Māori Women in Aotearoa

This is the Executive Summary of the full report (Download PDF). If you would like a full copy of the report, email mwa@mwa.govt.nz or ring 04 9157112.

Executive Summary

Analysing data from ‘Best Outcomes for Māori – Te Hoe Nuku Roa’

May 2006

• About the Authors
• About 'Best Outcomes for Māori: Te Hoe Nuku Roa'
• About this Report
• Dataset
• Housing, Accommodation and Living Arrangements
• Employment
• Education
• Health
• Access to Culture
• Te Reo Māori
• Māori Women who are Employed
• Māori Women who are NOT Employed
• Māori Women with a Notional Cultural Identity
• Māori Women with a Positive Cultural Identity
• Māori Women with a Secure Cultural Identity
• Māori Women who have a Secondary School Qualification
• Māori Women who do NOT have a Secondary School Qualification
• Māori Women who have a Post-Secondary Qualification – Taking more than Three Month’s Study
• Māori Women who do NOT have a Post-Secondary Qualification – Taking more than Three Month’s Study

About the Authors

Chris Cunningham is Professor of Māori Health and the Director of the Research Centre for Māori Health and Development at Massey University’s Wellington campus. Brendan Stevenson, Eljon Fitzgerald and Rangihaanu Rolls are researchers with the Best Outcomes for Māori: Te Hoe Nuku Roa longitudinal study within the Research Centre for Māori Health and Development at the Turitea Campus of Massey University.

About 'Best Outcomes for Māori: Te Hoe Nuku Roa’

'Best Outcomes for Māori: Te Hoe Nuku Roa’ is a Māori households longitudinal study funded by the Foundation for Research, Science & Technology. Starting in 1994, the study has been designed in consultation with Statistics New Zealand to be a random survey of Māori households in New Zealand. Initially the study operated in Manuwatu/Wanganui, Lower Hutt, South Auckland and Gisborne. Recently the study has been extended for a further five years and two additional sites were recruited: Northland and Southland.

The longitudinal waves are completed every third year, and in 2004/05 the fourth wave of the study is being run.

Some 1500 Māori in over 600 households are participating. 

About this Report

This report includes information on Māori women (over the age of 15) who participated in the Best Outcomes for Māori: Te Hoe Nuku Roa (THNR) longitudinal study. The report describes the current circumstances of the Māori women participating in the study and extends these descriptions to the previous waves (where possible). Further, three sets of bivariate analyses are performed focusing on employment, education and cultural diversity. Finally a description of the changes to households and transitions over time is given.

Dataset

Three waves of the ‘Best Outcomes for Māori: Te Hoe Nuku Roa’ study have been collected. Māori women make up 58% of the sample, statistically weighted to reflect changes in the census populations. The sample covers 600 households.

Housing, Accommodation and Living Arrangements

Most Māori women live with their children, mostly with a partner or alternatively as a sole parent. Although still a minority option, the choice of flatting with other people (not children) has increased as a preference over time.

Living in their own home, either owned with a mortgage or freehold, is the most common housing situation for Māori women, followed by renting. Māori women are less likely to own a home than Māori men, and ownership for women is decreasing over time.

Māori women report very high levels of satisfaction with their accommodation.

Most Māori women who are renting, rent from private leasers. Housing Corporation had been the majority leaser in wave one of the survey, but they are now a minority leaser to Māori women. Most Māori women who are leasing accommodation aspire to own their own home, although this aspiration is slightly less popular over time.

Employment

Most Māori women are employed, although at lower rates than Māori men. The population of women retirees has remained reasonably constant over time. Most employed Māori women work full-time. Full-time employment has become 10% more popular, with part-time work decreasing by the same amount.

Education

Māori women rate their education status highly, which is an interesting finding given that fewer than half of Māori women have a formal secondary school qualification. Women have slightly lower rates of qualification than Māori men, and women’s rates have decreased slightly over time.

School qualifications held are mostly School Certificate (or the equivalent) with few (10%) having a higher school qualification.

About one-third of Māori women have a post-secondary qualification which has required at least three-month’s study. This too is a lower rate than that reported for Māori men.

Currently, for those Māori women who are in study (about 20%), more are in tertiary institutions followed by schools (6%).

Health

Most Māori women rate their health status as being high, a trend which has been evident over the course of the survey.

Most women report that they have very sober habits when it comes to alcohol, yet half of Māori women report smoking – a very high rate.

Most Māori women do not have private provision for health or sickness insurance.

About 20% of Māori women report having a major/minor disability. A majority of women report that they have sought medical treatment in the 12 months prior to the survey.

Access to Culture

Most Māori women feel that their ability with te reo Māori is poor.

A large majority of Māori women prefer to identify as Māori, although a small but growing proportion prefer NOT to identify as Māori (up to 12% in wave three).

Most women reported a good knowledge of their whakapapa. They also said they had visited a marae in the previous 12 months.

Knowledge of iwi was very good, but knowledge of hapu and/or waka was not as good.

Most Māori women also reported that non-household whanau members lived in their immediate communities.

Te Reo Māori

The majority of Māori women are dissatisfied with their te reo Māori language ability. As many women were happy with the availability of te reo Māori on TV as were unhappy.

Unsurprisingly, most Māori women were raised in English language only speaking households.

Māori Women who are Employed

Employed Māori women in the Te Hoe Nuku Roa study typically live in a couple situation with children; are more likely to live in and own their own home (freehold or with a mortgage).

Employed Māori women typically rate their education level highly, are more likely to have a formal secondary school qualification and slightly higher rates of holding a post-secondary qualification requiring at least three month’s study.

Employed Māori women tend to self-rate their health highly; they report higher levels of alcohol drinking and smoking tobacco (although ALL Māori women have relatively high rates of smoking). They are more likely to hold private medical or sickness insurance.

Employed Māori women prefer to identify as ‘Māori’ although more are likely to express a nationalist identity (Kiwi or New Zealander). They have high knowledge of their iwi and moderate knowledge of their hapu and waka. Most also report having other whanau as members of their immediate community.

Employed Māori women are not satisfied with their te reo Māori ability, and were mostly exposed to English up to the age of 15 years.

Māori Women who are NOT Employed

Not-employed Māori women in the Te Hoe Nuku Roa study are more likely to be sole parents and living in rented accommodation (being less likely to own their own home).

Not-employed Māori women are more likely to be attending an educational institution.

Not-employed Māori women report that they drink alcohol less often and smoke slightly less often (although ALL Māori women smoke at relatively higher rates). They report higher levels of requiring medication and having a major/minor disability. There are no differences in having required medical attention in the year prior to the survey.

Not-employed Māori women are not satisfied with their te reo Māori ability, and were mostly exposed to English up to the age of 15 years.

Māori Women with a Notional Cultural Identity

Māori women with a ‘notional cultural identity’ are those whose Māori Cultural Identity (MCI) score is between 0 – 6 (out of a possible score of 18). Fewer than 10% of Māori women are members of this group ((2%, 3%, 8% in the three waves respectively).

It is possible to build up a picture of how Māori women with a ‘notional’ identity differ from other Māori women.

Māori women with a notional identity:

• Are more likely than other Māori women to live as a couple with children
• More often live in a no rent/no board situation
• Are more likely than other Māori women to own their own home
• Have decreasing rates of full-time employment
• Are more likely than other Māori women to have a formal secondary school qualification
• Are more likely than other Māori women to be attending an educational institution
• Are more likely than other Māori women to have a condition requiring medication and are also more likely to have required medical attention in the previous 12 months
• Have the strongest preference for a nationalist identity, although the majority prefer Māori as an identity
• Are more likely to have been exposed to an English-language only speaking environment as a child.

Māori Women with a Positive Cultural Identity

Māori women with a ‘positive cultural identity’ are those whose Māori Cultural Identity (MCI) score is between 7 – 12 (out of a possible score of 18). Most Māori women are members of this group (54%, 48%, 67% in the three waves respectively).

It is possible to build up a picture of how Māori women with a ‘positive’ identity differ from other Māori women. As most Māori women fit into this category the differences from the Māori-norm will be few.

Māori women with a positive identity:

• Have increasing rates of full time employment
• Are slightly less likely to own a home
• Have a weaker preference for a nationalist identity, although the majority prefer Māori as an identity
• Are likely to have been exposed to some Māori language as a child.

Māori Women with a Secure Cultural Identity

Māori women with a ‘secure cultural identity’ are those whose Māori Cultural Identity (MCI) score is between 13 – 18 (out of a possible score of 18). This is the second most populated group (44%, 50% 25% in the three waves respectively).

It is possible to build up a picture of how Māori women with a ‘secure’ identity differ from other Māori women.

Māori women with a secure identity:

• While more likely to have higher rates of satisfaction with their ability in te reo Māori, overall are dissatisfied with their ability
• Have a weaker preference for a nationalist identity, although the majority prefer Māori as an identity
• Are likely to have been exposed to some Māori language as a child.

Māori Women who have a Secondary School Qualification

Māori women in the Te Hoe Nuku Roa study who have a formal secondary school qualification most likely own a home (freehold or mortgage) and are also most likely to live in a couple with children situation, although flatting has become a more popular option over time.

While there are no differences in self-reported health status, qualified women report slightly lower levels of sobriety and slightly higher rates of tobacco smoking. They also have slightly higher rates of having a condition requiring medication, lower rates of reporting a disability but seek medical treatment at a similar frequency.

Māori Women who do NOT have a Secondary School Qualification

Māori women in the Te Hoe Nuku Roa study who do NOT have a formal secondary school qualification most likely own a home (freehold or mortgage) and are also most likely to live in a couple with children situation. In comparison with their qualified peers however, Māori women without qualifications are more likely to be sole parents and to be renting a home.

While there are no differences in self-reported health status, women without qualifications report higher levels of sobriety and lower levels of tobacco smoking. They also have slightly lower rates of having a condition requiring medication, higher rates of reporting a disability but seek medical treatment at a similar frequency.

Māori Women who have a Post-Secondary Qualification – Taking more than Three Month’s Study

Around 35% of Māori women report that they have a formal post-secondary school qualification which required them to study for at least three months.

There are some relative differences between the two groups. Those with qualifications report:

• Flatting as their most frequent and increasing household type (from 11% in wave one to 36% in wave three), and sole parent household has decreased dramatically (from 27% in wave one to 4% in wave three)
• Renting accommodation is decreasing (from 48% in wave one to 21% in wave three) and ownership is increasing (from 40% in wave one to 62% in wave three, combining ownership with a mortgage or freehold)
• Optimism in terms of self-rated health, increasing sobriety over time, similar rates of tobacco smoking, somewhat larger proportion with private medical or sickness insurance, somewhat larger proportion reporting a disability (decreasing over time) and similar rates of having a condition requiring medication and having sought medical treatment in the previous 12 months.

Māori Women who do NOT have a Post-Secondary Qualification – Taking more than Three Month’s Study

Around 65% of Māori women report that they do not have a formal post-secondary qualification which required them to study for at least three months.

Those without formal qualifications report:

• Living in households with their children (about 70% over time), either as a couple or a sole parent
• Renting accommodation increasingly (from 36% in wave one to 44% in wave three) but mostly and increasingly owning their homes (from 49% in wave one to 55% in wave three)
• Optimism in terms of self-rated health, increasing sobriety over time but at lower rates, similar rates of tobacco smoking, somewhat smaller proportion with private medical or sickness insurance, somewhat smaller proportion reporting a disability (decreasing over time) and similar rates of having a condition requiring mediation and having sought medical treatment in the previous 12 months.

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