Slow Women's Suffrage Progress

Embargoed til 4am 19th September 2013

Media Release

120 years but a long way to go

Today New Zealand celebrates 120 years of women winning the right to vote and it is an opportunity for this country to celebrate equality at work.

The chief executive of the Equal Employment Opportunities Trust says women’s suffrage day is a time for all organisations and businesses to endorse gender equity in the workforce, but there is still a long way to go.

Bev Cassidy-Mackenzie says women make up half of our population and are high achievers at school and in tertiary studies but she questions why that doesn’t continue in senior managerial roles and around boardroom tables.

“Recent figures on reported gender diversity on boards of our listed companies show just eight percent of directors are women.”

Last year the NZX introduced a rule requiring companies with a gender equity policy to include a gender breakdown of directors and senior managers in their annual report.

Mrs Cassidy-Mackenzie says 110 local companies come under this rule and of the companies that reported gender diversity there were 205 male directors and 18 female.

“This appears to be a drop compared to 2012 Census on Women’s Participation that showed women directors of the top 100 companies had reached more than 14 percent.”

She is urging all businesses to focus on diversity by having a career pipeline available for EVERY employee, and implement a gender diversity policy.

“It is also disappointing to see that about 23 percent of senior managers are women, when it should be much higher.  Success comes from focusing on people’s differences rather than similarities and I hope all organisations start making positive changes now.”

Bev Cassidy-Mackenzie is a judge in the UN Aotearoa Women’s Empowerment Principles White Camellia Awards which will tonight applaud businesses that are endorsing gender equity.

Time:  6pm, 19 September 2013.
Location: Grand Hall, Parliament Buildings, Wellington

ENDS

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