Families and households

Patterns of childbearing
Effects of child-bearing patterns
Family structure
Living arrangements
Economic position of Maori women and their families
Sources of personal income
Personal income levels

Patterns of childbearing

Over the past four decades, there have been considerable changes in patterns of Māori family and household formation. While the fertility rate of Māori women has dropped over the last 30 years, making it more comparable to that of non-Māori women, their patterns of childbearing, particularly in terms of timing, remain very different.

Māori women are more likely to start having children in their mid-teens and early twenties, whereas non-Māori women tend to delay the birth of their first child to their late twenties and early thirties. In 1995, the fertility rate of Māori women up to age 24 was twice that of non-Māori women in the same age group. Between the ages of 25 and 44, the non-Māorifertility rate exceeded the Māori rate by varying margins, the widest difference occurring at ages 30-34 (Figure 5).

Figure 5 Age-specific fertility rates of Māori and non-Māori women, 1995

Source: Statistics New Zealand 1998i Note: See note for Table 1.

Despite the shift towards childbearing at older ages, Māori women are much more likely than their non-Māori counterparts to have their first child before the age of 20 (Figure 6). In 1994, the fertility rate of Māori women aged 15-19 was three times higher than that of non-Māori women.

Figure 6 Fertility rates for Māori and non-Māori women aged 15-19 years, 1980-1994

Source: Statistics New Zealand 1998i Note: Data for 1995 is not included as it is not comparable with earlier years. See note for Table 1.

There is some evidence to suggest that Māori women, especially young women, may have a high number of unplanned pregnancies (In 1995, just under half of all abortions were performed on women under 25 years of age.) Māori women tend to have a higher abortion rate than non-Māori women (Abortion Supervisory Committee 1997). Comparatively high rates of abortion partly reflect awareness of, access to, and use of, contraception. A 1995 survey found that 19% of Māori women under the age of 50, who were not pregnant at the time and who were sexually active in the four weeks prior to the survey were not currently using any method of contraception. The comparable figure for non-Māori women was 10% (University of Waikato 1998).

Back to top

Effects of child-bearing patterns

The earlier age of childbearing of Māori women helps to explain a different pattern for participation in post-compulsory education and training (PCET) and the labour force. Figure 7 shows that young Māori women are considerably less likely to be in tertiary education than young non-Māori women. Māori women aged 18-21 are less than half as likely as non-Māori women to participate in PCET. On the other hand, the participation rates of older Māori women (35+ years) slightly exceed those of their non-Māori peers. This suggests that many Māori women may not be able to participate in PCET until then for a range of reasons, such as caring for preschool children.

Figure 7 Age-specific participation rates for Māori and non-Māori women in post-compulsory education and training (PCET), 1996

Source: Ministry of Education 1996, 1997b; Statistics New Zealand 1998j

Lower levels of participation in education and training impact in turn on the ability of Māori women to compete in the labour market and ultimately, influence the economic position of Māori families. Māori women have lower levels of labour force participation than non-Māori women, particularly in their twenties (Figure 8). Many young Māori women cannot access employment opportunities because of childcare, other family commitments, or other reasons. In line with trends in tertiary education participation, Māori women's labour force participation rates start to increase after age 34, once their children are older.

By comparison, non-Māori women move into and out of the full-time labour force. This is referred to as the 'm-shaped' curve (Figure 8). Many non-Māori women enter the full-time labour force only after they have completed study, in their twenties. In their late twenties and early thirties, many non-Māori women either leave the full-time labour force or switch to the part-time labour force, to care for preschool children. They return to the full-time or part-time labour force in their late thirties and early forties.

Figure 8 Age-specific full-time labour force participation rates for Māori and non-Māori women, 1996

Source: Statistics New Zealand 1997c, 1998a

Back to top

Family structure

The shape and living circumstances of the family unit have been changing, and sole parent families are now much more common in both Māori and non-Māori communities than they were 20 years ago. Māori women are much more likely than non-Māori women to be raising children on their own. In 1996, about 43% of Māori women with dependent children were sole parents, compared with 19% of non-Māori women.

While there was a sharp increase in the proportion of Māori children being raised in one-parent families between 1981 and 1991 (from 19% to 39%), the proportion increased by only two percentage points between 1991 and 1996 (reaching 41%). With a gap as wide as this, it is only too easy to overlook the fact that nearly 60% of Māori children are being brought up in two-parent families (Table 3).

Table 3 Number and percent of Māori and non-Māori children in one- and two-parent families, 1996

Source: Statistics New Zealand 1996, 1997c, 1998b

Back to top

Living arrangements

In 1996, about one in every three Māori women living with a partner was in a de facto relationship, compared to one in seven non-Māori women. Higher rates of de facto relationships among Māori, especially older Māori women, may be due in part to traditional Māori views that the legal status of marriage is less important. However, given commonly held stereotypes about the high numbers of Māori in de facto relationships, it should be noted that 68% of partnered Māori women are legally married.

Nearly 50% of Māori women aged 16 and over have no dependent children. Three-quarters of these women live in family households (eg, in one- or two-parent households, or in households of two or more families). The comparative figure for non-Māori women is similar, at 72%. Māori women without dependent children are three times more likely than non-Māori women to live in households containing two or more families (12% of Māori women compared with 4% of non-Māori women).

Over two-thirds (69%) of Māori mothers with dependent children (whether partnered or unpartnered) live with their children in a one-family household. The remainder live in households with other people. In 1996, one-third of Māori women with children were living in a shared household compared to only 14% of non-Māori women.

While not all shared households constitute extended families, the most recent census suggests that extended family households are still common for many Māori women. 6 Published figures relate to Māori females of all ages and do not give breakdowns by age or by parental status. At the time of the 1996 Census, one in every five Māori women lived as part of an extended family household, the most common form being the three or more generations family. Moreover, Māori women were more than twice as likely as non-Māori women to live in a two-generation or three or more generations or more family (Figure 9).

Figure 9 Percent of Māori and non-Māori women living in extended family households, 1996

Source: Statistics New Zealand 1997b

Back to top

Economic position of Maori women and their families

Māori families are over-represented by a considerable margin at the lower end of the family income scale. In 1996, 62,000 Māori children aged 0-14 (41% of all Māori children in this age group) were in families with an annual income of less than $20,000. Among non-Māori children, the proportion was about 20%. Differences in childbearing patterns account for a large part of the difference in the economic position of Māori and non-Māori families.

Household income is another measure of the socio-economic position of women. In 1996, 45% of Māori women lived in households that had an annual income before tax of $30,000 or less (Figure 10). For non-Māori women this figure was 36%. In contrast, only 13% of Māori women, compared with 22% of non-Māori women, lived in households with an annual income over $70,000.

Figure 10 Percent of Māori and non-Māori women living in households by household income, 1996

Source: Statistics New Zealand 1997b

Back to top

Sources of personal income

One of the factors contributing to the different income levels of Māori and non-Māori women is undoubtedly the disproportionately high number of Māori women receiving government benefits. In 1996, one in every two Māori women aged 15 and over received a government benefit in the 12 months before the Census compared with one in five non-Māori women (Figure 11). For many of those Māori women who received a benefit, especially sole parents, this would have been their only source of income over that period.

About 51% of both Māori and non-Māori women received income from wages and salaries, but Māori women were less likely than non-Māori women to receive income from interest and other investments, New Zealand Superannuation, and self-employment.

The difference in age structure between the Māori and non-Māori population contributes to the differences in their sources of income. Recent work has found that, after adjusting for these differences Māori women and men are still more likely than their non-Māori peers to receive the unemployment and domestic purposes benefit, and equally likely to receive New Zealand Superannuation (Statistics New Zealand 1998g).

Figure 11 Percent of Māori and non-Māori women who received income from selected income sources, 1996

Source: Statistics New Zealand 1997c, 1998c Note: People can receive income from more than one source. 'Government benefits' includes domestic purposes benefit, sickness benefit, and 'other' government benefits.to receive the unemployment and domestic 'Other sources of income' includes regular ACC payments, other superannuation, pensions and annuities, purposes benefit, and are equally likely to and 'other' sources of income.

Back to top

Personal income levels

Māori women's personal incomes are considerably lower than those of non-Māori women. In 1986, the inflation-adjusted median income of Māori women was almost the same as that of non-Māori women. By 1996, however, Māori women had a median personal income of $11,200, compared with $12,800 for non-Māori women.

Following the pattern of the general population, Māori men have a higher median income than Māori women ($4,800 higher in 1996). Moreover, the median income of Māori men was significantly lower than that of non-Māori men, with a difference in 1996 of $6,800, a gap considerably wider than that of $1,600 between Māori and non-Māori women.

Nearly 78% of all Māori women who specified their income in the 1996 Census received $20,000 or less in the previous 12 months and only 3% had an annual income over $40,000 (Table 4). The equivalent figures for non-Māori women were 69% and 6% respectively.

Table 4 Distribution of Māori and non-Māori women's personal incomes, 1996

Source: Statistics New Zealand 1998c

Income levels are age-related. Since Māori women have a younger age profile than non-Māori women, they will not, as a group, have the same earning capacity as non-Māori women. The difference in the percentage of Māori and non-Māori women receiving more than $20,000 personal income is relatively low for women aged under 25, but is more marked in the middle and older age groups (Figure 12).

Figure 12 Percent of Māori and non-Māori women with personal incomes of $20,000 or more by age, 1996

Source: Statistics New Zealand 1998h

Back to top

[ Previous | Contents | Next ]