Governments across the OECD perform a wide range of functions, all of which depend on a dedicated and skilled public sector workforce. The large differences in the relative sizes of public sector employment across the OECD reflect the equally large variety of activities undertaken by governments and the ways they deliver public services. Services can be delivered in large part by government employees or through a range of partnerships with the private or not-for-profit sectors. In some countries, the large majority of health care providers, teachers and emergency workers, for example, are directly employed by the government. In other countries alternative delivery mechanisms mean that many of these professionals are employed by organisations that are not state-owned, or as private contractors. The use of outsourcing, the relative size and structure of the voluntary, charitable and/or not-for-profit sectors and the availability of private sector providers, all determine their use of public sector employment.

Equal representation of women in public sector employment helps achieve fairness, openness and representativeness. It also improves the quality of service delivery through a better understanding of the citizenry. In the OECD countries for which data are available, women represented, on average, 58% of the total public sector workforce in 2013 going from more than 70% in Sweden to 42% in Japan. Japan reported establishing targets for women at the sectoral level in areas where women are under--represented. On average in OECD countries, women are more represented in the public sector (58.2%) as compared to the whole economy where women employment as a share of the total employment reached only 45.3%. It is important to note that the data don’t demonstrate the extent to which women hold managerial leadership positions within the public sector.

In many OECD countries, increasing the number of women in parliament and the number of women appointed to ministerial positions is an important objective. Greater gender balance amongst politicians can improve the quality and responsiveness of public policy by focusing attention on issues such as equal pay, work-life balance and gender violence. Gender-sensitive parliaments can also improve governments’ efforts in effectively implementing gender equality and mainstreaming strategies, as parliamentary committees may also serve as important independent oversight and accountability mechanisms. Yet women still face a glass ceiling blocking their full participation in political life in the legislature and political executive, and remain generally under-represented in politics (OECD, 2014).