Human Rights Commission
Media release
29 October, 2009

New Zealand holds place in global gender gap rating

New Zealand has held on to fifth place in the Global Gender Gap Report 2009, with Iceland the big winner overall.

“For New Zealand to hang on to its high ranking out of 134 countries – behind the Nordic countries, who jockey for top positions – is remarkable. We must ensure that women are not disproportionately affected by the global recession, and maintain gains when the economy picks up”, said Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner Judy McGregor.

“Many New Zealand women working part-time are underemployed and in the current climate would like more work hours,” she said.

The Global Gender Gap report, produced by the World Economic Forum, measures the gap between men and women in economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, political empowerment and health and survival. The report shows that New Zealand closes 78.8 per cent of equality gaps between men and women, while the Nordic countries close over 80 per cent. Iceland is ahead of Finland, Norway and Sweden.

However, New Zealand is being chased by South Africa, which has made significant gains in female labour force participation. They have jumped 10 places in a year to come in at sixth. Australia has finally made it to the top 20, up one place on last year. The United States fell four places to 31, Germany placed 12th, and the United Kingdom again slipped down the index this year to 15th.

Yemen, already at the bottom of the rankings, displayed an absolute decline in performance since last year and was joined by Iran (128th), Turkey (129) and Pakistan (132).

The World Economic Forum is urging leaders to act on the findings as they “rebuild their battered economies and set them on course for sustainable long-run growth.”

New Zealand has closed the gap in educational attainment, which measures the literacy rate, and enrolment in primary, secondary and tertiary enrolments between men and women. It has closed over 97 per cent of the gap in health and survival, measured by sex ratio at birth and healthy life expectancy. It has closed over 78 per cent in economic participation and opportunity, which is measured by labour force participation, wage equality for similar work, income levels and numbers of managers, professional and technical workers and law and policy makers. Increases in the number of professional and technical workers have pushed up the rankings.

New Zealand has maintained its position in political empowerment through increased numbers of women in parliament, ministerial positions and a female head of state. This could alter in the future with no current female prime minister.

“The gap report is important because it measures outcomes rather than inputs and we can track progress over time. For example, New Zealand was seventh in the first report. We then made significant progress up the ladder in the next three reports and have now maintained our position,” Dr McGregor said.

The report provides some evidence of the link between the gender gap and economic performance. Its authors from Harvard and Berkeley universities, in the United States, and the World Economic Forum state they want to highlight the economic incentive behind women’s involvement as well as promoting equality as a basic human right.

The report’s authors state that closing the gender gap in all aspects of life provides a foundation for a prosperous and competitive society.

Download the report: Gender Gap report

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