Within this section:

• Introduction
• The Action Plan for New Zealand Women
• Priorities
  
  

Introduction

Governments seek to ensure that their citizens are safe and secure, are in good health, are educated and skilled, and have the ability to earn incomes sufficient to meet their needs.

To achieve these outcomes, governments must facilitate effective use of a society's collective resources. One of the most valuable resources available to a society is its people. When constraints on people's ability to reach their potential are minimised, society as a whole benefits - both economically and socially. When potential is constrained, there is an opportunity cost for society.

As outlined in Part 1, there is evidence that the full potential of women as a group within New Zealand society is not being realised. This has implications for not only the lives of individuals directly affected, but also for the well-being of all New Zealanders, as the well-being of women affects families, communities and the economy.

Government, therefore, has an interest in improving outcomes for women - to the extent that government action is necessary and is likely to make a difference. While significant progress has been made in improving outcomes for women in many areas, progress is slow in other areas. Part 2 outlines the current framework for government activity to improve outcomes for women, and highlights areas that the Ministry of Women's Affairs (the Ministry) believes are likely to be a high priority in the short to medium term.

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The Action Plan for New Zealand Women

No single agency has responsibility for all the issues that impact on the well-being of women. The Action Plan for New Zealand Women (Action Plan), launched in 2004, is a whole-of-government plan to improve outcomes for women and capitalise on opportunities for women that can contribute to New Zealand's wider economic and social prospects. The Action Plan provides a basis for co-ordinated government activity.

Three high-level outcomes have been identified within the Action Plan.

• The economic independence of women in New Zealand will be improved.
• Greater work life balance will be achieved in New Zealand.
• The quality of life for all New Zealand women will be improved.

In line with these outcomes, the Action Plan is divided into three workstreams. For each workstream, the Ministry has identified a hierarchy of intermediate outcomes that must be reached for the high-level outcomes to be achieved.

Improving the economic independence of women

• Women have access to the full range of opportunities for paid work and employment.
• Women are equitably rewarded for their work.
• Women have access to an adequate minimum level of income.
• Women have optimal access to, and use of, their financial resources.

Achieving work-life balance

• Women can successfully integrate work into their personal and family lives.
• Women can easily make the contribution they desire to their community.
• Women can access support and services to allow them to meet their responsibilities to others.

Improving well-being

• Women are physically, mentally and emotionally healthy.
• Women are safe at home and in their communities.
• Women can meet their social and cultural needs.

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The Action Plan sets out initial tasks and actions across government necessary to achieve the Plan's vision. For example, Action Plan tasks include initiatives led by the Department of Labour to increase women's earnings through pay and employment equity initiatives, as well as initiatives lead by the Ministry of Health to reduce Mäori women's smoking rates.

The implementation of the Action Plan is overseen by a Chief Executives' Steering Group for the Action Plan. The Steering Group comprises chief executives of Treasury, Te Puni Kōkiri, and Ministries of Social Development, Economic Development, and Pacific Island Affairs. The Chief Executive of the Ministry of Women's Affairs chairs the group.

A monitoring framework has been developed to assess the impact government actions have had on achieving the high-level outcomes, and enable the development of future approaches and initiatives that are most likely to achieve the outcomes of the Action Plan.

The monitoring framework reflects the need to take account of the diversity of women and provide a meaningful picture of the impact of the Action Plan for all kinds of women. The Ministry is working to develop indicators and identify monitoring and evaluation being undertaken by other departments on projects relevant to the Action Plan.

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Priorities

The Action Plan provides a framework for progress in a range of areas of relevance to women's lives. There are some areas, however, that are likely to be of particular importance in the short to medium term.

The Ministry of Women's Affairs has used the following criteria to select areas it believes would make the most significant difference to improving outcomes for women:

• research evidence or international comparisons suggest that improvements can be made by government to enhance New Zealand's economic and social development
• a large number of women are affected, or small numbers of women are commonly and severely affected
• achievement of other economic and social outcomes are affected.

On this basis, the Ministry believes that the following areas would make a significant difference:

• improving choices for parents and other carers
• reducing the pay gap between men and women and between different groups of women
• reducing gender segregation in employment
• reducing the incidence and impact of domestic violence.

While these areas are particularly important, they do not represent all that is required to ensure that women fully contribute to New Zealand's economic and social development. Ongoing analysis of impacts on women in a range of policy areas is necessary to achieve this.

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Improving choices for parents and other carers

Overall, New Zealand's labour force participation rates are relatively high, and there is a long term trend of increasing labour force participation by women. However, the participation rate for women is still significantly lower than that for men: 59.6 percent compared to 73.8 percent in 2004.

Sixty-two percent of those not participating in the labour force are women. Internationally, it is common for women to have lower rates of participation than men, but New Zealand has lower than average rates of participation for women in the age groups where family formation typically takes place, and in particular, for sole parents and mothers of children aged under five years.

Many mothers tend to scale back their participation in paid work while children are young. Fathers on average tend to undertake more paid work during this period and work relatively long hours.

It is important to recognise the value of parenting and other caring responsibilities. Many families make conscious choices about the amount of paid work they engage in, in line with their particular circumstances and personal values and preferences about caring for children. Individual families are best placed to make these judgements.

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For some parents and carers, however, there are barriers to choosing the arrangement of activities that best suit their needs - whether they relate to caring for children or other dependants. These barriers include: availability of high-quality, affordable childcare; workplace cultures and practices; financial incentives to work; and difficulties in making transitions from one level of paid work to another. Some parents would like to work more, some would like to work less, and some would like to distribute paid and unpaid responsibilities differently.

Ensuring that families are able to reconcile work and family responsibilities will become increasingly important in the future. In New Zealand and internationally, there is evidence that women are making trade-offs between careers and family - fertility rates have dropped below replacement levels in most OECD countries.

These trade offs have implications, not only for the future sustainability of the labour force, but also for the ability of people to fulfil their aspirations for different areas of their lives. An ageing population means that, in addition to childcare responsibilities, it is increasingly likely that women will also need to balance responsibility for caring for ageing parents with their aspirations to work.

Both New Zealand and international research indicates that to provide parents with real choices about paid work participation, it is important that they have access to childcare that meets their needs. Parents need to know that their children are well cared for - education and care services for young children must be of a high quality as well as affordable. Research shows that high-quality education and care has significant benefits for children, particularly those from less advantaged backgrounds.

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Reducing the pay gap between men and women and between different groups of women

There has been a significant closing of the gap between men and women's pay, but the median hourly pay of women is still about 13 percent less than that of men. This has not changed significantly in the last four years. Some groups of women, such as Māori and Pacific women, also earn significantly less than others.

In part, the pay gap is due to different patterns of participation in paid employment, differences in education levels and the occupations in which women tend to work.
However, a portion of the difference between men's and women's average earnings remains unexplained, and may reflect discrimination.

Income is a key determinant of quality of life. If women are restricted in their ability to be economically independent, this can restrict the life choices that are available to them and their families. Lower income levels, for instance, restrict people's ability to repay student loans, buy a house or save for retirement.

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Reducing gender segregation in employment

Occupational segregation has been identified as a contributing factor to the gap between the average incomes of men and women. Although women's participation in paid work is now much more common than in the past, women's employment is still concentrated in a small number of occupations. Many of these occupations are female-dominated.

If women's career choices are constrained, this represents an under-utilisation of the full range of women's abilities, and therefore, an opportunity cost for society. Effective use of human capital is an important element of improving economic productivity. Consequently, in the context of seeking to enhance productivity, it is important that women are not constrained in career choice or in developing and using their skills and abilities.

Breaking down gender segregation of work is particularly important in the context of a tight labour market and skill shortage in some industries. The ability of the labour market to respond to the demand for certain skills is restricted when gender segregation exists.

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Reducing the incidence and impact of domestic violence

Domestic violence is physical or sexual violence, psychological abuse, or threat of physical or sexual violence that occurs between intimate partners.

Reducing domestic violence is a priority because of the high personal costs it creates for women and children. The impact of domestic violence permeates many spheres of women's lives, including the lives of their children. It affects their mental and physical health, economic status, social participation and general well-being. Being a victim of domestic violence carries immediate impacts but the effects of abuse can persist long after the abuse itself has stopped - such as an increased risk of future ill health. Well-being is essential to active participation in the economy and society, to the benefit of all.

Women's lifetime prevalence of sexual violence and partner violence is higher than men's. Domestic violence is prevalent, is perpetrated by men against women, and does have fatal consequences. Domestic violence creates high personal costs but also has significant direct and indirect social and economic costs for society as a whole. One New Zealand study estimated that family violence - broader than domestic violence - cost the country at least $1.2 billion per annum.

Domestic violence also impacts on inter-generational outcomes. While most children who witness domestic violence will not perpetrate domestic violence as adults, many adult perpetrators and victims have experienced some form of family violence in the past. Overall, studies indicate that children who have witnessed violence exhibit a host of behavioural and emotional problems, compared to other children. The effects on a child's well-being of witnessing violence may continue into adult life and is associated with depression, trauma-related symptoms and low self-esteem.