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# Signs of stabilisation in female participation in the workforce
- URL: https://www.benchmarkanalytics.com.au/signs-of-stabilisation-in-female-participation-in-the-workforce/
- Published: 2026-08-09T00:47:18.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-09T00:47:18.000Z
- Author: Nick Hossack

One of the biggest changes in the Australian labour market over recent decades has been the increasing contribution of women to total hours worked, which incorporates both part-time and full-time work.

In June 1986, Australian men as whole (noting, of course, a much smaller population than today) worked around 706 million hours, more than twice the 337 million hours worked by women.

Therefore, men accounted for 67.7% of all hours worked, compared with just 32.3% for women.

Forty years later, the gap has narrowed dramatically.

| Hours worked by sex |                    |                |                    |                |
| ------------------- | ------------------ | -------------- | ------------------ | -------------- |
|                     | Jun-86 Total hours | Jun-86 % Total | Jun-26 Total hours | Jun-26 % Total |
| Men                 | 706,134            | 67.7%          | 1,150,531          | 57.1%          |
| Women               | 336,522            | 32.3%          | 863,811            | 42.9%          |
| Total               | 1,042,657          | 100.0%         | 2,014,342          | 100.0%         |

In June 2026, men worked approximately 1.15 billion hours compared with 864 million hours for women. Women therefore accounted for 42.9%, up 10.6 percentage points from 1986\. The male share correspondingly fell from 67.7% to 57.1%.

Another way of looking at the change is that in June 1986, men worked around 2.1 hours for every hour worked by women. The latest data shows this has fallen to 1.33 hours.

Notwithstanding, the trend is flattening.

The male-to-female ratio was already 1.35 in June 2023 and 1.35 in June 2024, before falling to 1.33 in June 2025 and remaining at approximately that level in June 2026.