SECTION 5 - EQUALITY AND NON DISCRIMINATION (Articles 2, 20 and 26) A Equality in employment LOIPR Please provide information on the measures taken to ensure equality in employment by closing the existing pay gaps between men and women. Furthermore, please provide information on the concrete measures taken, since the last periodic report, to improve the low representation of women in high-level and managerial positions and on boards of private entities. Please provide information on the measures taken to identify and address the underlying causes of the wider pay gap in the public service. (Para 11) 87 The female labour force participation rate (for women aged 15 and over) rose slightly from 63.1% during the March 2012 quarter to 63.2 % in the year to December 2015.38 However, despite an increase in qualifications, women remain over-represented in minimum wage jobs. In 2014, 66.6 % of minimum wage earners over 25 were women. 39 88 New Zealand women have made significant progress in participation in many areas of the labour market. However, the levels of participation are not always matched by levels of representation in corporate governance and in senior management in the public and private sectors. Women represent 33 % of elected officials in local Government, the judiciary increased slightly over the reporting period to 29 per cent, and representation in national politics remained static at 32 %. Although women comprise 60 per cent of all public servants, only 24.1% are chief executives of public service departments and 44.2% of senior management are female.40 While the Government made a commitment in 2011 to 45 % participation on state sector boards,41 this figure has remained stagnant over the last 10 years and as at December 2014 women made up 41.7% of Ministerial appointees.42 38 Household Labour Force Survey: December 2015 quarter, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment: http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/income-andwork/employment_and_unemployment/LabourMarketStatistics_HOTPDec15qtr.aspx 39 Minimum Wage Reviews 2014, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment: http://employment.govt.nz/er/pay/backgroundpapers/2014/Minimum-Wage-Review-MBIE-Report-2014.pdf 40 Ministry of Women’, Draft CEDAW report 2016. 41 Ministry of Women’s Affairs, “2014 -2018 Strategic Intentions” Presented to the House of Representatives pursuant to section 39 of the Public Finance Act 1989 in 2014. 42 Supra note 39.