Abstract

There has been a vigorous public debate in Australia about issues related to gender including the unacceptably high rates of violence and sexual harassment experienced by women, under-representation of women in senior positions, and continuing economic disparities. These issues have been a focus of the election campaign leading up the Federal Election to be held on the 21^st May 2022. This paper focuses on the views of Australians about gender equality, on Australians’ attitudes to gender issues, confidence in the different parties on issues related to gender equity and how this relates to voting intentions. It is based on data from the April 2022 ANUpoll which collected data from 3,587 Australians aged 18 years and over. The data collection occurred between the 11th and 26th of April 2022.

We find that there are differences in voting intentions by gender, with men particularly likely to vote for the Coalition and women more likely to vote for the Greens, as well as be unsure as to who they would vote for. Potentially influencing this decision, there is less confidence in the two Coalition parties (Liberals and Nationals) on issues related to gender equality than in Labor and the Greens. In general, Australians think that men have it easier in Australia than women, though there are also a sizable number of both men and women who think there is no difference. The vast majority of Australians see equality between men and women as being important, with the majority of Australians thinking that equal rights for women have not gone far enough.

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