Governor-General, and the Chief Justice, are held by women. Following the 2017
general election, women comprise 38% of Members of Parliament.
22.
Nevertheless, while women comprise 61% of public servants, they comprise only 42%
of chief executives of public service departments24 and 48% of the top three tiers of
senior management.25 In the private sector, only 19% of directors of companies listed
on the New Zealand Stock Exchange Main Board were female. 26 Only 18% of senior
roles are held by women, and 56% of businesses have no women in senior roles.27 In
one global report, New Zealand ranks 33 out of the 35 countries surveyed for the
proportion of senior leadership roles held by women.28
23.
The Government has an aspirational goal of 45% participation of women on state sector
boards. There is not a goal for equal representation of women in the public sector and
no real leadership for the private sector.
Recommendation 5
a. Prioritise and fund affordable, high quality childcare to ensure women with children can
remain in the workforce and progress to senior roles.
b. Increase targets for women on public sector boards to 50%. Make it a target, not an
aspirational goal.
c. Implement an initial target for private sector boards of 30% women.
d. Make a commitment to encourage the New Zealand Stock exchange to introduce
mandatory gender/diversity policies, and include a requirement to disclose how the
policy will be implemented and evaluated in line with the United Nations Guiding
Principles on Business and Human Rights.
e. Act on previous CEDAW recommendations regarding temporary special measures.
Sexual harassment in the workplace
24.
Sexual harassment and bullying within the workplace, particularly within the legal
industry, police, defence force, and health sector has been reported. A survey of
members of the New Zealand Law Society showed nearly one third of female
24
State Services Commission (2018) Public Service Chief Executives, http://www.ssc.govt.nz/ce-photo-file
State Services Commission (2017) Diversity and Inclusion, http://www.ssc.govt.nz/public-service-workforce-data/hrcdiversity
26 NZX (2017) Diversity Statistics, https://www.nzx.com/regulation/diversity_statistics
27 Grant Thornton (2018) Proportion of women in NZ senior leadership roles has hit rock bottom ,
http://www.grantthornton.co.nz/press/press-releases-2018/proportion-of-women-in-nz-senior-leadership-roles-has-hitrock-bottom/
28Grant Thornton (2018) Women in business: beyond policy to progress, http://www.grantthornton.co.nz/insights/womenin-business-2018/
25
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