The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is committed to the ongoing measurement of gender equality in our workforce. We recognise that delivering maximum impact to the criminal environment requires our people to be as diverse and dynamic as the environment we operate in.
Change takes sustained effort and momentum over time, and we have been driving a data and evidence- based approach by partnering with the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) to help us enhance gender equity and workplace culture.
Since 2022, we have also been tracking gender equality metrics and reporting to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) against the six WGEA gender equality indicators.
Gender Pay Gap (GPG)
The AFP's total median GPG during the 2023-24 WGEA reporting cycle was 12.2%, down from 13.8% in the 2022-23 reporting cycle. The total median GPG for all Commonwealth employers of a similar size (5,000 or more employees), was 7.8%.
The AFP's median base salary GPG was 3.2%, comparable with the median base salary for Commonwealth employers of a similar size which was also 3.2%.
While the AFP's pay gap has decreased at pace over the past 12 months, we acknowledge there is still a gap. The AFP is committed to continuing to make the necessary changes to enhance opportunities for all genders in the AFP. There are several drivers of the pay gap within the AFP including the workforce composition, the remuneration structure, and the nature of the AFP's work. Understanding these drivers is important to accurately analyse pay equity.
As at 31 December 2024, the AFP had a gender-balanced (40/40/20) workforce and gender-balance in key decision-making roles, with 41.3% women in the workforce and 41% women in Senior Executive Service roles. In 2024, the AFP had a second sworn female Deputy Commissioner appointed, resulting in a 50:50 balance of gender in the sworn Deputy Commissioner positions for the first time.
While there has been change in our representation of women in leadership, there are still patterns of gender segregation when looking across our workforce. The AFP is a unified workforce comprising sworn Police and Protective Service Officers (PSO) and unsworn professional employees, each with varying gender representation:
- Police - 26.6% women
- PSO - 13.4% women
- Professional - 60.8% women
Due to the varied nature of our work, some parts of the AFP workforce - such as sworn Police and PSOs - are more likely to take home additional payments such as overtime or penalty payments, compared to our professional unsworn members.
The AFP gender pay gap and equity project
In 2021, the AFP set an aspirational target to reach 30% women in the sworn workforce by 2028. This target is now embedded as a key performance indicator in the Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2023-26
In the same year, the AFP embarked on a collaboration with the AHRC, guided by the Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner, to adopt a human rights-based approach for enduring change that aligns with our values of diversity and inclusion.
This collaboration included the Gender Pay Gap & Equity Research Project which analysed quantitative and qualitative data to better understand the key drivers of the gender pay gap in the AFP across five dimensions: pay, equity, retention, development and opportunity. The Partnership team also conducted 120 focus groups and spoke with 380 members to hear about their lived experiences of equity in our workplaces.
The research to date has provided us with a clear understanding of the key drivers and broader equity issues that have contributed to the gender pay gap. Drivers and their impacts across our workforce include:
- Policing: low representation of women across the bands, and the impact of leave on time-bound progression. In addition, differences in access or the take up of overtime and allowance-based work also drives the total pay gap for policing
- PSO: low representation of women, a high rate of transition of women to policing from the PSO cohort and lower representation at leadership levels more broadly. Amplifying factors which can be seen in the total pay gap include the uptake of overtime and allowances
- Professional (unsworn): overrepresentation of women in junior roles with limited opportunities for career progression into senior executive ranks.
Action plan to address gap and amplify existing strengths
The evidence base developed though this project was used to create the AFP's first Gender Equity Action Plan 2024-2027(GEAP) , launched in November 2024. Through the GEAP, the AFP is focusing on embedding changes to processes, structures and supports that our members interact with through their career life cycle.
The AFP's GEAP is the primary document that outlines our roadmap to promoting and enhancing gender equity within our workplace.
We are committed to embedding an intersectional lens into our future initiatives to ensure that our approach is holistic. Our people are unique and multifaceted, and so our actions need to be too.
Actions in the AFP's GEAP focus around six key areas of focus:
Recruit a 40/40/20 gender-balanced workforce, with an initial focus on reaching 30% sworn cohort. Educate out workforce on the value of gender equality. Support our people to equitably access pathways and progression. Uplift and improve our workplace policies towards leading employment practice across law enforcement. Leaders are visible in, and accountable for, gender equity initiatives. Track our gender insights to sustain and grow our gender agenda.
Since launching the GEAP, we have introduced a number of key shifts in parental leave entitlements, including increasing paid leave from 16 to 18 weeks; making parental leave equally available for leaders to role model family-friendly workplaces (previously, Executive Level employees had 14 weeks' of paid leave); and introducing more leave entitlements for secondary carers, increasing to 18 weeks paid leave by 2027.
Creating an environment that fosters inclusion and celebrates diversity is a key priority for the AFP. Change takes time and there is more work to do, but we know that different perspectives, cultures and lived experiences are integral to our work. A workplace where all genders are valued is a workplace where we can all thrive.
