A new federal resource is being set up to track progress on gender inequality issues.

The new initiative will produce an annual report card, with the first edition released on International Women’s Day 2023. 

According to the report, Australian women still perform more unpaid housework than men. Even women who are primary breadwinners for their households undertake 24.1 hours of unpaid domestic labour per week, compared to men who do an average of 19.1 hours per week. 

Women of all ages spend nine hours a week more than men on unpaid work and care.

The report also reveals that 30 per cent of Australian men do not believe that gender inequality exists, a figure higher than the global average of 21 per cent. 

The minister for finance, women and the public service, Katy Gallagher, called attention to the issue this week, stating that addressing gender equality is a national priority for the government. 

She urged all Australians to complete a survey on the PM&C website about priority areas for the government’s whole-of-community gender equality strategy.

The strategy is being developed by the Office for Women and will be released later in 2023. The minister emphasised that the annual report card aims to highlight where gender equality progress has stalled and where more focus is needed in Australia. 

Other high-level statistics in the report card show that one in two women have experienced sexual harassment in their lifetime, compared to one in four men. 

The report also reveals that the fastest growing group of homeless Australians are women aged 55 and over.