to address boardroom gender gaps34. The newest of these activities is one launched by the Prime Minister John Key called the 25 Percent Group which has a single-minded objective of 25 percent female participation on boards by 2015. It is comprised of 12 members who are chairs, directors and senior management of some of New Zealand’s leading companies and organisations.35 It also comes at a time when the New Zealand Exchange is pro-actively and positively consulting with its listed entity members on whether to follow the Australian Stock Exchange’s example of requiring companies to disclose diversity policies in their annual financial reporting in a bid for transparency. At odds with these active programmes is the State Party’s newly established and lesser target that appears to have set a 90 percent men and 10 percent women aspiration for corporate sector governance. The Commission urges the Committee to recommend that New Zealand takes seriously Articles 2, 3, 25 and 26 of the Convention, and that the State Party urgently resets indicators that expressly acknowledge gender equality. Diversity in the public service (Article 25(c)) ➢ Ethnic groups are fairly well represented in the public service, given overall population percentages in New Zealand. They are not, however, well represented at senior management levels. In 2010, the State Services Commission reported on diversity in senior management in the public service. The Equality and Diversity Report: Senior Management of the Public Service was informed by interviews with people in public service management roles. It found that the proportion of Māori in senior management declined from 9.7 % in 2001 to 8.3 % in 2010. The proportion of Pacific peoples in senior management also declined slightly in the same period from 1.9% to 1.5%. The percentage of Asian peoples remains unchanged at 1.7%. ➢ Disability data which reflects the employment of people with disabilities in the public sector is no longer collected by the State Services Commission in its annual Human Resource Capability Survey. In Tracking Equality at Work for Disabled People36- a review carried out by the Human Rights Commission on the employment of people with disabilities – the Commission reported that that public service was seen as retrogressive in its role as an employer for disabled people and that the situation was even more difficult in the current environment of public service cuts. While recognising that there have been developments to incorporate thinking about implications for diverse groups and guidance provided in the public service overall, the Committee could recommend setting targets to ensure change is fully implemented at a whole-of-government level. Pay equality and pay equity (Articles 2 & 3) The Commission has consistently raised pay equality and pay equity issues with international treaty bodies (UPR, ICCPR, ICESCR and CEDAW) over the past five years. Three current issues need scrutiny: 1. Pay equality for low paid female carers These include the EEO Trust’s cross mentoring programme, Global Women’s Women in Leadership Break Through programme, work by the Institute of Directors, the New Zealand Women in Leadership initiative within universities for academic women, the 13 corporate CEOs who has signed the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles and accelerator programmes in agribusiness and the electricity supply industry. 35 25 Percent Group Targets Board Diversity. http:newsroom.co.nz/stories/25-percent-group-targets-boarddiversity. 36 The report can be accessed at www.neon.org.nz/trackingeqayulity at wokr/ 34 Page 12 of 35