Gender equity

On this page:

Improving gender equity in psychiatry

Gender equity in healthcare matters.

Gender equity matters for our members, for our colleagues, and for our patients, families and communities.

Improving gender equity in psychiatry is one part of ensuring a more diverse, inclusive and representative future for psychiatry.

Statement of Commitment and Action Plan

Our Statement of Commitment for Gender Equity and Action Plan to improve gender equity in psychiatry has been developed in consultation with members and is an important step towards making real progress.

Launched in 2023, and spanning five years, this is our first action plan. It is a living document and is a tool to monitor where improvement has been made and where there are areas for further action.

Thank you to every member that contributed to this important work.

Actions update

As of September 2024, fifteen of the 36 actions set out in the Action Plan have either been completed or are completed and ongoing. These include:

Establishing a new Gender Equity Subcommittee, to guide and advise on implementing the Action Plan and advocate in areas of need identified (complete and ongoing)
Completing a review of College training fees and implementing a new, fairer training fee structure
Reviewing existing College awards to identify structural barriers for women and identifying future changes to address this
Publishing gender equity member data in the College Annual Review (complete and ongoing)
Developing new resources for members on taking action on bullying, discrimination and harassment, including sexual harassment
Publishing a new College position statement on sexual safety in mental health services in Australia and New Zealand
Hosting a symposium on gender equity and a dedicated women’s networking breakfast at the Canberra Congress in 2024
Updating the College Congress guidelines regarding achieving gender balance in in keynote speakers
Joining and supporting the Advancing Women in Healthcare Leadership initiative (complete and ongoing)
Raising the profile of women in psychiatry and their career journeys (complete and ongoing)
Achieving gender balance in RANZCP nominations to representative roles on bodies external to the College (complete and ongoing).

As of September 2024, the status of the Plan’s 36 actions is as follows:

Completed	9
Completed and ongoing	6
In progress	15
Not started	6

RANZCP gender equity data

The College reports key gender equity data each year in the College Annual Review

The below data insights are from 2023.

Annual monitoring indicators

Our Gender Equity Action Plan includes several indicators designed to measure and give an overview of the Action Plan’s impact.

Reviewed during December 2023, the first set of data available saw progress across a number of Action Plan indicators, including:

427 women (of a total of 709 trainees) used the new, more equitable part-time training fee structure
45 women volunteered as mentors for the next generation of psychiatrists (up from 36 in 2022)
A balanced number of member profiles and career journeys were profiled via College channels
A balanced number of men and women were nominated for, and received College grants and awards
An equal number of men and women held College representative roles on external bodies.

Work will continue over the next four years of the Action Plan, and areas for attention have been identified already in the early stages.

This includes working towards attaining relative balance of college spokespeople; increasing the number of thematic streams relating to women’s mental health and women in psychiatry at College conferences; and improving data on training completion rates for women trainees.

The information on this page will be updated annually to reflect progress made and areas identified for further action.