From the Women in NSW 2012 report [NSW Family & Community Services, July 2012]:
Women in NSW are likely to live in cities, come from diverse cultural backgrounds and speak many languages.
Aboriginal women make up 2.1 percent of the female population of NSW, which in 2011 was 3.68 million women or 50.4 percent of the state’s population. In 2006, nearly two-thirds of NSW women lived in Sydney, with most of the remainder in regional areas and less than one percent in remote areas of the state.
Nearly a quarter of NSW women were born overseas, and one in five spoke a language other than English at home.
The median age of women in NSW in 2011 (38 years) is nearly two years older than that of men. Women are more likely to live longer than men; however, the gap is closing.
Women are far more likely to be at the head of a single parent household than are men. One in five families in NSW is headed by a single parent, and 88 percent of single parents are women.
Over a third of women over 65 years live alone. Women between the ages of 80 and 84 years are more than twice as likely as men to be living alone.
72% of girls in NSW completed year 12 in 2011 compared with 63% of boys.
In 2010, women made up 57 percent of NSW undergraduate students (117,382 in total). Men made up 43 percent (88,954) of undergraduate students. Some 28,400 more NSW women than men commenced an undergraduate higher education course in 2010, a 14 percentage point gap in women’s favour.
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In 2010, women made up 57 percent of NSW undergraduate students (117,382 in total). Men made up 43 percent (88,954) of undergraduate students. Some 28,400 more NSW women than men commenced an undergraduate higher education course in 2010, a 14 percentage point gap in women’s favour.
In 2011, the median starting salary for women aged less than 25 with a bachelor’s degree in their first full-time job was $50,000 per year, 7.4% ($4,000) less than men.
As at November 2011, NSW women working full-time ordinary hours each week earned on average $1,212, compared with men, who earned $1,404 each week.
Men earned on average 14 percent more each week than women.
41,600 women in NSW commenced an apprenticeship or traineeship in the 12 months to September 2011, compared with 51,000 men.
22% of all apprenticeship and traineeship commencements in NSW are within traditional trades.
In the 12 months to September 2011, 13% of women (2,629) who commenced an apprenticeship or traineeship did so in a traditional trade. Fifty of those women commenced a construction trade compared to 5,140 men. Similarly, only 116 women commenced an Automotive and engineering trade compared to 5,259 men.
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41 percent of employed women work part-time and 28 percent are engaged as casuals
In the private sector, as of April 2012, 17 percent of all NSW directorships were held by women (compared to 14 percent nationally).
Around 29 percent of board members are women within the not-for-profit sector; in the NSW public sector, 37 percent of board and committee members are women.
The professions of law and education are approaching a gender-balanced workforce, but women form a distinct minority in senior roles.
NSW women’s status and experiences are very similar to those of Australian women more widely.
