Gender Equality in New Zealand - Wikigender.org
 

Gender Equality in New Zealand

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New_Zealand
flag_New_Zealand.png
Flag of New_Zealand
Population (in Mil.) 4.3
Sex Ratio (m/f) 0,99
Life Expectancy Ratio (f/m) 1.05
Fertility Rate -
Income Ratio (f/m) -
Literacy Ratio (f/m) n/a
Tertiary Enrolment Ratio (f/m) 1,41
Women in Parliament (in %) 32,2
SIGI Rank -
More information on variables
 

Contents

Overview

New Zealand was ranked fifth in the 2008 Gender Gap Report, showing strong progress in education attainment, political empowerment and economic participation. New Zealand has a long history of promoting women's equality: it was the first country to give women the vote in the 19th century and has strong female representation in politics and the judiciary. 

Education and Employment

At the time of the 2001 Census, young women were more likely to leave school with a qualification (86 percent) than their male counterparts (81 percent). Women are now more highly represented in tertiary education than ever before. In 2001
women made up more than half (53 percent) of all tertiary enrolments. There are gendered differences in subject and vocation choices at tertiary level, with more women studying health-related subjects and men studying engineering-related subjects.

Despite this level of education attainment, women have higher rates of participation than men in all categories of unpaid work, both within and outside the household.

Legislation

The Domestic Purposes Benefit was introduced in 1973 for all parents (mainly women) caring for dependent children without the support of a partner.  In the same year, the Accident Compensation Amendment Act extended compensation to non-earners, particularly benefiting women who do full-time unpaid work in the home. The Human Rights Commission Act was first introduced in 1979 and was later modified in 1993 to extend the grounds under which discrimination in employment matters, provision of goods and services, and access to places, vehicles and facilities is illegal in New Zealand. It covers sex, pregnancy, childbirth, sexual orientation, marital status (including living in a relationship in the nature of a marriage), family status (including having or not having responsibility for care of children or other dependants), and disability.

Political Empowerment

On 19 September 1893, New Zealand became the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote in parliamentary elections. However,women were not eligible to be elected to the House of Representatives until 1919. The first woman to win an election was Elizabeth McCombs in 1933. The first Maori woman MP was Iriaka Ratana in 1949. In 1989 Helen Clark became the first female Deputy Prime Minister. In 1997 Jenny Shipley became the first female Prime Minister after Jim Bolger lost the support of the National Party. In 1999, Clark became the second female Prime Minister, and the first female to actually win election to the position.

Sources

See Also

The Women, Business and the Law

Where are laws equal for men and women? 

The Women, Business and the Law report presents indicators based on laws and regulations affecting women's prospects as entrepreneurs and employees. Several of these indicators draw on the Gender Law Library, a collection of over 2,000 legal provisions impacting women's economic status. This report does not seek to judge or rank countries, but to provide information to inform discussions about women’s economic rights. Covering 128 economies, Women, Business and the Law provides data covering 6 areas: accessing institutions,using property, getting a job, dealing with taxes, building credit, and going to court.Read more about the methodology.

For detailed information on New Zealand, please visit the Women, Business and
the Law New Zealand page.

Sources

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