Women are reshaping the workforce – but power hasn’t followed |
Women are increasingly dominant across education and the workforce, but leadership, workplace structures and social attitudes have failed to keep pace.
Girls outperform boys in final school exams across all advanced economies, with maths differences a diminishing exception. In Australia women dominate university enrolments (58 per cent) and course completions (60.8 per cent); they outnumber men in health, education, engineering, agriculture and environment, society and culture, and the creative arts. More women are remaining in the workforce (there was a record female participation rate of 63.5 per cent in 2025), despite inadequate provision of childcare.
This trend is reshaping the economic landscape, both narrowing gender gaps and creating new challenges for male workforce participation. The decline of traditional blue-collar, male-dominated jobs in manufacturing has meant economic growth has become more reliant on service industries, where women are dominant. The trend is reinforced by the needs of an ageing population requiring care and with the willing workers predominantly women. An AI revolution is pending: entry jobs for many professions along with low-level routine jobs could be decimated.
Women provide an equivalent pool of talent to men, yet they report quite different work experiences. In male-dominated fields, they feel isolated at work and can be passed over for special assignments and promotions. Young women rarely see themselves reflected in leadership or technical roles. CEOs, surgeons, engineers, financiers and construction managers are still overwhelmingly male. “You cannot be what you cannot see”, said Susan Coyle on her recent appointment as Army Chief. Breaking the cycle starts with showing girls........