Office for Women Strategic Directions 2009-2010
The Queensland Public Service has undergone its most significant reform in almost two decades. As part of that reform program the Office for Women has now become part of the new Department of Communities. The Department of Communities’ mission is to provide services and supports that build fair, cohesive and vibrant communities.
Working alongside other Department of Communities agencies such as those providing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander services, multicultural services, housing and homelessness services and community and youth services, the Office for Women will help to meet the departmental goals of:
- improved well-being, safety, health and participation of Queenslanders, particularly for vulnerable and disadvantaged people
- improved sustainability, liveability, prosperity and cohesion of Queensland communities
- improved capability, sustainability and productivity of community and other services and systems in Queensland.
The changes to the Public Service provide exciting new opportunities for the Office for Women to work across government to improve the status of women in Queensland.
Review of the role and function of the Office for Women
From 2003 to 2008 the Office for Women worked to implement the whole-of-government strategic plan for women, the Women in the Smart State Directions Statement 2003-2008. The Directions Statement was a whole-of-government approach to describing specific initiatives to advance the interests of women.
As the term of the Directions Statement was due to expire the former Minister for Women, the Honourable Margaret Keech MP, announced on 3 September 2008 a full review of the Office for Women, designed to provide a blueprint for the future of women’s policy in Queensland.
The Directions Statement established the Queensland Government’s commitment to working towards a better quality of life for all Queensland women. The achievements of this previous framework form the foundation for the Bligh Government’s continuing commitment to women’s equality.
Queensland women and selected key stakeholders were encouraged to provide submissions identifying the existing, new and emerging priorities and issues for women in Queensland including any new and emerging groups of disadvantaged women.
The review was finalised in December 2008. The review recommendations suggested that the model for a contemporary Office for Women requires:
- a role that influences government decision-making processes through gender-based analysis in the development and delivery of legislation, policies, programs and services
- a cross-government mandate to drive activity to achieve outcomes for women
- partnerships with government departments and agencies to integrate gender considerations into existing accountability mechanisms
- engagement with the Toward Q2: Tomorrow’s Queensland agenda to promote the interests of women.
Following recommendations from the review, the Office for Women will operate under an annual business plan, rather than a longer term strategic framework, in order to create greater flexibility to respond emerging issues, such as the global economic crisis.
A stronger, more strategic voice for women
The Office for Women’s future work will look to maintain and strengthen in the following areas:
Policy development and analysis — The office will continue to consolidate its role to influence the development of policy across government by considering the inequalities and differences of variable lifetime experiences between the sexes, including differential factors that impact on gender (including race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, and Indigenous heritage), and drawing these findings to the attention of decision-makers. Policy development work will be linked to high level government policy, such as Toward Q2.
Stronger community sector and regional engagement — Stronger state-wide engagement with the community sector in the future will ensure better policy development, based on a dialogue where ideas are shared and tested, and better understanding by stakeholders of government decision-making. The role of the Office for Women Regional Coordinators located throughout Queensland is central to this work.
Information provision to women across Queensland — This includes:
- overseeing Women’s Infolink, the 1800 telephone information and referral service
- the Find a Service database on the website — www.women.qld.gov.au – providing women with links to the many organisations that may help women and girls
- managing the Office for Women website, www.women.qld.gov.au
- publishing a range of high quality written information about issues affecting women.
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Promoting women into leadership roles — The Office for Women’s Women on Boards Strategy continues to be a successful strategy to support the government’s commitment to gender equity on government boards. The government has a mandated target that 50% of new appointments to government boards should be women. The Office for Women’s role includes the active and targeted recruitment of women to the Queensland Register of Nominees to Queensland Government Boards and marketing of the register within government. There is also information available for women about boards, including case studies, fact sheets and ongoing promotion in targeted media.
Delivering and supporting iconic events — International Women’s Day activities and iconic events, such as the Office for Women’s awards programs, will continue to be delivered. International Women’s Day is an internationally recognised celebration and will continue as a way of gaining some profile and creating awareness about issues affecting women. The Office for Women will continue to be involved in other occasions to celebrate the achievements of women such as Q150 and the Office for Women awards programs.
Targeted seminars and workshops — A limited number of seminars and workshops targeting groups of women who experience high levels of disadvantage will be delivered. For example, the Office for Women will continue to offer the successful community leadership and mentoring programs to Indigenous women.
New strategic directions
Alongside the implementation of the Directions Statement, the Office for Women has focused on women working in non-traditional industries via the Smart Women - Smart State Strategy, the Smart Women – Smart State Taskforce and the 2006 election commitment, Women in Hard Hats, focusing on the mining and construction industries. The work of the office in these areas has been singled out by stakeholders as a current success.
The Bligh Government aims to establish a solid basis for women’s economic security through improving the proportion of women in the workforce, reducing the persistent structural barriers in the workforce itself and supporting women further in their caring role.
To help support Queensland women achieve economic and financial security, the Office for Women’s primary focus for 2010 will be on increasing employment opportunities and developing strategies to keep more women in the workforce, with a particular focus on disadvantaged and Indigenous women.
The Office for Women will focus on four key objectives:
- providing pathways for women’s employment opportunities
- increasing women’s access to education and training
- improving the conditions for women in the workforce
- supporting and promoting women’s participation in community life.
Prioritising efforts in these areas will focus on increasing women’s independence, financial security and productivity, which will in turn allow women to better balance work, community and family lives.
These priority areas align closely with the strategic direction set by Toward Q2: Tomorrow’s Queensland for a stronger, smarter and fairer Queensland. Toward Q2 commits government to strengthening the state’s economy, boosting the tertiary qualifications of Queenslanders and reducing the numbers of families living in households with non-working parents.
The Office for Women will work with key government departments to ensure the issues that affect women are taken into account in the development of policies, programs and services. The office will support government in conducting gender-based analysis of new policy directions and initiatives to ensure women’s interests are appropriately considered.
New opportunities exist to address the challenges that women face in the current economic climate. A new approach of positioning some officers in key government agencies such as the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, the Department of Education and Training and the Department of Justice and Attorney General, will better position these agencies to create opportunities and improve policies to meet the needs of women.
A renewed approach to community engagement through stronger connections with the community sector, the role of the Regional Coordinators and the use of issue-specific forums will seek to engage other government agencies, the non-government sector and industry partners on the women’s workforce agenda as well as other issues affecting the women of Queensland.
The Office for Women will continue to work closely with the lead agencies responsible for areas of critical importance for women such as sexual violence, domestic and family violence.
Collaboration with the Australian Government will also remain a priority, particularly in supporting the implementation of the National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and Children and progressing measures to address pay equity.
Download the Office for Women Strategic Directions 2009-2010.
Last updated: 9 November 2009
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