WELCOME FROM THE DIRECTOR

Welcome to the February 2014 issue of Gender Indicators, Australia.

In this release of ABS Gender Indicators, Australia, we are pleased to present a podcast of a conversation between Ms Elizabeth Broderick (Sex Discrimination Commissioner from the Australian Human Rights Commission) and Dr Paul Jelfs (First Assistant Statistician, Social, Health and Labour Division at the ABS). Elizabeth outlines some of the main areas of gender differences including the disparity in retirement savings between men and women and how unpaid caring impacts the lives of women. She highlights the important role that initiatives such as the ABS Gender Indicators product play in informing policy makers, researchers and the larger community on Australia’s progress toward gender equality. Here is a link to this podcast between Elizabeth and Paul.

Included in this release is newly available data that spans a range of areas of social interest to men and women including data on education, cancer death rates, carer's data and the latest gender composition of federal and state parliamentarians and ministers.

A number of indicators on the economic security of men and women have been updated with data from the 2011-12 ABS Survey of Income and Housing. This includes main sources of income at retirement, housing tenure, as well as low income and low wealth households.

Literacy and numeracy indicators have been updated with the latest 2011-12 data from the Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies. Participation in work-related training is also updated with data from the 2013 ABS Survey of Work-Related Training and Adult Learning.

A number of health-related tables have been updated with 2012 data from the ABS Death Registrations collection and data from the 2012-13 ABS Australian Health Survey. These include life expectancy and death rate tables, as well as data on a range of health risk factors in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (i.e. alcohol consumption, smoking, overweight/ obesity, and levels of exercise).

The recent release of the 2012 ABS Personal Safety Survey means that we have been able to update data on male and female experience of violence and stalking. Imprisonment and sentencing data has also been updated with 2013 data collected by the ABS from state and territory corrective service agencies.

The Gender Indicators product features a total of 52 key indicators, each with a key series and numerous related supporting measures. Indicators are spread across six major areas of social concern for gender equality (Economic security, Education, Health, Work and family balance, Safety and justice, and Democracy, governance and citizenship). For a quick overview of all results, visit the Summary of Key Series page.

I hope you find this edition of Gender Indicators, Australia interesting and informative. If you have any feedback, comments or suggestions please contact me on (02) 6252 5570 or email living.conditions@abs.gov.au.

Caroline Daley

Director
Living Conditions