Ambulance Victoria’s most recent Workplace Gender Audit has found that in 2021, of the employees who took parental leave, 70% identified as women and 30% identified as men.
In 2025, those figures have hardly changed, with 69% identifying as women and 31% identifying as men.
Ambulance Victoria has acknowledged that these figures highlight the persistence of entrenched norms around caregiving responsibilities, with women still bearing the bulk of career interruption associated with parental leave. Without stronger strategies to encourage and normlise men’s uptake of extended leave, this impact is likely to remain a structural barrier to women’s progression and leadership opportunities.
The most effective way to encourage and normalise men’s uptake of extended parental leave is to ensure equitable access through enterprise agreements.
Ambulance Victoria could improve access to parental leave by:
- Removing gendered language from clauses (e.g. replacing “maternity” or “paternity leave” with “parental leave”).
- Increasing secondary carer entitlements, such as extending the current 2 weeks to a minimum of 4 weeks paid leave.
- Making the ‘primary carer’ role interchangeable, allowing either parent to assume primary carer status at any point and switch roles if care arrangements change.
- Allowing parental leave to be taken flexibly, including in separate blocks or on a part-time basis over the first 12 months.
If Ambulance Victoria is serious about gender equality, the service must back it up with action. Real equality isn’t achieved by words on a page, it’s achieved when every worker has the same opportunity to care, to rest, and to return.