Role Models
In this section we will place information about women in the public sectors of the world and let them talk about themselves.
In Australia, while there are more women than men in the public sector generally but it is the men who have held the majority of the very senior positions. This is not unusual. In some ways this has had a discouraging effect because women see the chance of getting to the top as remote and they may reduce their own expectations accordingly.
By profiling successful women it is hoped that others will be inspired to aspire to more senior positions.
In the first hundred years of public administration at an Australian Government level (also known as the Commonwealth or Federal level), only one woman Ms Helen Williams AO was appointed to the position of Secretary of a Government Department. She is still a Secretary today - the Secretary of the Department of Human Services. She was joined by other women during the Howard years of Government when four more women were appointed to the position of Secretary in 2004. One of these new appointments was Ms Lisa Paul PSM who now holds the influential portfolio of the Dept. Education, Employment and Workplace relations and reports among others to Australia's first woman Deputy Prime Minister Ms Julia Gillard.
Only men have held the position of head of the Prime Minister's Department.
At the State level, the results have been mixed. Political women in Cabinet positions have been more successful than women in public administration. There have been women First Ministers (Chief Ministers/Premier) in Victoria, Western Australia, the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory and presently in Queensland. Women have held the position of Departmental head of the First Minister's Department in Victoria, Tasmania and New South Wales.
Some states like South Australia have gone backwards. The first woman head of a Department in SA was Ms Catherine Branson, CE of the Attorney General's Department in the Mid 1980s. In the decade between the early 80's and 90's eight women were appointed to be Chief Executives of SA Government Departments. In addition to the AGs, women headed up Family and Commmunity Services, Local Government, Building Management, Arts and Cultural Heritage, Public and Consumer Affairs, Technical and Further Education, Administrative Services, Industrial Affairs, Correctional Services and the Commissioner for Public Employment. She was followed closely by women heads of Community Welfare, TAFE, Local Government and Consumer Affairs . Today there is only one woman head of department.
Ms Lynelle Briggs is a very successful senior public servant in Australia and now holds the position of Australian Public Service Commission. She has been recently appointed to the position of President of the Commonwealth Association of Public Administration and Management. You can read more about her at http://www.apsc.gov.au/about/pscommissioner.htm
Perhaps the most globally influential public sector woman is the Hon.Jocelyne Bourgon. She recently delivered an excellent speech about public administration - where it has been and where it is heading , in Sydney and a National IPAA conference. It will be published in the next edition of the Australian Journal of Public Administration and is well worth a read.
Although this web site is about public sector women it is worth highlighting a few well known women politicians who have been concerned about public administration. Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi has been the South African Minister covering the public sector and has been a global influence on public administration. See web contact in whoswho. See also the Rt Hon Hazel Blears MP Secretary of State in the UK http://www.communities.gov.uk |
Profiles 
