Gender Inequality in New Zealand Research

Gender inequality in New Zealand – Inequality in New Zealand 

-     Results from the Human Rights Commission’s Tracking Equality at Work report are shameful and show we need to do more to help women in the workplace, says the National Council of Women of New Zealand National President Rae Duff.

-     The report shows women have higher unemployment and underemployment than men. Woman  are underrepresented in leadership roles in the public and private sectors, and make up two thirds of those earning the minimum wages.

-      “It’s not good enough that the representation of women in senior management positions in the private sector has sharply declined, from 31 per cent in 2014 to 19 per cent in 2015. Women’s representation on private sector boards also lags and sits at 14.4 per cent.

-     Pacific and Māori women are paid less per hour than European women, and disabled women have lower incomes than disabled men. This is a shame on our country and we need to reduce these inequalities for the sake of these individuals, their families and communities and for our economy.

-     “It is alarming that around two thirds of minimum wage earners over 25 years are women, which reflects the critical work that needs to be done to get equal pay for work of equal value and for more women to enter a wider range of professions and attain more senior roles.

-     “On the positive, there does seem to be a current upswing in awareness of gender issues and more employers taking action to ensure their policies and practices around recruitment and promotion, pay and conditions support diversity in the workplace. But it’s clearly not enough and more people need to do more.

-     Zealand women are among the most educated in the world, a new report shows, but there is a growing gap between economic opportunities for men and women - including their pay packets.

-     The World Economic Forum's annual report on the gender gap shows New Zealand has dropped in global rankings from seventh last year to 13th this year.

-     The Global Gender Gap Index ranks countries on the gap between men and women on health, education, economic and political indicators. New Zealand has improved or stayed the same on all indicators except for economic participation and opportunities, where the gap has widened. For pay equality, the country ranks 33rd out of 142 countries.

-     Dame Jenny Shipley, the country's first female Prime Minister and chairwoman of Global Women NZ, said the report showed there was "so much to do" to reach equality.

-     It was "inexcusable" for a woman to graduate from secondary or tertiary education with equal qualifications to a man and enter the workforce, only to be paid less.

-     The OECD's Gender Equality in Education, Employment and Entrepreneurship: Final Report also states that Woman in New Zealand do more unpaid work than paid work, gain more tertiary qualifications than men and women-owned new enterprises outperform men-owned enterprises.

-     Although wage inequality between men and woman has been slowly dropping, the report finds that the government funding allocated to reduce inequality in New Zealand is on the low side in comparison to other OECD countries.

-     So basically woman are getting a raw deal. In fact the gender pay gap in the public sector was 14.4% in 2010. If we include all areas of the workforce, woman on average earn around $10,000 less per year.