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Study reveals women overtaking men in graduate employment stakes

It didn't bother Florence Antouny that her friends joked she had chosen a "boring" profession. Nor did it trouble her that most students in her finance classes were male.

Ms Antouny​, 24, a financial analyst, has been working in the industry since 2011 after receiving a cadetship with one of the big four accounting firms

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For the past seven years, women like Ms Antouny have been gaining full-time employment at a higher rate and in higher numbers, according to data from Graduate Careers Australia, a research organisation specialising in graduate employment. 

In 2016, women represented 36.7 per cent of full-time employees in the workforce, up from 34 per cent in 2003.

The participation rate of women has also grown from 56.8 per cent in 2003 to 59.3 per cent in 2016.

In 2016, 71.5 per cent of female university graduates found full-time employment within four months of completing their degree, compared with 70.1 per cent of males.

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In 2007, females were being employed at a rate 1.7 per cent less than males, but since 2010 have been gaining full-time employment at a higher rate.

According to Bruce Guthrie, a research fellow with Graduate Careers Australia, the change is not due to a sudden desire by businesses to employ women.

"I doubt there are any systematic differences at any level," he said. "It would be entirely down to individual motivation and maturity, and the advice graduates have received."

 Ms Antouny, who has already worked at two major companies, says women are becoming a stronger part of the workforce, even in industries like accounting that have been dominated by men in the past.

"It is becoming a lot more inclusive and a lot of the more reputable companies are putting in an effort," she said.

Ms Antouny  said most of her core university classes had a balance of genders but her finance subjects tended to be different.

"Some of my finance subjects tended to be a bit more male than female," she said.

While there may have been some teasing about her career choice, she said she was always encouraged.

"A lot of people would always joke and say accountants are boring," she said. "[But] from a gender perspective, no one really discouraged me."

Ms Antouny said big companies were making an effort to support the growing number of women in the workforce.

"In my old workplace they had initiatives that would make the gender balance a bit more neutral," she said.

Mr Guthrie said those going into the financial or business sector had to work hard to get themselves noticed above their fellow graduates.

"Business is one of those fields where there are a lot of people graduating," he said. "People who haven't worked out how to present themselves to a prospective employer are going to struggle."

More students were having to look for work before they even graduated, he said.

"Some of them strike it lucky, but for university students these days they have to start looking for employment while they're studying," he said. 

During her first two years at university, Ms Antouny would work full time as an auditor during the day and study part time at night.

Having come from a family of accountants, she said she mostly knew what to expect, although there were some surprises.

"I wasn't expecting such late hours," she said. "You have to be pretty dedicated time wise. When I was in an audit environment, during busy times, it could be 60 to 70-hour weeks."

She said that while men still occupied a lot of senior positions within the big companies, women were climbing the corporate ladder.

"There definitely were some females in the higher positions and they were my role models. I looked up to them and I still do," she said.

For Ms Antouny, finding full-time work in the industry early on has meant she has been able to pursue her dream career and a greater level of independence.

"I can manage my own affairs," she said. "I can apply what I've studied and what I've learnt, in my own life."