Sunday 8 March 2026 is International Women’s Day (IWD), which the United Nations will observe on 9 March under the theme, ‘Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls’. This aligns with the start of the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, at which representatives will work towards ‘Ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls, including by promoting inclusive and equitable legal systems, eliminating discriminatory laws, policies, and practices, and addressing structural barriers’.

In Australia, IWD 2026 will be marked by events on 4 March under the theme of ‘Balance the Scales’, aimed at highlighting the continuing need to dismantle structural barriers to women and girls’ participation in all walks of life. This FlagPost looks at Australian progress in women’s participation in economic policymaking, as one example of efforts to ‘balance the scales’.

Dismantling structural barriers in policymaking

Much has been made of increasing women’s political participation and the meaningful difference having more female politicians in legislatures and other representative bodies can have on policy outcomes. At the federal level, Australia has made significant advances in female representation. At the opening of the current Parliament, 49.6% of parliamentarians were women – the closest to parity yet. Behind these elected decision-makers is another layer of policymaking power: the public servants who provide advice and support.

Balancing the scales in policymaking

Until 1966, women’s careers in the Australian Public Service were limited by the marriage bar that prevented permanent employment after marriage. Even as women started entering more senior roles in government and the public sector, there was a ‘gendered division of labour’, with women more likely to achieve promotion in portfolios or departments associated with social, educational and cultural services. The first woman secretary of a federal government department was Helen Williams – appointed in 1985 to head the Department of Education – and the only female departmental secretary for 17 years.

Today, 7 of the 16 departments of state in Australia are led by women. Gendered division is also less apparent, with women leading traditionally male portfolios such as the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of Industry, Science and Resources.

Balancing the scales in economic policymaking

In 2018, Danielle Wood, then a Grattan Institute researcher, noted in her article, Economics has a women problem. Here’s why you should care:

We’ve had a female Prime Minister but not Treasurer, a female CEO of a Big 4 bank but not a Chief Economist, and a female Chief Scientist but never a female at the helm of the Treasury, Productivity Commission, ASIC [Australian Securities and Investment Commission], APRA [Australian Prudential Regulation Authority] or the ACCC [Australian Competition and Consumer Commission].

Eight years on, Australia has passed important milestones when it comes to female representation in economic policymaking. For the first time in these institutions’ history, women now head the formerly male-dominated Treasury, Reserve Bank of Australia, ACCC, Productivity Commission (now chaired by Danielle Wood), and (from 1 June 2026) ASIC.

At the ministerial level, Australia is notable on the global stage for having a Minister for Women, Katy Gallagher, who is also Minister for Finance. Internationally though, the 5 most commonly held portfolios by women Cabinet ministers in 2025 were: women and gender equality; family and children affairs; social inclusion and development; social affairs; and social protection and social security.

Why balancing the scales is important

These ‘economic’ milestones are significant because, as Danielle Wood wrote:

… economics is central to major government and business decisions. How much governments tax and spend, the level of interest rates, the design of policies to tackle climate change and regulate business conduct – all are decisions made by, or at least highly informed by, economists.

…

These decisions have a big impact on the lives of all Australians.

Having more women at the highest levels in economic policymaking can help ensure that policies better reflect women’s needs. Gender-responsive economic policies that are successful in reducing gender inequality and delivering economic empowerment to women have been shown to lead to better economic outcomes and more inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

Gender-responsive budgeting

Gendered economic inequality is still prevalent in Australia. The final report of the Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce, Women’s economic equality: a 10-year plan to unleash the full capacity and contribution of women to the Australian economy, recommended a series of actions to address this, cutting across all policy areas.

The Australian Government’s Working for women strategy has also committed to achieving more gender-equal systems, structures and policies in 5 priority areas over the next 10 years. The strategy recognises gender-responsive budgeting as a key implementation tool, noting:

Gender responsive budgeting puts consideration of gender impacts at the heart of policy design and Budget decisions across Government’s policies and investments. This underpins informed and practical decisions to close gender gaps (p.11).

Gender-responsive budgeting, although now widespread, had its origins in Australia with the landmark Women’s Budget Statement of 1984. The process acknowledges that policies affect men and women differently and aims to ensure that government spending and revenue-raising decisions do not disproportionately impact a particular gender or exacerbate gender inequalities. Put simply, ‘gender budgeting is good budgeting’.

The current government has committed to gender-responsive budgeting, with departments now required to undertake gender analysis for all new policy proposals and Cabinet submissions.

Shoring up the pipeline

Australia is setting benchmarks in female representation within the economics portfolio, representing one area in which notable strides have been made in the effort to ‘balance the scales’. Yet, despite success with increasing diversity in other areas such as STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths), there has been a steady decline in women and girls studying economics. Female students are outnumbered two to one in year 12 enrolments, and those who are studying economics are less likely than their male peers to include an economics course in their university preferences. It is also worth noting that one key milestone remains to be realised from Danielle Wood’s 2018 list – a female Treasurer.