Workforce & Gender Report2025
Report Overview
This annual report presents workforce dynamics and evolving gender representation trends in the ambulance sector. The Council of Ambulance Authorities (CAA) is committed to benchmarking data in line with the Women in Leadership strategy's “Step 3: Collect, Monitor, and Respond”. As part of this strategy, the report helps improve understanding of gender segmentation within the ambulance workforce.
Conducted in 2024, with data from the 2023/24 financial year, this report integrates insights from CAA's 11-member ambulance services:
- NSW Ambulance (NSWA)
- Ambulance Victoria (AV)
- Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS)
- St John WA (SJWA)
- SA Ambulance Service (SAAS)
- Ambulance Tasmania (AT)
- ACT Ambulance Service (ACTAS)
- St John NT (SJNT)
- Hato Hone St John (HHSJ)
- Wellington Free Ambulance (WFA)
- St John Ambulance Papua New Guinea (SJPNG)
The “Overall Workforce and Gender Ratios Table” (2020–2024) highlights the evolving gender representation within the ambulance workforce. The data shows a steady increase in female representation, rising from 50.6% in 2020 to 55.1% in 2024. While this progress reflects ongoing efforts to promote inclusivity, the report also underscores persistent gender gaps in various dimensions.
Given that St John Ambulance Papua New Guinea (SJPNG) started participating in 2022, the data from 2020 to 2021 does not encompass SJPNG information.
The CAA Workforce and Gender Report sheds light on gender disparities within the ambulance workforce, fostering informed discussions and guiding strategic initiatives. Its aim is to promote a more inclusive and equitable future for all ambulance sector members.
To ensure consistency, the report follows a rounding rule: values are rounded down if the first decimal is below 5 and up if it is 5 or higher. Consequently, total proportions may not always sum exactly to 100%. Graphs exclude data from the ‘Other’ category, meaning totals may not reach 100% for services reporting in that category.
Cumulative Results
Data from 11 ambulance services shows that females comprised 55.1% of the workforce in 2024, a 1.7% increase from 53.5% in 2023. In Australia, female representation reached 55.1%, reflecting a 2.3% rise from the previous year. New Zealand reported a 56.6% female workforce, marking a 0.8% decline compared to 2023. Papua New Guinea showed a decrease in female workforce representation, dropping from 31.3% in 2023 to 30.7% in 2024.
In 2024, 0.64% of the workforce identified as 'other,' marking an increase from the 0.25% reported in 2023. Australian ambulance services reported 0.13% of the workforce falling into the 'other' category, while New Zealand reported 2.86%. Papua New Guinea recorded 0% in this category.
Workforce and Gender Ratios
Australian Workforce and Gender Ratios
Workforce and Gender Ratios
Papua New Guinea Workforce and Gender Ratios
Percentage of staff
Comparative Analysis of Gender Dynamics in Services
In 2024, all Australian and New Zealand services surpassed the 50% mark for female representation. New South Wales Ambulance (NSWA), ACT Ambulance Service (ACTAS), and St John NT (SJNT) have reached and exceeded 50% female representation within their workforce.
Across the 10 Australian and New Zealand services, female representation ranges from 51.2% to 60.6%, with St John WA (SJWA) leading at 60.6%, marking an increase from 55.8% in 2023. Following closely are South Australia Ambulance Service (SAAS) at 57.5% and Wellington Free Ambulance (WFA) at 57.3%. While Hato Hone St John (HHSJ) saw a decline compared to its 2023 figures, it remains among the frontrunners at 56.5% female representation. Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) and Ambulance Victoria (AV) reported female representation of 54.1% and 54.0%, respectively. ACTAS recorded 51.8%, followed by SJNT at 51.6%, NSWA at 51.2%, and Ambulance Tasmania (AT) at 51.2%.
St John Ambulance Papua New Guinea (SJPNG) continued to report a decline in female representation, dropping to 31.0% in 2024, consistent with last year’s trend.
Gender Representation Across Services
* Note: Previous years’ data for QAS was based on paid staff only. From 2024 onwards, calculations include both paid staff and volunteers.
Gender Distribution Across Age Groups
The 2024 overall data on the ambulance service workforce and gender distribution revealed changes in gender representation across age groups compared to the previous year.
In the under-30 age group, female representation increased from 64.7% in 2023 to 65.5% in 2024, marking the largest gap between female and male percentages across all age categories. Correspondingly, male representation in this group declined to 33.6%.
The 30-39 age group also showed a rise in female representation, increasing from 54.8% to 56.9%, while male representation dropped from 45.0% to 42.5%. A similar trend was observed in the 40-49 and 50-59 age groups. Female representation in the 40-49 category grew from 52.2% to 54.3%, with male representation decreasing from 47.7% to 45.1%. In the 50-59 age group, female representation rose from 45.2% in 2023 to 48.0% in 2024, and male representation declined from 54.6% to 51.6%, though males remained the majority in this age group.
For the 60+ age group, gender proportions remained stable between 2022 and 2023. However, in 2024, female representation increased from 36.6% to 41.3%, leading to a decline in male representation from 63.0% to 58.2%.
Overall Gender Distribution by Age Group
Female Representation by Age Group
Male Representation by Age Group
Gender Distribution Across Employment Type
In 2024, female representation increased compared to 2023 in full-time, part-time, and casual positions. Full-time employment showed a slight shift, with women now comprising 51.2% of the workforce, while men account for 48.8%. This compares to last year’s 49.3% for women and 50.7% for men. This trend suggests that women have become the majority in full-time roles, surpassing 50%.
Part-time employment experienced a 1% increase in female representation, reaching 72.2%, while male representation declined to 27.8%. Casual positions also saw an increase in female participation, rising from 54.0% in 2023 to 57.1% in 2024, with a corresponding decrease in male representation to 42.9%.
Gender representation in the volunteer category changed, with female participation decreasing to 57.8% from 58.3% the previous year, while male participation increased to 42.2% from 41.7%.
Overall Gender Distribution by Employment Type
Female Representation by Employment Type
Male Representation by Employment Type
Gender Distribution Across Employment Categories
Increased female representation was evident across most employment categories over the past year. Female representation in Marketing, Finance, HR, IT, and Admin roles increased from 69.6% last year to 71.2% in 2024. Female representation in Calltaker/Dispatcher roles saw a modest yet steady rise, reaching 71.1% in 2024, up from 69.6% in 2020. Female representation among volunteers and first responders saw a slight decline, dropping from 58.3% last year to 57.8% in 2024.
Female supervisors solidified their majority, surpassing the 50% threshold and increasing from 48.7% to 52.1% in 2024. A similar trend was observed in roles such as Doctors, Nurses, Psychologists, and Pharmacists within ambulance services, where female representation rose from 47.5% last year to 54.4% in 2024, surpassing the 50% mark. The category of Qualified Ambulance Officers/Students showed an increase in female representation, climbing from 49.2% in 2023 to 52.2% in 2024, also surpassing the 50% threshold.
Female representation in the Patient Transport Officers category experienced a slight decline, falling to 47.0%. Other employment categories showed an increase in female representation, including Clinical Support, Infrastructure Support, Community Service Operatives, Executives, Operational Managers, and Medical Officers/Medical Directors, with figures rising to 51.3%, 43.7%, 39.8%, and 50.0%, respectively.
Overall Gender Distribution by Employment Category
Medical Officers/Medical Director
Management – Operational Managers
Executives
Clinical Support / Infrastructure Support / Community Service Operatives Female
Patient Transport Officers
Qualified Ambulance Officers / Students and Base Level Ambulance Officers
Doctors / Nurses / Psychologists / Pharmarcist
Supervisors
Volunteers & First Responders Female
Calltakers / Dispatchers / Other
Marketing / Finance / Human Resource / Information Technology / Administration
Attrition
Attrition rates in the ambulance sector have fluctuated over the past five years for both male and female employees. In 2024, the attrition rate for female professionals declined from 4.7% in 2023 to 3.5%, while for male professionals, it decreased from 5.1% to 4.4%. Turning to numerical trends, 816 women and 828 men left the ambulance workforce in 2024, out of a total of 23,319 female and 18,758 male staff.
Produced in April 2025
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