WOMEN IN CHARGE

For the first time females hold more senior management roles in the Territory public service than men

WOMEN now hold more than half the senior management roles in the Territory public service and are increasingly taking up jobs in traditionally male-dominated fields.

Female public servants make up 51 per cent of senior management, up from 34 per cent a decade ago.

Their numbers among the ranks of police officers and prison guards have also “increased markedly”, according to the latest State of the Service report.

But the report warns the NT Government is unlikely to meet its target for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander staff to make up 16 per cent of the public service workforce by 2020. The proportion of ATSI staff is currently 10.5 per cent.

Overall the public service grew by 378 full-time employees last financial year, amid long-running concern over ballooning numbers.

Treasurer Nicole Manison said the extra workers included 114 teachers or school support staff, 23 nurses and 45 medical professionals.

The Government has also pledged to boost police numbers by 120, to 1498, by 2020.

Ms Manison said there would be “no forced redundancies or cuts” to frontline workers but departments had been tasked to find savings of $150 million over two years through measures including natural attrition and “cutting waste, duplication and programs that aren’t delivering or are non-critical”.

The State of the Service report shows the proportion of women in senior management roles has soared from 15 per cent in 1994 to 51 per cent and from 37 per cent to 68 per cent in middle management.

“The very high over-representation of women in the health professions (doctors, nurses and Aboriginal health practitioners) has shown some decline ... and, conversely, the proportion of females has increased markedly in the uniformed (police and prison officers), technical and professional streams,” it says.

More than three out of four educators in NT public schools are women.

A spokesman for Public Employment Minister Gerry McCarthy said the NT was “outperforming other governments” in promoting women into leadership positions.

“The Northern Territory’s small labour market is also likely a contributing factor ... in that there are limited medium and large private or non-government sector organisations that would otherwise provide senior executive opportunities for women, thus talented women look to the public sector,” he said.

The spokesman said achieving the 16 per cent Indigenous workforce target “remains an ongoing priority”.

“The NTPS continues to strive to be representatives of the communities it serves.”