The federal government has handed down its 2023-24 budget, and it was great to see it deliver on some key commitments on gender equality.

The government followed through in providing funding for some of the key recommendations made by the Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce, a new group that advises the government on the economic security of women ahead of each budget.

Some of these recommendations included better support for single mothers and giving aged care workers – the majority of whom are women – a pay rise.

The budget also invested in key areas important to many Australians, like improving Medicare and access to medications, as well as some targeted measures to ease the cost of living crisis.

Here, we’ve put together a snapshot of some of the key budget commitments that will improve outcomes for women and gender equality.

Better support for single mothers
The budget allocates $1.9 billion over 5 years to expand eligibility for the Parenting Payment (Single). The eligibility now includes single parents whose youngest child is aged 14, up from aged 8. The vast majority of these single parents – 91 per cent – are women.

The base rate of this payment sits at $922.10 per fortnight, and the expanded eligibility means around 57,000 eligible single parents will transition to payment.

The abolishment of ParentsNext
The government is ending the ParentsNext scheme, which applies to about 98,700 parents who have children aged nine months to six years and have not been in paid employment for six months.

Most of the participants in the scheme were single mothers with very young children. The program had been criticised for its strict mutual obligations, which were deemed punitive and damaging for single mothers, who are often among the most vulnerable members of society.

A pay rise for aged care workers
$11.3 billion over four years was included in the budget to fund a 15 per cent pay rise for workers in aged care, including for nurses, personal care workers, cooks, recreational officers and home care workers.

The pay rise will benefit about 250,000 workers who are among the lowest paid in the country, many of whom are women.

Apprenticeships and traineeships for women
The budget allocates $5 million over 3 years from 2024-25 for grant funding for organisations with expertise in supporting women in male-dominated trade apprenticeships. This is a great step that will help to reduce the gender pay gap.

Preventing violence against First Nations women and children
The government has allocated $194 million over four years for the initiatives that are emerging from a dedicated national plan to end violence against First Nations women and children. This national plan is still in the development stages, but there are already some clear priorities.

Some of the areas that will be addressed include culturally responsive healing programs, addressing immediate safety concerns of women and children, and funding community-led safety services.

A boost to Commonwealth Rent Assistance
Finally, the budget commits $2.7 billion over 5 years to the Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA) program, to increase the maximum rate payable by 15 per cent from 20 September 2023.

About 1.1 million households on the maximum rate of the CRA will receive an increase of up to $31.36 per fortnight.

This measure is a boost for single women, who make up 49 per cent of CRA recipients.