Promotion and Resignation of Men and Women Graduate Administrative Officers in the Public Service of Victoria

Abstract

Two of the greatest social changes of the last few decades have been the substantial increase in the general educational level of new entrants into the workforce and the rise of the equal employment opportunity movement. Like other employers, the Public Service of Victoria has been affected by both of these changes. ¹ It now employs many graduates and many women in positions that a few years ago were all male and very largely non-graduate. During the 1970s several hundred graduates joined the Service as administrative officers, and the comparative promotion and resignation rates of the men and women in this group form the subject matter of this paper. The paper is not a comprehensive review of the literature; it presents, instead, a detailed and specific comparative study of these rates.