The Government’s job creation strategy disproportionately benefits males over females.

“UN Women New Zealand welcome aspects of the recently announced budget, such as the increased spending in maternity care” says Rae Julian, National President of UN Women New Zealand.

“However we are concerned that the Government’s job creation strategy is focused on industries traditionally dominated by males, whereas industries with a greater female presence are facing cuts.”

The Government’s strategy concentrates heavily on investment in infrastructure, which mainly benefits the male-dominated construction sector. At the same time the Government has announced cuts in the public service, an area with a large female presence.

“The reality is that we do not yet have gender neutrality in the labour market, females continue to be at a disadvantage not only in terms of pay inequality but also occupational segregation” says Rae Julian.

“We encourage the Government to take active steps to address this inequality and ensure its job creation strategy can be enjoyed by all New Zealanders regardless of their gender.”

“This combines with cuts to funding for the Women’s Refuge movement and the Girls’ Self-Defence Project, another area of particular interest for UN Women.”

“We are also concerned that New Zealand’s overall contribution in Official Development Assistance (ODA) as a proportion of our Gross National Income (GNI) is steadily declining. OECD figures show that in 2008 it was 0.3% of GNI, in 2009 it was 0.28% and in 2010 it was 0.26%. We now lag far behind most other OECD countries. Women are disproportionately affected by poverty in developing countries – New Zealand is reneging on its promise to increase ODA to 0.7% of GNI by 2015 and women are more likely to be the poorer for it.”

“It is very difficult to find areas where women can find grounds for satisfaction in this budget,” concluded Rae Julian

ENDS

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