Women

Women's health

In a wealthy country like ours, no one should experience pain, financial stress or stigma for accessing the care they need.

However, people seeking sexual and reproductive healthcare in Australia continue to face high costs, long waiting lists and other barriers daily.

One in five people cannot afford period products; Medical gender bias means more than 1.8 million women are living with chronic pain; Culturally appropriate care for First Nations communities remains scarce, and the financial burden of menopause treatments puts them out of reach for too many.

The Liberals and Labor have failed to act.

The Greens are working toward a fairer and healthier future, ensuring healthcare is affordable, accessible, and inclusive. 

The Greens' plan:

• Make contraceptives free by funding all TGA-approved contraceptive options, procedure fees, and contraceptive counselling.
• Improve abortion access through free public abortion care .
• Support menopause treatment through subsidised hormone therapy, enhanced GP diagnostic tools, and national awareness campaigns.
• Establish and fund five culturally appropriate Birthing on Country maternity hubs for First Nations families to reduce maternal and infant mortality.
• Double allied health sessions for chronic pain management from five to ten sessions per year.
• Boost sexual health understanding through campaigns for marginalised communities, ensuring diverse and inclusive health education.
   

Women’s economic security

Everyone deserves economic security and a fair retirement, yet women in Australia face persistent inequality throughout their lives.

Women earn less than men, do more unpaid family work, and retire with less superannuation. Older women are increasingly at risk of homelessness. 

The national gender pay gap is 12%, even higher in part-time or casual roles, leaving women working extra days each year just to catch up.

Successive governments have failed to act decisively. The Liberals neglected women’s economic security for years, while Labor’s slow plans for Paid Parental Leave and superannuation payments keep women waiting as the gender pay and retirement gaps grow. 
Without bold action, inequality will only deepen. It’s time to value women's contributions in all aspects of work—paid and unpaid—and address the structural inequalities holding them back.

The Greens are fighting for real change to close the gender pay and retirement gaps, ensuring women are paid fairly and supported throughout their lives.

The Greens' plan:

• Boost super for carers by $500 annually for primary carers earning under $37,000 while caring for young children or children with disabilities.
• Pay super on carers’ payments, working with Carers Australia to establish super payments for those receiving carers’ payments.
• Double the low-income super tax offset to increase the cap to $1,000 and the threshold to $45,000.
• Extend gender pay gap reporting, requiring businesses and public sector employers with 50 or more employees to report gender pay data, ensuring transparency and accountability.

Ending violence against women

We all deserve to live without the threat of harm. However, Australia is facing a crisis of domestic, family and sexual violence.

One woman is killed each week as a result of domestic and family violence. Many more face daily abuse, but funding shortfalls and overwhelmed services mean they have nowhere to turn. 

Survivors of sexual violence are also faced with a system that fails to support them. Almost 90% of sexual assaults go unreported because of the stigma and challenges faced in the justice system.

Institutions such as universities, where hundreds of sexual assaults occur each week, are failing to offer adequate protection or support.

We must change a system that forces people to choose between violence and homelessness and that fails to protect or support people every day.

The Greens’ plan puts people first, ensuring everyone can access safety, support, and justice.

The Greens' plan:

• Fully fund the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children with $12 billion over 12 years.
• Increase funding for recovery services and raise the Escaping Violence Payment to better support survivors.
• Expand the Staying Home Leaving Violence Program so survivors can remain safely in their homes.
• Roll out a national Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme to help people who may be at risk of domestic violence to find out if their current or former partner has a history of violent criminal offences.
• Invest in respectful relationship education and include consent training in initial teacher education.
• Commission regular student safety surveys to track sexual violence and ensure accountability in universities.
• Conduct an independent review of the higher education regulator, TEQSA, to improve campus safety.
• Pilot restorative justice programs to better support survivors.
• Improve access to victims’ compensation schemes and research the systemic patterns of violence against women.

More information on this policy initiative will be released soon.