Essential Report

Views towards gender equality in Australia

Mar 2, 2021

Q. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements about gender equality in Australia?

TOTAL: Agree	Mar’21	Change from Jun’20	Jun’20	Sep’18	Mar’16
Gender equality, meaning that men and women are equal, has come far enough already	45%	-2%	47%	47%	38%
Gender equality has already been mostly achieved	50%	-1%	51%	47%	41%
Work to achieve gender equality today benefits mostly well-to-do people	60%	+4%	56%	45%	39%
There should be laws that require equal salaries for men and women in the same position	83%	+3%	80%	78%	78%
Although there has been significant progress on gender equality there is still a long way to go	76%	+5%	71%	66%	71%
Base (n)	1,074	–	1,085	1,030	1,001

76% of people agree that although there has been significant progress on gender equality there is still a long way to go (up 5 percentage points since June last year) and consistent with the upwards trend since Sep’18.
60% now think work to achieve gender equality today benefits mostly well-to-do people and 83% think there should be laws that require equal salaries for men and women in the same position. Agreement towards these statements has risen slightly by 4 and 3 percentage points respectively since Jun’20.
Slightly fewer think gender equality has come far enough already (down 2 percentage points to 45%) and half (50%) still think gender equality has already been mostly achieved.

Mar 2, 2021

Q. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements about gender equality in Australia?

TOTAL: Agree	Total	Gender			Age Group				Federal Voting Intention
TOTAL: Agree	Total	Male	Female	18-34		35-54	55+	Labor		TOTAL: Coalition	Greens	TOTAL: Other
Gender equality, meaning that men and women are equal, has come far enough already	45%	56%	34%	45%		51%	39%	40%		52%	22%	52%
Gender equality has already been mostly achieved	50%	62%	39%	52%		54%	45%	46%		58%	29%	55%
Work to achieve gender equality today benefits mostly well-to-do people	60%	63%	57%	69%		65%	47%	61%		57%	60%	64%
There should be laws that require equal salaries for men and women in the same position	83%	77%	89%	82%		82%	86%	87%		83%	87%	77%
Although there has been significant progress on gender equality there is still a long way to go	76%	69%	82%	78%		77%	72%	80%		69%	92%	74%
Base (n)	1,074	527	547	326		363	385	335		396	106	138

Agreement that there should be laws that require equal salaries for men and women in the same position is high overall, with 89% of women and 77% of men agreeing. Of this, 73% of women and 49% of men strongly agree.
Many also agree although there has been significant progress on gender equality there is still a long way to go, with 82% of women and 69% of men in agreement with this (respectively, 50% and 38% strongly agree).
However, men are still more likely than women to agree that gender equality has come far enough already (56% to 34%) and that it has already been mostly achieved (62% to 39%).

Statements about gender equality

Jun 30, 2020

Q. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements about gender equality in Australia?

	TOTAL: Agree	TOTAL: Disagree	Strongly agree	Somewhat agree	Somewhat disagree	Strongly disagree	Unsure
There should be laws that require equal salaries for men and women in the same position	80%	12%	52%	28%	6%	5%	9%
Although there has been significant progress on gender equality there is still a long way to go	71%	20%	34%	37%	14%	6%	9%
Work to achieve gender equality today benefits mostly well-to-do people	56%	25%	21%	35%	17%	8%	20%
Gender equality has already been mostly achieved	51%	39%	18%	34%	25%	14%	10%
Gender equality, meaning that men and women are equal, has come far enough already	47%	43%	19%	27%	25%	18%	10%

TOTAL: AGREE	Total	Sep’18	Change from Sep’18	Mar’16
TOTAL: AGREE	Total	Sep’18	Change from Sep’18	Mar’16
There should be laws that require equal salaries for men and women in the same position	80%	78%	+2	78%
Although there has been significant progress on gender equality there is still a long way to go	71%	66%	+5	71%
Work to achieve gender equality today benefits mostly well-to-do people	56%	45%	+11	39%
Gender equality has already been mostly achieved	51%	47%	+4	41%
Gender equality, meaning that men and women are equal, has come far enough already	47%	47%	0	38%
Base (n)	1,085	1,030	–	1,001

TOTAL: AGREE	Total	Gender		Federal Voting Intention
TOTAL: AGREE	Total	Male	Female	Labor	Coalition	Greens	TOTAL: Other
There should be laws that require equal salaries for men and women in the same position	80%	75%	85%	83%	80%	90%	74%
Although there has been significant progress on gender equality there is still a long way to go	71%	66%	71%	75%	67%	86%	69%
Work to achieve gender equality today benefits mostly well-to-do people	56%	59%	53%	58%	59%	48%	50%
Gender equality has already been mostly achieved	51%	61%	42%	45%	64%	29%	50%
Gender equality, meaning that men and women are equal, has come far enough already	47%	57%	36%	42%	55%	33%	43%
Base (n)	1,085	533	552	339	417	92	126

Agreement with gender equality statements is largely on par with Sep’18 – except work to achieve gender equality today benefits mostly well-to-do people which increased 11% (from 45% to 56%).
Men are more likely that gender quality has been mostly achieved (61%) or has come far enough (57%); while women are more likely to agree that there should be laws that require equal salaries for men and women in the same position (85%) and although there has been significant progress on gender equality there is still a long way to go (77%).
Coalition voters are more likely to agree with statements that gender quality has been mostly achieved (64%) or has come far enough (55%); while Greens voters are more likely to agree that there should be laws that require equal salaries (90%) and there is still a long way to go on gender equality (86%).
18-34 year olds are more likely to agree that has come far enough (54%) and work to achieve gender equality today benefits mostly well-to-do people (63%); than those over 55 (37% and 47% respectively).