For many Kiwi women glass is half empty

By TRUDIE McNAUGHTON

What is the status of women in New Zealand? In part, your answer reflects your own experience. If you are a recent, female, prize-winning law graduate being sought after by all the top firms, you may believe that women have equal status at last.

But what if you have just seen your wife bypassed for promotion to partner in her law firm because, as a part-time lawyer with two pre-schoolers, she is seen as not serious about her work?

At the same time as this is going on, you (also a devoted parent) have just been promoted in another professional services firm.

Or what if your daughter has just been told that she can return from parental leave only to a full-time position without breaks or space to breast-feed?

You might think that the international reputation of women in New Zealand having "made it" is more hype than reality.

Evaluating the status of women here is like deciding if the glass is half full or half empty.

We do have much to be proud of. We are recognised internationally for the leadership of our women.

With women holding many of the top positions - Prime Minister, Maori Sovereign, Attorney-General, Chief Justice, Governor-General, Secretary to the Cabinet, chief executive of Telecom and, just announced, High Commissioner to Australia - how could we not be?

New Zealand's record on equal opportunities for women compares well internationally. Women hold 28 per cent of parliamentary seats compared with Australia at 22 per cent and Britain at 18 per cent. New Zealand has one of the highest percentages of women legislators, senior officials and managers, according to an International Labour Organisation survey last year.

In the professions, too, New Zealand women are faring better than their counterparts overseas.

Last year 37 per cent of all GPs were women, compared with in Britain, where in 1999, 34 per cent were women.

In engineering, women make up 7 per cent of the membership of the Institute of Professional Engineers of New Zealand. In Britain, 2 per cent of registered engineers are women.

Young women are more likely than young men to be studying and more likely to have post-school qualifications. Nineteen per cent of women aged 20 to 29 had a degree or higher-level qualification, compared with 14 per cent of men.

Significant progress has been made in many workplaces to enable workers to balance their paid work with the rest of their lives, including their family responsibilities.

Importantly, one indicator of progress is that family responsibilities are less often seen as "just a women's issue". Workplaces which provide flexibility and good leave provisions, and monitor job design, workload and hours for all staff, male and female, are those which are more likely to be seen as employers of choice.

However, a closer look at women's participation in paid work shows some areas of real concern. The fact that women still earn less than men is the most obvious indicator that we still have room for improvement in giving women a fair go at work.

In the February quarter this year, women earned only 84.3 per cent of men's average, ordinary time hourly earnings. Men earned $20.13 an hour, compared with $16.95 for women.

Among recent graduates, the average salaries of men are higher than for women with the same qualifications, regardless of their field of study.

Where women and men work in the same occupation, women on average earn less than men, with the greatest discrepancy among managers.

Gender earnings data show the danger of generalising about women as a homogeneous group. For example, ethnicity is significant in considering the status of women.

Maori and Pacific Island women generally earn less than other women. While overall, Pakeha women's average hourly earnings are 86 per cent of men's earnings, Maori women earn 74 per cent and Pacific women 70 per cent.

Looking beyond the workplace, it is worth noting that not only are women paid less at work but they also do more unpaid work than men. Women on average do 4.8 hours unpaid work a day, compared with men's 2.8 hours.

Even when they are in full-time employment, women still do more unpaid work than men in full-time employment.

And although all women are more likely to spend more time doing all types of unpaid work than men, Maori women spend a larger amount of their day caring for household members than do non-Maori women.

New Zealand women are delaying having children until they are older. This has major implications for their chance of getting pregnant.

New Zealand, along with much of the Western world, continues to have a falling birth rate. A smart country makes it easier for those who wish to have children to do so.

We know that issues to do with the workplace are significant in decisions made about whether, when and how many children women will have. Provision of paid parental leave is a critical advance for women.

Laudable, too, is the entitlement for women to transfer all or part of the leave to a partner, including a same-sex partner.

If we are serious about making sure fathers are more involved in parenting, encouraging them to use provisions such as parental leave will be important.

New Zealand has earned an international reputation for advancing the status of women. To ensure our reputation is earned and enhanced, we will need to monitor women's continuing representation in local and national positions of influence, in all types of work and at all levels.

Although women have demonstrated their aptitude for political power, barriers remain between women and corporate influence. Until we have more equal representation on our boards of directors, among chief executives and senior management, we limit New Zealand's success.

Pay equity will be another key indicator of progress, as will increased sharing of unpaid family and community work.

Improvements in the status of Maori, Pacific and other ethnic groups in New Zealand are crucial before we can say we have achieved equal status for women and men.

My answer to the question of how well New Zealand is advancing the status of women reflects a desire to celebrate progress without risking complacency.

It reads a little like a generic fourth form report card: "Has made significant advances, doing well compared with peers but potential still not realised. Will have to work hard not to rest on laurels".

* Trudie McNaughton is the executive director of the Equal Employment Opportunities Trust.

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