either in the same incident or on separate occasions. The survey found that one in ten women reported experiencing physical and/or sexual harm during the last twelve months.

The 2005 Australian Bureau of Statistics' Personal Safety Survey, funded by the Australian Government, gathered information about the physical and sexual violence experiences of men and women aged 18 years or more.3 Nearly 3.1 million women (39.9%) reported having experienced physical or sexual violence at least once since the age of 15. A total of 443,800 women (5.8%) had experienced violence in the 12 months prior to the survey. Therefore, at least two in five women have experienced violence at some stage in their lives and at least one in 17 women are victims of violence each year.

Indigenous women report experiencing higher levels of violence than non- Indigenous women. Results from the Australian component of the International Violence Against Women Survey showed that about 7% of non-Indigenous women reported experiencing physical violence in the previous 12 months, compared to 20% of Indigenous women. Indigenous women were three times more likely than non-Indigenous women to be sexually assaulted.

Figure 7.1 shows that in 2005, more women reported experiencing physical violence (4.7%) than sexual violence (1.6%). Younger women were more at risk of violence than older women. This is true for both physical and sexual violence, although the decline with age is greater for sexual violence than for physical violence (see Figure 7.1). Among younger women aged between 18 and 24 years in 2005, just over one in 10 was physically assaulted in the prior year. Women in this age group were four times more likely to be physically assaulted and eight times more likely to be sexually assaulted than their older counterparts (45 years and over).

* As a proportion of all women in each age group.

Violence includes physical and sexual assault and threat.

Has violence against women decreased over time?

The results from the 2005 Personal Safety Survey are comparable to the 1996 Australian Bureau of Statistics' Women's Safety Survey.4 Figure 7.2 shows that the proportion of women who reported being the victim of violence over a 12-month period dropped. Specifically, there were 46,600 fewer women reporting that they were victims of violence the year prior to 2006 relative to the year prior to 1996. However, the decrease in the reporting of physical violence was larger than the decrease in the reporting of sexual violence.

Figure 7.2: Women's experience of violence during the last 12 months, 1996 and 2005

Source: Personal Safety Survey, Australia, 2005 (Reissue), ABS Cat. No. 4906.0, Table 5.

Violence includes physical and sexual assault and threat.

As shown in Figure 7.3, the decrease in the reporting rate of violence was largely due to a fall in the number of women aged between 18 and 34 years who reported having been the victim of physical violence. These results are encouraging given that these age groups represented the highest risk in 1996. However, there was an increase in the number of women aged 45 years and over who reported experiencing physical or sexual violence.

Figure 7.3: Women's experience of violence during the last 12 months by age, 1996 and 2005

Source: Personal Safety Survey, Australia, 2005 (Reissue), ABS Cat. No. 4906.0, Table 6.

Violence includes physical and sexual assault and threat.

Who assaults women?

Men are the perpetrators in the majority of assault against men and women, and women tend to be physically and sexually assaulted by men they know. Men are most likely to be assaulted by a male stranger.3 Figure 7.4 shows that assault by partners, especially by previous partners, is the most common form of physical violence against Australian women. Findings from the Personal Safety Survey showed that women are over two and a half times more likely to ever be physically assaulted by a male partner than men are to ever be physically assaulted by a female partner. The next most common form of physical violence against women is assault by family members or friends.

Figure 7.4: Male perpetrator of current and lifetime physical and sexual assault against women

Source: Personal Safety Survey, Australia, 2005 (Reissue), ABS Cat. No. 4906.0, Tables 16 & 19.

* Other known person(s) includes acquaintance or neighbour, counsellor or psychologist, psychiatrist, ex-boyfriend, doctor, teacher, minister or priest or clergy, prison officer and other known person.

**May not add up to 100% as a person may have experienced assault by more than one perpetrator type.

Current physical and sexual assault relates to any occurrence in the last 12 months and lifetime physical and sexual assault refers to any incident since the age of 15.

On the other hand, women are least likely to be sexually assaulted by intimate partners. Nonetheless, over the 12 months prior to the Personal Safety Survey, about one in five women reported being sexually assaulted by their previous partner. Women are most at risk of sexual assault from family and friends and other people known to them outside of their family and friendship networks. Women are also at a higher risk of being sexually assaulted than physically assaulted by a stranger.

Characteristics of offences

Location of assault

Most physical assaults against women occur at home. The next most common place for women to be physically assaulted is in the workplace (See Figure 7.5). Women are least likely to be physically assaulted in a private vehicle, using public transport, and at a train station, bus stop or interchange. Men are most likely to be assaulted at an entertainment venue or in an open area.1

Figure 7.5: Location of most recent physical assault by male perpetrator, 2005

Source: Personal Safety Survey, Australia, 2005 (Reissue), ABS Cat. No. 4906.0, Table 15.

Other location includes in a private vehicle, using public transport, in an institution, at a sporting venue and other locations.

* As a proportion of all men and all women who had been physically assaulted by a male perpetrator.

Multiple incidents of assault

The results of the 2005 Crime and Safety Survey showed the majority of women who were victims of assault reported multiple incidents in the prior year. Over this one-year period, 43.4% of women who reported being the victim of assault reported experiencing one incident of assault, 19.2% reported two and 37.4% reported three or more incidents. It has been argued that the strongest predictor of subsequent victimisation is prior victimisation5 and the likelihood of on-going victimisation increases with each subsequent incident.6

The involvement of drugs and alcohol

Figure 7.6 shows that the use of alcohol and/or drugs by either the perpetrator or the victim has a strong involvement with physical and sexual assault against women. Findings from the 2005 Personal Safety Survey showed that alcohol was involved in assaults against women more frequently than drug use, but drugs were involved in physical assault more than sexual assault, whereas the opposite was true for alcohol.

Figure 7.6: The involvement of alcohol and drugs in physical and sexual assault

Source: Personal Safety Survey, Australia, 2005, Data available on request.

The number of assailants

The majority of physical attacks against women involve one perpetrator, although multiple offenders attack a substantial number of women. The 2005 Crime and Safety Survey1 reported that 16% of assaults of women involved two or more offenders and the results of the 2004 International Crime Victimisation Survey7 showed that 15% of women were attacked by two offenders and 14% of incidents of violence against women involved three or more offenders.

The use of weapons

Estimates of the proportion of assaults against women with a weapon range from 11.3%1 to 17%.7 Household objects were most often used as weapons. Smaller numbers of assaults involved the use of knives, guns and syringes/hypodermic needles.

Physical injuries sustained

Estimates of the proportion of female physical assault victims who sustained an injury during the attack also vary across surveys (See Table 7.1). The most common type of injury is bruising. Other injuries include cuts, scratches, and burns, and about one in 10 women sustain broken bones, broken noses, and internal injuries. About one-quarter of injured women require medical attention.2

* During the last 12 months where the perpetrator was male.

The proportion of women who had experienced physical assault since the age of 15 by a male perpetrator and had reported being physically injured was 59.1%.

Perceptions of criminality

Despite the seriousness of these incidents, the majority of women (52.5%) who were physically assaulted by a man in the 12 months prior to the 2005 Personal Safety Survey did not perceive the incident to be a crime. The proportion of women who did not perceive physical assault to be a crime increased to 73.1% when the offender was another woman.

Reporting to police

During 2004–05, 33.3% of all physical violence and 17.8% of all sexual violence perpetrated by men against women were reported to police. Although small, these figures represent an increase over the number of reports in 1996 (Figure 7.7). Women were more likely to tell a friend or a neighbour about the violence than to report it to the authorities.

Figure 7.7: Police reporting rates for physical and sexual violence, 1996 and 2005

Source: Personal Safety Survey, Australia, 2005, data available on request.

Violence includes physical and sexual assault and threat. Totals may not add to 100% as women may have reported assault to police and to a family member, friend, and/or neighbour.

The likelihood of women reporting violence to police depends upon the type of incident and the perpetrator (Figure 7.8). Women were more likely to report physical than sexual violence, with the exception of sexual violence by a boyfriend or date, which was the most frequently reported sexual violence. Reporting rates were highest for physical violence by previous partner, followed by physical violence by other known persons. Conversely, sexual violence perpetrated by these groups of men was less likely to be reported. Across all acts of violence, reporting rates were lowest for physical and sexual violence perpetrated by current partners.

Figure 7.8: Police reporting rates for physical and sexual assault by relationship to perpetrator, 2005

Source: Personal Safety Survey, Australia, 2005, (Reissue) ABS Cat. No. 4906.0, Table 7.

Estimates for sexual violence by a stranger and boyfriend/date have a relative standard error of 25% to 50% and should be used with caution and sexual violence not shown as reporting rates for current partner are nil or rounded to zero.

The main reasons why women did not report assaults to police are shown in Figure 7.9. A high proportion of women felt that the incident was not sufficiently serious to warrant police involvement. Substantial numbers of women reported that they solved the matters themselves. Nearly one in 20 women said that they did not report the assault for fear of retaliation by the offender. The results of the 2004 International Violence Against Women Survey indicated that fear of retaliation by the offender was the strongest deterrent to reporting partner violence. Women who were attacked with a weapon and/or sustained an injury during the assault were also less likely to report the incidents to police for fear of retaliation.

Figure 7.9: Reasons why assaults not reported by women to police, 2005

Source: Crime and Safety Survey, 2005, ABS Cat. No. 4509.0, Table 14.

Services accessed

As with the use of the criminal justice system, the use of other services by women who experienced violence was very low. According to the results of the 2004 International Violence Against Women Survey, only 16% of women who were victimised by an intimate partner and 9% of women who experienced non-partner violence contacted a specialised agency. The Personal Safety Survey showed that although victimised women's usage of specialised agencies was low, utilisation rates for crisis services and legal assistance have increased since 1996 (Figure 7.10).

Figure 7.10: Female victims of assault by male perpetrator – services accessed in the last 12 months, 1996 and 2005

Source: Crime and Safety Survey, 2005, ABS Cat. No. 4509.0, data available on request.

Instead of contacting specialised agencies, women are more likely to speak to someone close to them about the violence. The majority of female victims of assault surveyed in the Crime and Safety Survey sought support from family members, friends or neighbours, and work colleagues after the incident (Figure 7.11). Results from the International Violence Against Women Survey are consistent with these findings, irrespective of the perpetrator of the violence (Figure 7.12). However, women who experienced intimate partner violence were less likely than other victims to speak to someone else about the incident.

Figure 7.11: Female victims of assault – type of support sought after recent incident

Source: Crime and Safety Survey, Australia, 2005, ABS Cat. No. 4509.0, Table 12.

Totals may not add to 100% as more than one type of support may have been sought.

Figure 7.12: Person women spoke to after most recent incident of non-partner and intimate partner violence

Source: Mouzos, J. & Makkai, T. (2005). Women's experiences of male violence: Findings from the Australian component of the International Violence Against Women Survey (IVAWS), Australian Institute of Criminology Research and Public Policy Series, No. 56, Table 18.

Totals may not add to 100% as women may have spoken to more than one person.

The costs of violence

Health costs

The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health8,9 has provided strong evidence to suggest that the health damaging effects of domestic violence go well beyond any immediate or short-term injury. Women who have ever experienced partner violence rate their health as poorer than others, even after the abuse has ended. Longer-term physical symptoms of domestic violence include pain and fatigue, allergies and respiratory disorders, bowel problems, and eyesight and hearing difficulties. Partner violence has been associated with a larger number of stressful life events and higher stress levels, fear, depression, anxiety, increased use of psychoactive medication, suicidal thoughts, and deliberate self-harm. There are also some behavioural correlates of partner violence, such as cigarette smoking and hazardous alcohol use.

Domestic violence also has serious consequences for reproductive health.10 Partner violence is strongly associated with early sexual intercourse, early, unwanted and unplanned pregnancies, and adverse pregnancy outcomes. For example, abused women are more likely than other women to have miscarriages and/or abortions, pre-term babies or a stillbirth. Compared to women with no history of violence, women who have experienced violence are more likely to contract a sexually transmitted infection, to have gynaecological symptoms and abnormal Pap smears and a higher risk for cervical cancer.

Domestic violence shows a strong relationship to homicide for female victims, but not for male victims. During 2003–04, the majority (52%) of female homicides were intimate partner homicides and other family members killed 23% of female victims.11 During 2003–04, there were 71 intimate partner homicides, representing 25% of all homicides for that year. The majority involved a man killing his female partner. A prior history of domestic violence was recorded in 31 of the 71 intimate partner homicides (44%). However, this figure could actually be higher given the low reporting rates of domestic violence. Thirty–five percent of women killed by intimate partners were beaten to death.

Clearly, the health costs of domestic violence are high. Therefore, it is not surprising that VicHealth found that intimate partner violence is the leading contributor to death, disability and illness in Victorian women under the age of 45 years. This form of violence against women is responsible for more of the disease burden than many other well-known risk factors such as obesity, smoking and high blood pressure.12

Economic costs

In Australia in 2001–02, assault and sexual assault were the two most costly crimes after fraud and homicide.13 Accounting for medical costs, lost output, and the costs of pain, suffering and lost quality of life, the total costs of assault and sexual assault were $1,800 and $2,500 per incident respectively. Costs were substantially higher for injury than non-injury assaults.

A more thorough and detailed study commissioned by the Australian Government estimated that the total cost of domestic violence to the Australian economy in 2002–03 was $8.1 billion. The annual cost per victim who had ever suffered domestic violence was $4,570. Table 7.2 shows the types of costs incurred. At a total cost of $3.5 billion, pain, suffering and premature mortality accounted for nearly half the total cost of domestic violence. The next largest contributor was consumption costs, which includes the costs associated with property replacement, bad debts and lost household economies of scale.

Source: Access Economics Pty Ltd (2004). The cost of domestic violence to the Australian economy: Part 1, Table 1.

The study also found that women bore the majority of the costs of domestic violence, followed by government (See Table 7.3). The Australian Government carried the largest burden of government costs. However, the share of costs borne by all governments was approximately a third of the costs borne by women.

Source: Access Economics Pty Ltd (2004). The cost of domestic violence to the Australian economy: Part 1, Table 2. Totals add to 8,079, but shown as 8,078 in source report

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Perceptions of safety

Women's fear of violence is more widespread than recent experiences of harm. A Parliamentary Committee Report in July 200414 showed that the factor most consistently and strongly related to fear of crime and violence was being a woman.

There have been several recent surveys that measured Australians' perceptions of safety, such as the 2005 National Crime and Safety Survey, the 2004 International Crime Victimisation Survey, and the 2005 Personal Safety Survey. The Personal Safety Survey found that 40.3% of women reported feeling unsafe while walking alone or with someone else in their local area at night. Over a quarter (26.3%) of women felt unsafe using public transport after dark. However, women felt safer being alone after dark in 2005 relative to 1996. In 2005, 29.3% of women felt safe walking alone in their local area at night, up from 22.3% in 1996. In 1996, 10.5% of women felt safe using public transport after dark and this increased to 15.1% in 2005.

The International Crime Victims Survey showed that in comparison to men, women are more than twice as likely to report feeling a bit unsafe and four times more likely to report feeling very unsafe walking alone in the local area after dark (Figure 7.13). Women are less likely than men to feel very safe and are nearly four times more likely to report feeling very unsafe when using public transport at night (Figure 7.14). The 2005 National Crime and Safety Survey found that even when at home alone, women reported feeling less safe than men both during the day and after dark (Figures 7.15 and 7.16).

Figure 7.13: Feelings of safety walking alone in the local area after dark by gender, 2004

Source: Johnson, H. (2005). Crime victimisation in Australia: Key results of the 2004 International Crime Victimisation Survey. Australian Institute of Criminology Research and Public Policy Series No. 64, Figure 10.

Figure 7.14: Feelings of safety using public transport after dark by gender, 2004

Source: Johnson, H. (2005). Crime victimisation in Australia: Key results of the 2004 International Crime Victimisation Survey. Australian Institute of Criminology Research and Public Policy Series No. 64, Figure 11.

Figure 7.15: Feelings of safety at home alone after dark by gender, 2005

Source: Crime and Safety Survey, Australia, 2005, ABS Cat. No. 4509.0, Table 17.

Figure 7.16: Feelings of safety at home alone during the day by gender, 2005

Source: Crime and Safety Survey, Australia, 2005, ABS Cat. No. 4509.0, Table 16.

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Attitudes and beliefs about domestic violence

VicHealth recently surveyed Victorians' attitudes and beliefs about domestic violence.15 The results of that survey are comparable to a 1995 community attitudes survey conducted by the Australian Government.16

Recognition of behaviours as violence

Table 7.4 shows that physical forms of abuse were more recognisable as violence than non-physical forms of abuse, such as verbal and emotional abuse and controlling behaviours. However, compared to 1995, in 2006, more people believed those behaviours were domestic violence. There has also been an increase in the number of people who believe that forcing a partner to have sex and throwing or smashing objects are always violent behaviours.

Source: VicHealth (2006). Two steps forward, one step back. Community attitudes to violence against women. Progress and challenges in creating safe, respectful and healthy environments for Victorian women: A summary of findings of the Violence Against Women Community Attitudes Project, Table 3.

N/A=Question not asked

† = Differences in the proportions responding 'yes' between the 1995 and 2006 samples were statistically significant at p<.01

Respondents were also asked how serious those behaviours were. Most believed that they were either 'quite serious' or 'very serious', but physical violence was perceived as more serious than verbal and emotional abuse and controlling behaviours. Women were more likely than men to believe the behaviours were serious. More people believed that throwing and smashing objects to frighten one's partner and repeatedly criticising one's partner were very serious in 2006 than in 1995. However, they were less likely to identify as very serious slapping or pushing one's partner to cause harm and fear and controlling one's partner by denying them money.

Understanding of violence as a crime

There is widespread agreement that domestic violence and forced sex within an intimate relationship are criminal offences. The proportion of people believing that domestic violence is a crime was greater in 2006 than in 1995. In 2006, one in 20 people still believed that forced sex in an intimate relationship is not criminal rape and 2% were unsure (Table 7.5).

Source: VicHealth (2006). Two steps forward, one step back. Community attitudes to violence against women. Progress and challenges in creating safe, respectful and healthy environments for Victorian women: A summary of findings of the Violence Against Women Community Attitudes Project, Table 4.

N/A = Question not asked

† = Differences in the proportions responding 'yes' between the 1995 and 2006 samples were statistically significant at p<.01

Understanding of who perpetrates violence

The majority of people understood that it is mainly men who commit domestic violence (77%). Slightly more women (81%) than men (73%) believed this. However, despite evidence to the contrary, one in five Victorians believed men and women equally commit domestic violence and men were significantly more likely than women to hold this view. The number of people who believed that domestic violence is perpetrated equally by men and women increased significantly since 1995 (9%).

Justifications and excuses for violence

Almost all Victorians surveyed in 2006 agreed that violence could not be justified in any of the situations described in Table 7.6, but a small minority still believed violence is appropriate under certain circumstances. This was especially true for the scenario in which a current partner admits to having sex with another man, with 4% agreeing that violence is justified in this instance and an additional 3% unsure.

Source: VicHealth (2006). Two steps forward, one step back. Community attitudes to violence against women. Progress and challenges in creating safe, respectful and healthy environments for Victorian women: A summary of findings of the Violence Against Women Community Attitudes Project, Table 7. Some rows do not add to 100% in source report.

Many people agreed that violence could be excused (Table 7.7). Almost two in five Victorians believed the claim that women are raped because men cannot control their sexual urges. Despite little evidence to support this claim,17 more men than women held this view. Nearly one in four Victorians also believed that domestic violence is excusable because men have poor anger control and/or when the violent person genuinely regrets afterwards what they have done.

Most Victorians agreed that the effects of alcohol could not excuse domestic violence or sexual assault, although nearly one in 10 people agreed that domestic violence could be excused if either the victim or the offender was affected by alcohol. Furthermore, Victorians believed that violence accompanied with alcohol was more excusable for domestic violence than for sexual assault.

Blaming the victim

In 2006, over one in 20 Victorians (6%) believed that women who are raped often ask for it. This was a smaller proportion than in 1995 (15%). Surprisingly, 15% agreed that women often say no to sex when they mean yes, down from 18% in 1995. A further 8% were unsure about whether they agreed or disagreed with this assertion. Although there was less support in 2006 than in 1995 for the attribution of blame for sexual violence to women, there remains a pocket in the population that believes that women are responsible for the sexual violence that is perpetrated against them.

Source: VicHealth (2006). Two steps forward, one step back. Community attitudes to violence against women. Progress and challenges in creating safe, respectful and healthy environments for Victorian women: A summary of findings of the Violence Against Women Community Attitudes Project, Table 8.

Perceptions of false allegations

Despite evidence to suggest that the rate of false reporting of rape and domestic violence is low,17 nearly one-quarter of Victorians disagreed with the statement that women rarely make false claims of being raped. Nearly half of respondents (46%) believed that women going through custody battles often make up or exaggerate claims of domestic violence to improve their case. An additional 25% were unsure about this.

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Other crimes against women

Other 'offences against the person' include murder, attempted murder, driving causing death, kidnapping/abduction, robbery, and blackmail and extortion. With the exception of kidnapping/abduction, men are more likely than women to be victims of crime (Table 7.8).

After physical and sexual assault, robbery is the most common offence against women. Younger women are more likely than older women to be a victim of crime.

Source: Recorded Crime, Victims, 2005 & 1996, ABS Cat. No. 4510.0, Table 2.

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Female prisoners

In Australia, the prison population is made up predominantly of men. As at 30 June 2005 there were 1,734 women incarcerated, in comparison to 23,619 men. Over one quarter (28%) of female prisoners were Indigenous women. Between 1995 and 2005, the imprisonment rate has increased at a faster rate for women (82.5%) than for men (25%) (See Table 7.9).

As well as increasing in number, the composition of women in prison since 1996 has changed (Figure 7.17).

Source: Australian Social Trends, 2004, ABS Cat. No. 4102.0 and Prisoners in Australia, 2005, ABS Cat. No. 4517.0, Tables 1 & 4.

Figure 7.17: Female prisoners by most serious offence, 1996 and 2005

Source: Prisoners in Australia, 2005, ABS Cat. No. 4517.0, Table 13.

Data for all offences for 1995 not available, thus figures for 1996 presented.

Women imprisoned for the more serious violent offences, such as homicide, acts intended to cause injury and sexual assault, as well as theft, made up a larger proportion of female prisoners in 2005 than in 1996.

The female prisoner population tends to be relatively young. In 2005, 57.6% of women in prison were aged 34 years or younger and 85% were aged between 18 and 44 years (See Figure 7.18). Indigenous female prisoners were much younger than non-Indigenous female prisoners.

Figure 7.18: Female prisoners by age and Indigenous status, 2005

Source: Prisoners in Australia, 2005, ABS Cat. No. 4517.0, Table 5.

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References

1. Crime and Safety, Australia, ABS Cat. No. 4509.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
2. Mouzos, J. & Makkai, T. (2004). Women's experiences of male violence: Findings from the Australian component of the International Violence Against Women Survey (IVAWS). Australian Institute of Criminology, Research and Public Policy Series No. 56. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.
3. Personal Safety Survey, Australia, 2005 (Reissue), ABS Cat. No. 4906.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
4. Women's Safety, Australia, 1996, ABS Cat. No. 4128.0. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
5. Pease, K. (1998). Repeat victimisation: Taking stock. Crime Detection and Prevention Series, Paper 90, London: Home Office.
6. Ellingworth, D., Farrell, G., & Pease, K. (1995). 'A victim is a victim is a victim? Chronic victimisation in four sweeps of the British Crime Survey'. British Journal of Criminology, 35, (3), 360–365.
7. Johnson, H. (2005). Crime victimisation in Australia: Key Results from the 2004 International Crime Victimisation Survey. Australian Institute of Criminology Research and Public Policy Series, No. 64. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.
8. Partner violence and the health of Australian women. The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health research highlights – the first decade, 2005.
9. Loxton, D, Schofield, M, Hussain, R., & Mishra, G. (2006). History of domestic violence and physical health in mid-life. Violence Against Women, 12, (8), 715–731.
10. Taft, A., Watson, L., & Lee, C. (2003). Violence against young women and reproductive health. Report commissioned by the Australian Government Office of the Status of Women.
11. Mouzos, J. (2005). Homicide in Australia: 2003–2004 National Homicide Monitoring Program (NHMP) Annual Report. Australian Institute of Criminology Research and Public Policy Series No. 66. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.
12. VicHealth (2004). The health costs of violence: Measuring the burden of disease caused by intimate partner violence. A summary of findings. Carlton South: Victorian Health Promotion Foundation.
13. Mayhew, P. (2003). Counting the costs of crime in Australia. Australian Institute of Criminology Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice, No. 247. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.
14. Parliamentary inquiry into crime in the community: Victims, offenders and fear of crime, Volume One. House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, July 2004.
15. VicHealth (2006). Two steps forward, one step back. Community attitudes to violence against women. Progress and challenges in creating safe, respectful and healthy environments for Victorian women: A summary of findings of the Violence Against Women Community Attitudes Project.
16. Community attitudes to violence against women: detailed report, 1995. Canberra: Office of the Status of Women, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
17. See literature review in VicHealth (2006). Two steps forward, one step back. Community attitudes to violence against women. Progress and challenges in creating safe, respectful and healthy environments for Victorian women: A summary of findings of the Violence Against Women Community Attitudes Project.

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Glossary 

Acts intended to cause injury – Acts, excluding attempted murder and those resulting in death, which are intended to cause non-fatal injury or harm to another person and where there is no sexual or acquisitive element.

Age-specific crude divorce rates – the number of divorces recorded in a calendar year, by age at decree made absolute, to the married population of the same age at 30 June. Those classified as permanently separated are included in the married population. Males and females under 15 years are excluded from the population.

Age-specific death rates – The number of deaths (occurred or registered) during the calendar year at a specified age per 1,000 of the estimated resident population of the same age at 30 June.

Age-specific fertility rates – The number of live births (occurred or registered) during the calendar year, according to the age of the mother, per 1,000 of the female estimated resident population of the same age at 30 June.

Age-specific first marriage rates – The number of first time marriages of men or women registered in a calendar year, by age at marriage, per 1,000 never married population of men or women of the same age at 30 June. Men and women aged under 15 years are excluded from the population. Calculation of this rate requires a disaggregation of the population by marital status. Estimates of the population by marital status were last calculated as at 30 June 2001.

Age standardisation – Used to allow the comparison of populations with different age structures. A standard age composition is used to produce the age standardised estimate or proportion which would have prevailed at another point in time or other geographic area should the actual population have the standard age composition.

Alcohol consumption risk level – Self-reported average daily consumption of alcohol was grouped into relative risk levels as defined by the National Health and Medical Research Council as follows:

Apparent retention rate – This is the number of school students in a designated level/year of education expressed as a percentage of their respective cohort group (which is either at the commencement of their secondary schooling or Year 10). Apparent retention rates are generally calculated for full-time students who continued to Year 12 of secondary school.

Apprentice – a person who has entered into a legal contract with an employer, to serve a period of training for the purpose of attaining tradesperson status in a recognised trade.

Arthritis – Arthri^tis is characterised by an inflammation of the joints often resulting in pain, stiffness, disability and deformity.

Assault – An incident, other than a robbery, where a person was threatened with force or violence or physically attacked.

Asthma – A chronic disease marked by episodes of wheezing, chest tightness and shortness of breath associated with widespread narrowing of the airways within the lungs and obstruction of airflow.

Average – the mean obtained by adding several quantities together and dividing the sum by the number of quantities.

Average weekly earnings – Average gross (before tax) earnings of employees and do not relate to average award rates nor to the earnings of the 'average person'. Estimates of average weekly earnings are derived by dividing estimates of weekly total earnings by estimates of number of employees.

Body Mass Index (BMI) – Calculated from reported height and weight information, using the formula weight (kg) divided by the square of height (m). BMI values were grouped according to the following categories according to World Health Organization and National Health and Medical Research Council guidelines.

Carer – A person of any age who provides any informal assistance, in terms of help or supervision, to people with disabilities or long term conditions, or to elderly people (i.e. aged 60 years and over). This assistance has to be ongoing, for at least six months. Assistance to a person in a different household relates to 'everyday types of activities', without specific information on the activities. Where the care recipient lives in the same household, the assistance is for one or more of the following activities:

• cognition or emotion
• communication
• health care
• housework
• meal preparation
• mobility
• paperwork
• property maintenance
• self care
• transport.

Cerebrovascular disease – Any disorder of the blood vessels supplying the brain or its covering membranes. A notable and major form of cerebrovascular disease is stroke.

Child – A person of any age who is a natural, adopted, step or foster son or daughter of a couple or lone parent, usually resident in the same household, and who does not have a child or partner of their own usually resident in the household. A child is also any individual under 15 years, usually resident in the household, who forms a parent-child relationship with another member in the household. This includes otherwise related children aged under 15 years and unrelated children aged under 15 years.

Completion – in Department of Education, Science and Training collections, the successful completion of all the academic requirements of a course which includes any required attendance, assignments, examinations, assessments, dissertations, practical experience and work experience in industry.

Couple family – A family based on two people who are in a registered or de facto marriage and who are usually resident in the same household. The family may include any number of dependents, non-dependents and other related individuals. It is not necessary for a parent-child relationship to be formed, thus a couple family can consist of a couple without children in the household.

Crude death rate – The number of deaths registered during a calendar year per 1,000 estimated resident population of the same age at 30 June. For years prior to 1992, the crude death rate was based on the mean estimated resident population for the calendar year.

Crude divorce rate – The number of decrees absolute granted during the calendar year per 1,000 estimated resident population at 30 June. For years prior to 1992, the crude divorce rate was based on the mean estimated resident population of the calendar year.

Crude marriage rate – The number of marriages registered during the calendar year per 1,000 estimated resident population as at 30 June. For years prior to 1992, the crude marriage rate was based on the mean estimated resident population for the calendar year.

Current daily smoker – An adult who reported that they regularly smoked one or more cigarettes, cigars or pipes per day.

Data available on request – As well as the statistics included in its publications, the Australian Bureau of Statistics may have provided other relevant data.

De facto marriage – The relationship between two people who live together in a consensual union who are not registered as married to each other. A de facto marriage may exist between a couple of the opposite sex or of the same sex.

Diabetes mellitus – A chronic condition in which blood glucose levels become too high due to the body producing little or no insulin, or not using insulin properly.

Domestic violence – Sometimes referred to as intimate partner violence, family violence, or relationship violence, refers to violence occurring between people who are, or were formerly, in an intimate relationship.

Employed – All persons aged 15 years and over who, during the reference week:

• worked for one hour or more for pay, profit, commission or payment in kind in a job or business, or on a farm (comprising employees, employers and own account workers); or
• worked for one hour or more without pay in a family business or on a farm (i.e. contributing family workers); or
• were employees who had a job but were not at work and were:
  • away from work for less than four weeks up to the end of the reference week; or
  • away from work for more than four weeks up to the end of the reference week and received pay for some or all of the four week period to the end of the reference week; or
  • away from work as a standard work or shift arrangement; or
  • on strike or locked out; or
  • on workers' compensation and expected to return to their job; or
• were employers or own account workers, who had a job, business or farm, but were not at work.

Employed full-time – People who usually work 35 or more hours per week in all jobs and those who, although usually work less than 35 hours per week, worked 35 hours or more per week in the reference week.

Employed part-time – People who usually work less than 35 hours per week in all jobs and either did so during the reference week or were not at work during the reference week.

Estimated resident population – A measure of all people, regardless of nationality or citizenship, who usually live in Australia, with the exception of foreign diplomatic personnel and their families. It includes usual residents who are overseas for less than 12 months. It excludes overseas visitors who are in Australia for less than 12 months.

Exercise level – Based on frequency, intensity (i.e. walking, moderate exercise and vigorous exercise) and duration of exercise (for recreation, sport or fitness) in the two weeks prior to the survey. From these components, an exercise score was derived using factors to represent the intensity of the exercise. Scores were grouped into the following four categories:

Exnuptial births – Births where the mother was not registered as married at the time of the birth. Exnuptial births include those where the parents were living together in a de facto relationship at the time of the birth.

Family – Two or more people, one of whom is at least 15 years of age, who are related by blood, marriage (registered or de facto), adoption, step or fostering; and who are usually resident in the same household.

First marriage rates – The number of men or women marrying for the first time during the calendar year, per 1,000 population of never married men or women aged 15 years and over at 30 June. Calculation of this rate requires a disaggregation of the population by marital status. Estimates of the population by marital status were last calculated as at 30 June 2001.

Group household – A household consisting of two or more unrelated people aged 15 years and over.

Health risk factors – Features or exposures that are associated with a greater risk of ill health in an individual.

Heart, stroke and vascular conditions – A subset of reported long-term conditions comprising angina and other ischaemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, oedema and heart failure, and diseases of arteries, arterioles and capillaries.

Homicide and related offences – The unlawful killing, attempted unlawful killing or conspiracy to kill another person.

Household – A person living alone or a group of related or unrelated people who usually reside together and have common provision for food and other essentials of living.

Indigenous – People who identify themselves as being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin.

Indigenous birth – The birth of a live-born child where either the mother or father was identified as being of Indigenous or Torres Strait Islander origin on the birth registration form.

Industry – An industry is a group of businesses or organisations that perform similar sets of activities in terms of the production of goods and services. Industry is classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 1993 (ABS Cat. No. 1292.0). The industry assigned to an employed person is the industry of the organisation in which the person's main job is located. Unemployed people who had worked for two weeks or more in the last two years are classified according to the industry of their most recent job.

Intimate partner violence – Sometimes referred to as domestic violence, family violence, or relationship violence, refers to violence occurring between people who are, or were formerly, in an intimate relationship.

Involvement of alcohol or drugs – In the most recent incident of sexual assault, threatened sexual assault, physical assault and/or threatened or attempted physical assault. Alcohol or drugs were involved if the victim or the perpetrator were under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the incident or if the person believed alcohol or drugs contributed to the incident, for example, when the perpetrator was recovering from a hangover or the victim believed that their drink had been spiked.

Ischaemic heart disease – A disease of the blood vessels supplying the heart muscle.

Labour force – For any group, people who were employed or unemployed.

Labour force participation rate – for any group, the number of people in the labour force expressed as a percentage of the civilian population aged 15 and over in the same group.

Labour force status – A classification of the civilian population aged 15 years and over into employed, unemployed or not in the labour force.

Level of highest educational attainment – Refers to the highest achievement a person has attained in any area of study. It is not a measurement of the relative importance of different types of study but a ranking of qualifications and other educational attainments regardless of the particular area of study or the type of institution in which the study was undertaken.

Life expectancy at birth – the average number of years a person can expect to live according to the death rate as calculated at the time of birth.

Lone parent – Is a person with no spouse or partner present in the household but who has a parent-child relationship with at least one dependent or non-dependent child usually resident in the household.

Long term medical condition – A medical condition (illness, injury or disability) which has lasted at least six months or more. Some reported conditions were assumed to be long term, including asthma, arthritis, cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes, rheumatic heart disease, heart disease, heart attack and stroke.

Managerial employees – Employees who are in charge of a significant number of employees and/or have strategic responsibilities in the conduct or operations of the organisation, and usually do not have an entitlement to paid overtime. Includes professionally qualified staff who primarily perform managerial tasks in conjunction with utilising their professional skills. Working proprietors and working directors of their own incorporated businesses are regarded as managerial employees.

Marital status – A person's social marital status refers to their current living arrangements, that is, whether or not they are living with another person in a couple relationship either in a registered marriage or a de facto marriage. A person's registered marital status refers to their status in relation to a legally registered marriage as either never married, currently married, separated, divorced or widowed. Some people who are not living with their partner may still report their marital status as currently registered married rather than separated.

Maternal death – The death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of the termination of the pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy, but not from accidental or incidental causes. A late maternal death is the death of a woman from direct or indirect obstetric causes more than 42 days but less than one year after termination of pregnancy.

Mean – The average value of a set of numbers.

Median – For any distribution the median value (age, interval, duration) is that value that divides the relevant population into two equal parts, half falling below the value and half exceeding it.

Neoplasm – A new growth of abnormal tissue (a tumour). Tumours can be either benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancerous). Cancer refers to several diseases and can affect most types of cells in various parts of the body.

Net overseas migration – Net permanent and long-term overseas migration, plus an adjustment for the effect of differences in duration of stay or absence between initial stated intentions and actual behaviour.

Non-managerial employees – Employees who are not managerial employees (as defined above), including nonmanagerial professionals and some employees with supervisory responsibilities.

Not in the labour force – Persons who were not in the categories of employed or unemployed.

Occupation – An occupation is a collection of jobs that are sufficiently similar in their main tasks to be grouped together for the purpose of classification. Occupation is classified according to the ASCO Australian Standard Classification of Occupations, Second Edition (ABS Cat. No. 1220.0). The occupation assigned to an employed person relates to the person's main job. Unemployed people who had worked for two weeks or more in the last tow years are classified according to the occupation of their most recent job.

Ordinary time earnings – Refers to the earnings of employees for the reference period attributable to award, standard or agreed hours of work. It is calculated before taxation and any other deductions (e.g. superannuation, board and lodging) have been made. Included in ordinary time earnings are award, workplace and enterprise bargaining payments, and other agreed base rates of pay, over-award and over-agreed payments, penalty payments, shift and other allowances; commissions and retainers; bonuses and similar payments related to the reference period; payments under incentive or piecework; payments under profit sharing schemes normally paid each pay period; payment for leave taken during the reference period; all workers' compensation payments made through payroll; and salary payments made to directors. Excluded are overtime payments, retrospective pay, pay in advance, leave loading, severance, termination and redundancy payments, and other payments not related to the reference period.

Part-time employment – working less than 35 hours a week.

Paternity acknowledged birth – A birth outside registered marriage where the father has acknowledged paternity on the birth certificate.

Physical assault – The use of physical force with the intent to harm or frighten a person. The assault may have occurred in conjunction with a robbery. It includes incidents where a person was assaulted in their line of work. It excludes incidents of sexual assault or threatened sexual assault which also involved physical assault, those which occurred before the age of 15 and those which occurred during the course of play on a sporting field. If a physical assault was preceded by a threat of the same type in the same incident, only the physical assault was recorded.

Physical threat, threatened physical assault – Verbal and/or physical intent or suggestion of intent to inflict physical harm, which the person believed was able and likely to be carried out. The threats must have been made face-to-face. It includes incidents where a person was threatened in their line of work. It excludes any act of violence which was actually carried out, incidents of sexual assault, threatened sexual assault or physical assault which also involved threatened or attempted physical assault, those which occurred before the age of 15, and those which occurred during the course of play on a sporting field.

Physical violence – An incident of physical assault, attempt or threat (as defined above).

Primary carer – Is a person of any age who provides the most informal assistance, in terms of help or supervision, to an elderly person and/or a person with one or more disabilities. The assistance has to be ongoing, or likely to be ongoing, for at least six months and be provided for one or more of the core activities of self-care, mobility or communication.

Psychological distress – Derived from the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale – 10 items (K10). This is a scale of nonspecific psychological distress based on 10 questions about negative emotional states in the 4 weeks prior to the survey. The K10 is scored from 10 to 50, with higher scores indicating a higher level of distress; low scores indicate a low level of distress. For the Australian Bureau of Statistics National Health Survey, 2004–05, scores were grouped as follows:

Replacement level fertility – The number of babies a woman would need to have over her reproductive lifespan to replace herself and her partner. Given the current mortality of women up to 49 years, replacement fertility is estimated at around 2.1 babies per woman.

Registered marital status – Is a person's relationship status in terms of whether he or she has, or has had, a registered marriage with another person. Accordingly, people are classified as either 'never married', 'married', 'widowed', or 'divorced'.

Seasonally adjusted – Estimates with the estimated effects of normal seasonal variation removed.

Self-assessed health status – A person's general assessment of their own health against a five point scale from excellent through to poor.

Serve of fruit – A serve is approximately 150 grams of fresh fruit or 50 grams of dried fruit. The National Health and Medical Research Council has recommended a minimum of two serves of fruit per day for adults.

Serve of vegetables – A serve is approximately half a cup of cooked vegetables or one cup of salad vegetables – equivalent to approximately 75 grams. The National Health and Medical Research Council has recommended a minimum of five serves of vegetables per day for adults.

Sexual assault – An act of a sexual nature carried out against a person's will, through the use of physical force, intimidation or coercion. It includes attempts to force a person into sexual activity. However, attempts are not separately identified. It includes rape, attempted rape, aggravated sexual assault (assault with a weapon), indecent assault, penetration by objects and forced sexual activity that did not end in penetration. It excludes unwanted sexual touching and incidents which occurred before the age of 15. Incidents so defined would be an offence under State and Territory criminal law.

Sexual threat, threatened sexual assault – The threat of acts of a sexual nature which are carried out against a person's will, through the use of physical force, intimidation or coercion. The person must have believed that the threats were able, and likely, to be carried out. It only includes threats that were made face-to-face and includes verbal threats, threats with a weapon and threats to harm children. It excludes if threats were made and then a sexual assault was carried out and incidents that occurred before the age of 15.

Sexual violence – Any incident of sexual assault or threat (as defined above).

Small business – business employing less than 20 people (excluding agricultural businesses).

Small business operator – The person or persons who own and run the business. Generally these business operators can be identified as:

• the proprietor of a sole proprietorship
• the partners of a partnership
• the working director(s) of an incorporated company.

Total fertility rate – the average number of children a woman would bear during her lifetime if she conformed to the current age-specific fertility rates throughout her life.

Trainee – Any person undertaking employment-based training under a contract of training.

Unemployed – Persons aged 15 years and over who were not employed during the reference week, and:

• had actively looked for full-time or part-time work at any time in the four weeks up to the end of the reference week and were available for work in the reference week; or
• were waiting to start a new job within four weeks from the end of the reference week and could have started in the reference week if the job had been available then.

Unpublished data – Other relevant data, not included in any publication, may have been obtained from a source institution.

Violence – Includes physical and sexual violence (as defined above).

Vocational education and training – post compulsory education and training, excluding degree and higher-level programs delivered by higher educational institutions, which provides people with occupational or work-related knowledge and skills. Vocational education and training also includes programs which provide the basis for subsequent vocational programs.

Volunteer – A person who willingly gave unpaid help, in the form of time, service or skills, through an organisation or group.

Volunteer rate – For any group, the volunteer rate is the number of volunteers in that group expressed as a percentage of the total population in the same group.

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