While democracy, governance and citizenship is a headline dimension for assessing whether life in Australia is getting better, it is difficult to find a single indicator that adequately captures the wide range of aspects that this dimension includes.

There are, however, a number of supplementary progress indicators that can indicate progress in a number of facets of this broad dimension of Australian life, and four are listed below.

• Between 2000 and 2010 the proportion of federal parliamentarians who are women increased: in the Senate the proportion rose from 29% to 36%; and in the House of Representatives it rose from 22% to 27%.
• In the 10 years to 2007 the proportion of informal votes in federal elections fluctuated between 4% and 5% for the House of Representatives and was slightly lower for the Senate.
• In 2008, 11% of ASX200 company executive managers were women, a decline from 12% in 2006 but an increase from 8% in 2002.

Federal parliamentarians who are women

Informal votes in Australian federal elections

Executive managers of ASX200 companies who are women