census of women's participation

today, the human rights commission has published it's census of women's participation (pdf). since i'm still pretty exhausted from my weekend away, i'm just going to do some cut & paste stuff. here is judy mcgregor's op-ed piece, which really should be read in full, & deals with the corporate sector:

Fifty-seven of the top 100 companies by market capitalisation, including five of the top 10 companies, have no women in their boardrooms. Only 45 women in 43 companies hold a total of 58 directorships out of a total of 622 directorships....

Australia is leaping ahead of New Zealand. So far this year 36 women have been appointed to ASX 200 boards, compared with only 10 in the whole of 2009. New Zealand is now at the bottom of an international comparison of 14 countries in terms of women's representation as corporate directors....

So what would break the cycle of women's boardroom invisibility? A flurry of programmes and activities has sprung up to address the problem, including cross-company mentoring schemes, coaching programmes, accelerator activities and women in leadership courses. Some of these are sector-specific and aimed at younger women.

here she is again, on the public sector:

In the public sector the 2010 Census of Women’s Participation notes that although women make up 59 per cent of public servants, but only 17.6 per cent of chief executives and experience a gender pay gap where women earn 15.4 per cent less than men for doing the same or a similar job....

Female representation on Government appointed boards had gone backwards, from 42 per cent to 41.5 per cent, and remained 8.5 per cent shy of the Government’s target of 50 per cent by 2010.

here is sue moroney, on some of the causes:

"The key areas New Zealand has gone backwards in for women are all the direct responsibility of the National Government.

“They appoint to state sector boards, they abolished the pay and employment equity unit and stopped pay equity audits in the state sector, and they have done nothing to create jobs in areas of the economy where women work.

“In fact, in areas like early childhood education, they have deliberately cut funding, and now women working in that sector are losing their jobs.

“The fee increases for ECE brought about by this Government are also causing women to reassess whether they can afford to participate in the workforce and therefore limiting the choices women have.

“In comparison Labour introduced paid parent leave and encouraged women on benefits into study by offering the Training Incentive Allowance, an allowance which National cut.

as usual, the minister of women's affairs appears to be nowhere, and doing not much at all.