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 July 2025, eighteen 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.
Completing a review of College training fees and implementing a new, fairer training fee structure.
Making changes to existing College awards to address structural barriers for women, as well as including standard information in all new grants or awards Terms of Reference, encouraging nominations from applicants who are part-time, have had periods of interruption, are returning from leave, or who have carer responsibilities.
Supporting the Committee for Examinations to review the Special Consideration policy to include requests relating to reproductive health, pre and post-natal care needs.
Publishing gender equity member data in the College Annual Review.
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 Perth, Canberra and Gold Coast Congress events.
Updating the College Congress guidelines regarding achieving gender balance in in keynote speakers.
Raising the profile of women in psychiatry and their career journeys.
Demonstrating and promoting gender equity within psychiatry through College spokespeople.
Achieving gender balance in RANZCP nominations to representative roles on bodies external to the College.

As of July 2025, the status of the Action Plan’s 36 actions is as follows:

Completed	11
Completed and ongoing	7
In progress	16
Not started	2

RANZCP gender equity data

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

The below data insights are from 2025.

Committee membership has increased to 47% women members (up from 43% the previous two years).
Committee Chair roles are still underrepresented by women, filling 2 out of 9 Australian Branch and New Zealand National Committee Chair roles and 33% of all RANZCP Committee Chair roles.
The RANZCP Board attained gender balance in 2025, split evenly amongst the roles of President and President Elect, and across the 6 Elected Director positions.
46% of combined Directors of Training and Directors of Advanced Training positions are held by women (down slightly from 49% in 2024).
55% of the 2025 new trainee intake was women, up from 50% in 2024.
The average time taken to complete training has increased to 6.1 years for women compared with 5.8 years for men (up from 5.9 and 5.6 years respectively in 2024).
44% of new Fellows in 2025 were women, down from 49% in 2024.
Congress keynote speaker gender balance was achieved in 2025.
41% of RANZCP Journal editorial teams include women (up from 36% the previous two years).

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 across December 2025 and January 2026, the data below has seen progress made across various Action Plan indicators, including:

41% of women trainees used the new, more equitable part-time training fee structure (up from 36% in 2024).
A balanced number of men and women Fellows and Affiliates volunteered to mentor the next generation of psychiatrists, achieving a gender balance in mentors for the first time in the College Mentoring Program (36% women mentors in 2024).
A balanced number of men and women were nominated for College grants and awards, with women receiving more awards than men for the first time in 2025 (13 of 22 total awards).
59% of member profiles and career journeys profiled via College channels focused on women members for the second year in a row.
College conference presentations on women's mental health / women in psychiatry increased to 12 in 2025 (up from 3 in 2024).

Work still continues over the next few years of the Action Plan, with areas for attention being monitored. This includes working towards increasing the number of thematic streams relating to women’s mental health and women in psychiatry at College conferences; encouraging more women to nominate for College awards; and improving 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.