Executive summary
Queensland leads Australia for classified female participation at both the sole-trader and incorporated-company stages. Women lead 45.1% of classified sole traders and 16.3% of classified ACN companies. The state has a young women-led company population, strong consumer, care and cultural service sectors, and the country's strongest combined female representation across the broader heavy-industry cluster. The major constraint remains the steep fall in representation as businesses move beyond micro scale.
Key findings
- Women lead 45.1% of classified sole traders and 16.3% of classified ACN companies, the highest jurisdictional results on both measures. These are 2.9 and 1.1 percentage points above the respective national benchmarks.
- Women lead 16.9% of classified micro companies, but representation falls to 8.1% of medium companies and 5.5% of large companies - a 67% relative reduction from micro to large scale.
- Women lead 18.1% of companies producing $50,000-$100,000 per employee, 17.1% in the $100,000-$250,000 band and 16.8% in the $250,000-$500,000 band.
- Among companies with a known age, 38.6% of women-led businesses are no more than five years old, compared with 34.9% of male-led businesses. Female leadership rises from 14.3% among Boomer-led companies to 19.6% among Generation Z-led companies.
- A consumer, care and cultural service cluster accounts for 31.4% of Queensland's women-led portfolio, compared with 23.6% of the male-led portfolio. Queensland records Australia's highest female representation in Arts and Recreation Services, Accommodation and Food Services, Administrative and Support Services, and Retail Trade.
- Women lead 28.2% of classified Health Care and Social Assistance companies. Across Mining, Construction, Manufacturing, Transport and Utilities, women lead 12.0% of classified companies - the highest combined heavy-industry result nationally.
Methodology context
The report examines active businesses across ABN sole traders and ACN registered companies. Where leadership gender can be reliably classified, entities are identified as women-led, gender-equal-led or male-led, with analysis across geography, industry, company size, business age, leadership generation and productivity. Percentages refer to entities for which leadership gender could be reliably classified.