Eloise Orovwuje
Mary Wollstonecraft once said: ‘I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves’. Although Wollstonecraft lived in the eighteenth century, her statement is still relevant to New Zealand women today. While this country certainly boasts a significant number of females in high positions – the Governor General, Chief Justice, Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition – the fact remains that it is harder for women to attain such levels of accomplishment. On the whole, we are still in a subordinate position to men when it comes to employment, earnings and workplace status.
In Western societies such as ours, high status positions (and money) are closely aligned with power. Those who make important decisions are those who wield the greatest amount of influence. While these may seem like crass, simplistic observations, they are nevertheless truthful. New Zealand may sport a healthy number of women in top positions, but that ever-elusive ‘gender equity in the workplace’ has yet to be reached. One glance at the Ministry of Women’s Affairs brochure makes this evident, for it repeatedly states that the Ministry’s primary goals and priorities involve increasing the number of women in decision-making positions. There is, for instance, a marked imbalance in the ratio of males to females who hold influential positions. As the editor of the Evening Post recently pointed out: ‘It’s on the boards of big corporates, where the real money lies, that there is a paucity of women’. This phenomenon is certainly not restricted to New Zealand: in the United States, women make up 47 percent of the workforce, but only 1.9 percent in the top levels (McManus). While growing numbers of women all over the world are entering the workforce, they are still filtered out of high-status jobs.
No matter which way you crunch the numbers, some trends remain glaringly obvious when it comes to New Zealand women in employment. Most noticeably, they earn less than their male counterparts. In November 2000, New Zealand males earned on average $747.58 per week, while the corresponding figure for females was $570.82 (Statistics New Zealand). There are also fewer women in top positions than men, which is a world-wide phenomenon: ‘Despite the fact that women constitute more than one-third of the world’s labour force, in general they remain concentrated in a limited number of traditional occupations, many of which do not require highly technical qualifications and most of which are low paid' (http://encarta.msn.com).
In addition to this disparity, having children can also affect women’s careers in adverse ways, although companies are increasingly making provisions for parental leave. However, it is no exaggeration to say that a woman’s womb and her work often occupy equal but opposing positions in her life: ‘Professional career women who have babies are so caught up in the professional cycle they often don’t take their parental leave entitlement but go back to work within days of childbirth’ (McManus). The line between paid employment and staying home to look after one’s children is often a problematic one to walk:
Certainly, childbirth can play havoc with a woman’s career – something which is solidly reflected by the fact that women are choosing to have children at a much later age than before, giving them a chance to establish themselves in the workplace first. One study, which ‘examines the effects of maternity leave coverage on women’s employment after childbirth in…the United States, Britain, and Japan’, reaches the conclusion that ‘despite changes in recent years, women with young children are still much less likely to be employed than other women’ (http://ideas.uqam.ca). This is reflected by New Zealand statistics, too. In the year ended December 1998, women made up 45 percent of the New Zealand labour force – a figure up from previous years (Statistics New Zealand). However, at every age group, male participation was higher than female participation, ‘the difference being particularly marked in the main child-bearing ages (between 25 and 34)’ (Statistics New Zealand). For women who wish to build a career, there is still a great disincentive to stop work in order to have (and look after) children. There remains a stigma attached to being a mother with young children, or a woman planning to have children, at the same time as pursuing a career.
That aside, people are increasingly acknowledging that female styles of leadership complement (and in some ways are superior to) male ones; women leaders in the workplace are now more often seen as an asset, not a burden. Additionally, where it used to be mostly women who followed multiple and flexible career pathways, men are increasingly exhibiting the same tendencies (McManus). Many women are also circumventing workplace obstacles by starting their own companies, thereby asserting their autonomy and increasing their workplace flexibility. A 1997 survey by WISE (Women in Self Employment) showed that 40 percent of new businesses were started by women (McManus), and this is a trend which has continued to grow. So although it is a slow process, the workplace is becoming more female-oriented and female-driven.
As time goes on, there are increasing numbers of New Zealand women entering high-status positions, and making themselves heard in society. There are also growing numbers of women entering traditionally male-dominated fields. However, the fact remains that if I ask you to think of influential New Zealanders, more males probably spring into your mind than females. Were she alive today, Mary Wollstonecraft might well be impressed by where New Zealand women are today, and the advances that they are making in the workplace. But do women have social, financial and political power over themselves to the same extent that men do? Whether you arrive at your response using intuition, observation, or careful analysis of statistics, the answer appears to be no: ‘Women comprise 51 percent of New Zealand’s population. While men and women have equal status under the law, women have yet to achieve full equality with men in terms of economic and social status, freedom from discrimination and access to decision-making processes’ (Statistics New Zealand). Despite this, I think it is fair to say that we are slowly inching towards making Wollstonecraft’s wish a reality.
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