A Better World Volume 1

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has published profiles of women in a range of sectors, from

aviation to winemaking. These stories show the diversity and

scope of women’s leadership; they prove that women have the

skills, the drive and the tenacity to succeed.

The Ministry for Women also contributed to the work of

DiverseNZ Inc., a private sector cooperative venture that

developed a platform of knowledge and practical tools for

businesses to leverage diversity. Building on this momentum,

in November 2015, Global Women launched Champions for

Change, a collaboration of New Zealand chief executives and

chairs from the public and private sectors who are commit-

ted to raising the value of diversity and inclusion within

their organizations and actively promoting the concept

among their peers.

Despite gaining qualifications at a greater rate than men,

women’s skills are not being translated into greater career

and development opportunities. Women are over-repre-

sented in minimum wage jobs and a substantial proportion

of both women (47 per cent) and men (53 per cent) work

in occupations that are at least 70 per cent dominated by

their own gender.

Better utilization of women’s talents in

the labour force will help meet New Zealand’s current and

projected skill shortages.

The Ministry for Women has undertaken two seminal

research projects on gender role stereotyping and prejudice

in the context of women’s career progression.

Realising the

opportunity: Addressing New Zealand’s leadership pipeline

by attracting and retaining talented women

identifies why

women ‘drop out’ of the leadership pipeline and how employ-

ers can support their retention.

Inspiring action: Action plans

and research to help you attract and retain talented women

is a quick reference to resources that assist organizations

to address unconscious bias and identify practical steps to

improve women’s career pathways.

Government is working on initiatives to attract and retain

priority groups of women in occupations where high growth is

projected and where women are currently underrepresented,

in particular science, technology, engineering and mathemat-

ics (STEM) and information and communications technology

(ICT) industries, and construction and trades.

Government is working with education providers and

employers to increase opportunities for women in the STEM

and ICT industries. Launched in 2014,

A Nation of Curious

Minds/He Whenua Hihiri I te Mahara: A National Strategic Plan

for Science in Society

encourages and enables better engage-

ment with science and technology across New Zealand society.

This plan includes an action to increase girls’ participation in

science and ICT.

In 2014 the Government allocated $28.6 million over

four years for an ICT Graduate School programme. Three

schools are being established in Auckland, Wellington and

Christchurch. The initiative is committed to increasing the

diversity of ICT students and all schools will focus on increas-

ing the participation of women.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, the

Ministry for Women, the Tertiary Education Commission and

industry training organizations are also working together to

increase trades training opportunities for women including

work to encourage Ma¯ ori and Pacific women into the Ma¯ ori

and Pacific Trades Training programme. Another initia-

tive, Ultimit, aims to encourage more women to consider

career options within the electricity supply industry by offer-

ing taster courses and raising awareness of opportunities.

‘Got A Trade Got It Made’ promotes careers in trades and

services. The programme’s website highlights the achieve-

ments of young New Zealand apprentices and various career

opportunities available to women are profiled. Worldskills

New Zealand also promotes the opportunities for and

achievements of women in trades. Regional and national

competitions are held every two years with winners selected

to participate in the Worldskills international competitions.

Following the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes, women’s

employment in Canterbury was negatively affected. At the

same time, demand for trades people increased as the rebuild-

ing process commenced. The Ministry for Women partnered

with a number of industry and community leaders and local

training providers to improve women’s employment and help

meet skill shortages in Canterbury, and to promote the idea

of women in trades. This work included the publication of

uilding back better: Utilising women’s labour in the Canterbury

recovery

a business case for increasing the number of women

in trades in Canterbury;

Growing your trades workforce: How

to attract women to your jobs

a handbook for trades employ-

ers on how to recruit and retain women; and

Getting it done:

Utilising women’s skills in the workforce

which shares the

lessons learned and strategies developed in Canterbury.

The Ministry for Women also worked with the Stronger

Canterbury Infrastructure Rebuild Team to raise women’s

visibility in the rebuild.

The Women in Trades Scholarship initiative at Ara

Institute of Technology (formerly Christchurch Polytechnic

Government is working on initiatives to attract and retain women in

occupations such as ICT industries, and construction and trades

Image: Ministry for Women and the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team

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