84 S e cti o n T w o – c iv il and politi cal rights the 2005 election. Since then, three women MPs have that New Zealand “enact and implement comprehensive resigned. laws guaranteeing the substantive equality of women In 2008, women made up a higher proportion of list MPs with men in both the public and private sectors…” 41 (42 per cent) than of electorate MPs (27 per cent). The Local government representation majority of women elected to Parliament in 2008 were In the 1990s and early 2000s, women were more list MPs. Although the current 38 women MPs are the highly represented in local government than national largest number in New Zealand’s parliamentary history, government, but this trend has been reversed since the this is unlikely to continue to increase unless women are 2005 election. 42 In 2007, there were marginal increases high on party lists or in winnable constituency seats. 39 in the number of women elected to local government. Public service representation In the year to 30 June 2009, the number of full-time employees in the public service increased to 44,672. Employees in the public sector are still overwhelmingly European (71.4 per cent), but there has been an increase in the number of people identifying as Asian. If the Asian ethnic group continues to increase at its present rate, it will overtake Pacific peoples as the third largest ethnic group in the public service within the next two years. The number of Mäori and Pacific peoples employed in the public sector has remained relatively constant, although Women’s representation was highest on district health boards (46 per cent), followed by city councils (37 per cent) and community boards (33 per cent). Women’s representation was lowest on district councils (28 per cent) and regional councils (27 per cent). Census data shows that the number of women in management positions in local government has more than doubled in the past 10 years, but a closer look at the organisational structures within local authorities shows that women hold only 5 per cent of CEO positions and 24 per cent of second-tier management jobs. 43 a small decline is evident. Their numbers are not reflected In 2007, the proportion of representatives on local boards at senior management level, however. Clearly there is identifying as Mäori was 4.8 per cent. Apart from the still some way to go for the senior management group Environment Bay of Plenty, the Mäori seat option has not of the public service to fully reflect the diversity of the been used. workforce. 40 Representation on District Health Boards is much better A high proportion of women (59 per cent) are employed for Mäori – 19.2 per cent of those represented identified in the public sector compared with the labour force as Mäori – mainly as a result of the minister exercising generally. Again, this is not reflected at senior level, where a power of appointment to address any perceived only 37.8 per cent of senior managers are women. The imbalance. Representation of Pacific and Asian people number of women in leadership positions is disproportion- remains very low. 44 ately low compared with their numbers in the workforce generally, and has even dropped slightly since 2008. Overall, women, Mäori, Pacific peoples and other minority groups tend to be under-represented, in proportion to In 2007, the CEDAW committee raised concerns about the their numbers in the population, in leadership roles on absence of women in leadership positions, recommending bodies such as school and district health boards and 39 Human Rights Commission (2008), New Zealand Census of Women’s Participation 2008 (Auckland: HRC), p 66. Accessible online at http:// www.neon.org.nz/documents/HR%20Women_screen.pdf 40 State Services Commission (2009), Human Resource Capability Survey of Public Service Departments as at 30 June 2009 (Wellington: SSC). 41 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women 39th Session 23 July–10 August 2007 CEDAW/C/NZ/CO/6. Accessible online at http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/cdrom_cedaw/EN/files/cedaw25years/content/english/CONCLUDING_COMMENTS_ ENGLISH/New%20Zealand/New%20Zealand%20-%20C-6.pdf 42 State Services Commission (2009), p 73 43 Human Rights Commission (2008), pp 59–61 44 Human Rights Commission (2007), Tui Tui Tuituia: Race Relations in New Zealand (Auckland: HRC), p 74