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Victoria still has a long way to go to achieve gender equality, a landmark study reveals.

Minister for Women Gabrielle Williams today released the Andrews Labor Government’s Gender Equality Baseline Report, which details the sexism and inequality women continue to face every day across a set of key indicators.

The Baseline Report gives a true measure of where we are today – and what we need to do to get to where we want to be for Victorian women and girls.

The Baseline Report findings include:

• Victorian women are retiring with an average superannuation balance 42 per cent lower than men ($157,049 for women, compared with $270,710 for men)
• Women are almost twice as likely to experience homelessness. Some 74,839 women accessed Victoria’s Specialist ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾lessness Service in 2017/18, compared with 42,033 men
• Only 32.5 per cent of women reported feeling safe walking alone after dark, compared with 62.5 per cent of men
• Only 28.5 per cent of Victorian men were likely to take bystander action when witnessing sexism, compared with 62.9 per cent of women.

The report is a snapshot of gender equality in Victoria, relying on more than 20 data sources from organisations including VicHealth, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Victorian Department of Education and Training and the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission.

The development of a Gender Equality Baseline is a key component of Victoria’s gender equality strategy and will provide a way to measure progress toward gender equality in Victoria over time. A progress report will be released in 2022.

The Labor Government is enshrining gender equality in law for the first time in Australian history, with legislation in the Parliament to ensure public sector organisations give women the opportunities that they deserve.

The Government introduced Australia’s first ever Royal Commission into Family Violence and is implementing each of its 227 recommendations, with $2.9 billion already invested and more than half already complete.

As noted by Minister for Women Gabrielle Williams

“This report clearly tells us we’ve got a significant way to go when it comes to achieving gender equality – and that’s why what we’re doing is so important.”

“We’re not going to be deterred from our efforts to make Victoria a fair and equal place for women and girls, because it’s 2019 and we deserve every opportunity to succeed.”