Quick facts

Population

In 2001, Māori made up almost 15 percent of New Zealand’s population (that is slightly more than 1 person in every 7 people).

Just over half the Māori population were female.

Māori males out-numbered Māori females in the group aged 0–14, but females outnumbered males in all other age groups.

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Iwi

The three largest iwi are Ngāpuhi with almost 103,000 descendants, Ngāti Porou with almost 62,000 descendants, and Ngāi Tahu/Kāi Tahu with 40,000 descendants.

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Median age

The Māori population is relatively youthful, with Māori women having a median age of 23 years in 2001. This means half of all Māori females are aged under 23.

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Geographical distribution

The majority of Māori women live in the North Island, mainly in Auckland, the Waikato and the Bay of Plenty.

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Language

Māori women have been instrumental in the renaissance of te reo Māori (the Māori language). In 2001 women made up over half of those who could speak te reo Māori.

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Families and households

One in five Māori women lives as part of an extended family household, the most common being a family of three or more generations.

One in three Māori women lives in a de facto partnership, compared with 1 in 7 women from other ethnic groups.

In 2001, Māori women were more likely than any other major ethnic group to be sole parents (24 percent).

In 1996, 4 out of 10 Māori women with dependant children were sole parents.

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Paid work

In 2004, almost 6 out of 10 Māori women were in paid work compared with about 7 out of 10 Māori men. The difference between men’s and women’s participation rates is primarily due to the much lower levels of participation in paid work by women in the age groups when child rearing typically takes place. Women, by and large, take primary responsibility for the care of young children.

In particular, Māori women aged in their 20s have lower rates of participation in paid work, which may reflect younger parenthood.

Three out of every 10 female Māori employees works part time.

Ethnic differences in the occupational distribution of women mean Māori and Pacific women are more likely to work in low-skilled manual occupations while European and Asian women are more likely to work in legislative, administrative, managerial and professional occupations.

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Income

In 2001, the median income for Māori women was $13,200 compared with $18,600 for Māori men and $14,500 for the total population. This meant half of Māori women had an income under $13,200.

While women earn less than men at all ages, the gap is narrow for the youngest and oldest age groups, and relatively large in age groups where family formation usually takes place.

In 2004 the median hourly earnings of Māori and Pacific women ($13.50 and $12.30 respectively), are lower than those of European women ($15.00).

The pay gap is also larger in some sectors. In February 2003, the gap between men’s and women’s average ordinary time hourly pay across the public service and public health and education sectors was 19.7 percent, compared with 12.6 percent for the whole economy.

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Unpaid work

Māori women do more unpaid work in the community than other groups, mainly administration, training, teaching, counselling and fundraising.

Māori women spend more time caring for household members than women of other ethnicity according to a time-use survey in 1998–1999, possibly because they tend to have more children, and at a younger age, than other women.

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Education

The participation rate of Māori women in tertiary education is particularly high at 22.3 percent. This follows significant increases in enrolments by Māori women in the last seven years, particularly at certificate level in wānanga. The fields of study chosen by men and women, however, are distinctly different. Women are more likely than men to study health and education, while men are more likely to study engineering, agriculture, architecture and building.

Of the teaching workforce, 10 percent of female teachers are Māori. Most of these teachers work in early childhood education.

Te kōhanga reo is the most popular early childhood education for Māori girls. Te kōhanga reo is an early childhood service that uses Māori styles of learning and teaching and total language immersion.

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Health

The government is committed to reducing inequalities in health status for all New Zealanders.  In particular, the Māori Health strategy - He Korowai Oranga sets a new direction for Māori health development for the next 10 years.  The aim is to achieve whanau ora – Māori families supported to achieve health and well being. 

However, Māori women suffer higher rates of some diseases that non-Māori women.  Māori women have higher rates of, and death from, some forms of cancer than non-Māori women – for example in 2000, Māori women were four times more likely to die from breast cancer.

The diabetes mortality rate for Māori women is also almost six times the rate for non-Māori women.

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Māori healing

Traditional Māori healing methods include mirimiri, rongoā and karakia (massage, herbal treatments and spiritual prayer). The Ministry of Health has been discussing the role of traditional healing within mainstream services with traditional healers, Māori health providers and iwi. National standards were developed in 1999.

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Life expectancy

Māori women’s life expectancy is 73 years. Although this is lower than that of women from other ethnic groups, it is increasing steadily.

Housing

In 1996, almost 1 in 3 Māori owned their own home, but this was lower than the rate for the total population.

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Violence against women

It is estimated that almost a third of the total population experienced some form of victimisation each year.

Within each ethnic group, the lifetime prevalence for violence by heterosexual partners was higher for women than for men (26 percent compared with 18 percent). It was also very much higher for Māori women than for European women (49 percent compared with 26 percent). 

Women’s lifetime prevalence of sexual interference or assault was considerably higher than men’s (19 percent compared with 5 percent). It was higher still for Māori women (23 percent).

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