WUNRN
NEW ZEALAND - SOCIAL
REPORT 2007
Conclusion
Changes
in social wellbeing for females and males
Over the last 40 years, New Zealand has experienced significant social and demographic changes, many of which have impacted differently on men and women. In this section we look at how the outcomes we measure differ between males and females, on average, and how these sex differences have changed over time. It should be noted we are reporting only on average outcomes, when there can be large variations within outcomes.
Figure CO2 Social wellbeing for females, relative to males, 2004–2006
Interpreting
"Social wellbeing for females, relative to males"
The circle 
represents
average outcomes for males. The spokes 
represent
average outcomes for females. Where a spoke falls outside the circle, the
outcome for females is better than for males. The further the spoke is from the
circle, the better the outcome for females relative to males. Where a spoke
falls inside the circle, the outcome for females is worse than for males. There
are, however, some important limitations on this style of presentation. In
particular, we cannot directly compare the size of changes for different
indicators. Where possible, the data represents three-yearly averages. Most of
the data is from 2004–2006 except for: obesity (2003), suicide (2002–2004) and
assault mortality (2002–2004).
Although female
Health outcomes are generally better, the gap is closing
Although women on average are healthier and are increasingly better educated than men, they lag behind men in outcomes for Paid Work. Outcomes for men and women in the Economic Standard of Living domain are generally similar. In the Safety domain, males face a higher risk of injury or death than females, although fear of crime has a higher impact on the quality of life of females. Improvements for males in Health and improvements for women in Paid Work mean the gaps are narrowing in these domains. In other areas sex differences are less pronounced, although men continue to outnumber women as Members of Parliament.
On average females live longer than males but between 1996 and 2005 the sex gap in life expectancy decreased from 5.3 years to 4 years, reflecting greater gains for males. Between 1996 and 2001 the number of years a female could expect to live in good health (not requiring the assistance of a person or complex device) increased by one year, but there was no real improvement for males. This suggests the increase in life expectancy for males over the period 1996–2001 was in years of relatively poor health. Females gained fewer years, but the time gained was in relatively good health.
Between 1989 and 2003, obesity increased markedly for both males and females, doubling from 10 to 20 percent for men, and increasing from 13 to 22 percent for women. Females and males have shared very similar rates of cigarette smoking since the 1980s. Rates for both sexes have fallen from 30 percent in 1985 to 25 percent for males and 23 percent for females in 2006.
There is a marked sex gap in the suicide death rate. The male suicide rate is over twice that of females, but females make more suicide attempts than males. Since the mid-1980s, the male suicide death rate increased and then declined whereas the female suicide death rate has remained fairly stable.
Knowledge and
Skills outcomes are improving faster for females than males
In 2006, 65 percent of females compared with 56 percent of males left school with NCEA Level 2 or above. The sex gap in school leavers with higher qualifications increased from the late 1980s and reached a peak in 2001. From 2003 to 2006, the gap in attainment of NCEA Level 2 or above decreased from 10 percentage points to 9 percentage points. Although women are more likely than men to participate in tertiary education (14.6 percent compared with 12.8 percent of men in 2006), the recent decline in participation between 2005 and 2006 was greater for women than for men.
Men still have a higher rate of educational attainment than women across the population as a whole. In 2006, 78 percent of men and 76 percent of women had attained an educational qualification at upper secondary level or above. This reflects the fact that males aged 45 years and over (and particularly those aged 55–64 years) are more likely to have a higher level of educational attainment than their female contemporaries. This gap is narrowing as younger cohorts of women achieve higher educational outcomes than men. Between 1991 and 2006, the educational attainment of men at upper secondary level or above increased by 8 percentage points compared with 13 percentage points for women.
Men generally have
better Paid Work outcomes than women, though the gap has narrowed
In 2006, 3.5 percent of men and 4.1 percent of women were unemployed and actively seeking work. The unemployment rate for women has been higher than that for men since 2002. During New Zealand's peak years of unemployment in the early 1990s, rates of unemployment were higher for men than for women.
Men are also more likely to be employed than women, although the female employment rate is increasing. In 2006, 82 percent of men aged 15–64 years were employed compared to 68 percent of women. While the employment gap between the sexes is substantial, it has narrowed – from 24 percentage points in 1986 to 14 percentage points in 2001, at which point it plateaus.
Men have higher median hourly earnings than women across all ages, although the gap has narrowed over time and is small at younger ages. In 2006, median hourly earnings for males were $18.13 an hour. Female earnings were $2.25 an hour lower at $15.88. The ratio of female to male median hourly earnings fluctuated between 1997 and 2006, but was higher at the end of the period. In 2006, median hourly earnings were about the same for both sexes in the 25–29 years age group. Women are concentrated in a narrower range of jobs than men, are under-represented in higher-level positions, and are more likely to be responsible for a greater share of unpaid work and caring responsibilities. These factors in part contribute to lower female hourly earnings.
Men are more than twice as likely as women to suffer workplace injuries involving a claim to ACC, but the gap has narrowed. In 2005, there were 170 claims per 1,000 full-time equivalents (FTEs) for males compared with 81 per 1,000 FTEs for females. This reflects in part a male predominance in relatively dangerous occupations. Between 2001 and 2005, there was a greater improvement for males in the rate of workplace injuries than for females.
Employed men and women have similar rates of satisfaction with work-life balance. Among full-time workers, men are more likely to be satisfied with their work-life balance than women.
Outcomes for men
and women in the Economic Standard of Living domain are generally similar
Since 1986, females have been slightly more likely than males to be living in households with low incomes, reflecting in part the higher proportion of female sole parents, although the gap closed in 2004. Women are also more likely than men to be in lower paid jobs. There is little difference between males and females in housing-related outcomes.
There are still
considerably more men than women in Parliament
Despite improvements from the mid-1980s, women are still considerably under-represented in Parliament. In 1984, under the first-past-the-post electoral system, 13 percent of the Members of Parliament were women. This increased sharply to 29 percent under the first mixed-member-proportional election in 1996. Following fluctuations in the next three elections, women now make up 32 percent of the 121 Members of Parliament. In the 1980s, women were more highly represented in local government than in national government, but this was reversed in the 2005 general election. In the 2004 local government elections, 30 percent of elected members were women.
Men are more
physically active than women
Surveys over the last two years by Sport and Recreation New Zealand show men are more likely to be physically active than women.
Males face a higher
risk of injury or death than females although fear of crime has a higher impact
on the quality of life of females
Males are more likely than females to die from assault or intentional injury (1.7 deaths per 100,000 males in 2004, compared with the female rate of 0.7 deaths per 100,000 females). They are also more likely to be injured or killed in motor vehicle accidents. Although road deaths have declined substantially for both sexes since the mid-1980s, the male road death rate has remained double that for females.
The New Zealand Crime and Safety Survey 2006 shows males and females are equally likely to experience some form of criminal victimisation. Although females were twice as likely as males to be the victims of sexual offences, males were more likely to be the victims of confrontational offences by people they did not know.
Despite having the same criminal victimisation rate, females affected by partner violence were the victims of more incidents per person on average than males affected by partner violence.96 Women were also more likely than men to report that fear of crime impacted on their quality of life.
Social
Connectedness outcomes are mixed
Men and women reported a similar level of trust in others in 2006, but women were more likely than men to have felt lonely during the past 12 months.
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