NEWSROOM

Study shows New Zealand women behind on pay equity despite being the most educated in a global ranking

A recent insights report created by the World Economic Forum came to the conclusion that it will take another 132 years to close the global gender gap. It also showed that women are starting their own companies at a rate outpacing men, raising questions that women may be opting out of participating in the systems that disadvantage them.

In the Global Gender Gap Report’s analysis of 146 countries, overall New Zealand ranks first for educational achievement, fourth for political empowerment, 39th for economic participation and opportunity and 100th for health and survival.

Comparing the global average for men and women in 2021, men were 33% more likely to receive an internal leadership promotion than women. In the Netherlands and Spain, men were reported as being 69% and 65% more likely to get promoted internally. New Zealand ranks 32nd for wage equality for similar work.

The report’s authors question whether numbers such as these are influencing the marked gender difference in rates of participation in entrepreneurship. They found that worldwide, the share of founders grew by 45% in 2020 for women and 32% by men, compared to the previous year, an acceleration of a longer-term labour market trend.

Director of the University of Auckland Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) Darsel Keane says “The pandemic will be another contributing factor to the rise of women entrepreneurs. We know that globally women have been disproportionately affected by redundancies, or the need to leave work due to childcare being unavailable and many have turned to entrepreneurship for the opportunities it provides for self-determination and flexibility.”

The Global Gender Gap Report is based on a methodology integrating the latest statistics from a range of international organisations such as LinkedIn. Dr Christine Woods, Professor at the University of Auckland Business School and the inaugural Theresa Gattung Chair for Women in Entrepreneurship, says “It’s very telling that their economy profiles have included not only rankings and data of participation in the workforce and leadership roles but also statistics around health, political participation and maternal care. There are so many factors at play in terms of equity of women participating in society, including business.” Woods says the report’s statistic of 34% of New Zealand STEM graduates being female is of particular interest. “This has a run-on effect on the types of ventures that women are creating. We need more young women participating in STEM for so many reasons, including that their lived experiences as a woman will influence the type of solutions that are created.”

Woods applauds the initiative of the World Economic Forum to analyse data to raise awareness of gender equity issues that need addressing, though notes some significant gaps. “In the economy profile for New Zealand, ‘Firms with female majority ownership’ was listed as ‘n/a’ – presumably because the data wasn’t significant enough to note. One of the areas of work for our forthcoming Aotearoa Centre for Enterprising Women is to explore and create quantitative and qualitative data for further insights into how to close the gender gap in entrepreneurship.”

New Zealand Economy Profile – Global Gender Gap Index 2022

New Zealand’s ranking out of 146 countries

Literacy rate – 1st
Enrolment in primary school – 1st
Enrolment in secondary education – 1st
Enrolment in tertiary education – 1st
Global Gender Gap Index overall – 4th
Women in Parliament – 5th
Economic Participation and Opportunity – 39th
Wage equality for similar work – 32nd
Labour-force participation rate – 40th
Estimated earned income – 78th
Health life expectancy – 109th

Complementary Targets and Contextual Indicators

Share of women’s membership in boards – 43%
Firms with female majority ownership – n/a
Firms with female top managers – n/a
STEM graduates – 34.96% female, 65.04% male
Graduates from tertiary education – 67.22% female, 44.87%
male Prevalence of gender violence in lifetime – 35%
Maternal mortality (deaths per 100,000 live births) – 9

Reproductive autonomy – near-equal rights
Access to justice – equal rights
Freedom of movement – equal rights
Right to divorce – equal rights
Access to finance – equal rights

See full New Zealand Economy Profile
World Economic Forum – What the rise of female founders tells us about the state of the gender gap
Full World Economic Forum Gender Gap Report