A review of all the world’s banknotes has scored Australia among one of the most balanced in terms of who is represented on the local currency, with new data also showing women’s workforce participation is at an all-time high.
Australia has ranked among the top nations for local banknotes, with more than half depicting women, alongside Sweden (4), Scotland (4), Czech Republic (3), Columbia (3) and Denmark (3) according to a recent review by Ubuy South Africa.
In Australia, a woman can be found on one side of every banknote currently in circulation. The women depicted are Dame Mary Gilmore, Mary Reibey, Edith Cowan, Dame Nellie Melba, and Queen Elizabeth II.
Meanwhile, 60% of banknotes in Sweden feature a woman, 50% in Denmark and 40% in Norway. Only two banknotes in New Zealand include a depiction of a woman.
Around the world, only 80 banknotes depict women. The review team further suggested that Scandinavian countries, which performed well in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, generally had a good number of women represented on their currency.
“It is not surprising that the Nordic nations are leading the way in celebrating women’s achievements on their banknotes,” the team said.
“Sweden, in particular, stands out as a country that has made significant strides in this area, with four of their banknotes featuring women, followed by Denmark with three and Norway with two.”
Australia ranked a measly 43 out of 146 in the WEF report published last July, marginally improving its 2021 score by 0.006 to 0.738. On economic participation and opportunity metrics, Australia came in 38th place. For educational attainment, Australia came 87th; for political empowerment, 50th; and for health and survival, 90th.
On Tuesday, Treasury’s new analysis of ABS workforce data was released, showing that more Australian women were engaged in full-time work than ever before.
More Australian women are entering the workforce, with 163,900 additional working women joining the labour force since May 2022, raising women’s total employment by 193,400 employees.
And the number of women performing full-time and part-time jobs has “boomed”, according to the analysis, with an extra 189,100 full-time workers and 4,300 part-time workers.
In a joint statement, minister for finance and women Katy Gallagher and minister for employment and workplace relations Tony Burke said the government’s jobs and wages agenda to address gender equality was showing signs of progress. Since May, women have led the increase in full-time jobs, accounting for about 66.7% of growth in this employment category.
This included measures to ensure the Fair Work Commission considered gender pay equity considerations at the centre of its decision-making; two annual wage review submissions by the government calling for increases to the minimum wage; bargaining system reforms for negotiating workplace agreements; and funding a major pay rise for aged care workers.
Gallagher said supporting women to work would improve economic equality in Australia and the whole national economy.
“As both the minister for women and the minister for finance, I’m pleased to see more women in jobs and more women entering the workforce,” Gallagher said.
“These increases aren’t just good for women, they’re also good for the economy — it’s a win, win.”
Minister Burke also pointed to changes to strengthen the right to work flexibly, and the introduction of paid family leave and paid domestic violence leave.
“Australian women can see that this is a government pulling every lever it can to close the gender pay gap and improve workplaces for women,” Burke said.
“We’re not just getting women into jobs — we’re getting them into secure, full-time jobs.”
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