Finsia is a membership association for financial services professionals. This report provides the responses from New Zealand members to a 2012 survey on experiences of and attitudes to the gender divide in the sector. Data is presented for both male and female responses to each of 20 questions, ranging from demographic information to assessments of the respondents’ workplace culture, their evaluation of strategies to increase women's participation, and their perceived job opportunities and personal experiences in the workplace.Overall women were more aware of occurrences of inequality in the workplace than men, and were less likely to agree that their organisations were committed to gender diversity or were transparent about pay parity. Participants were asked to suggest strategies which could be implemented by their organisation, by Finsia, or by the sector generally to promote gender equality; the wide range of responses provide a useful illustration of potential change.
This bibliography is a quick reference of abstracts on ways to improve women’s career paths within organisations. We have referenced 117 items, organised them into seven topic areas, and provided a brief summary of each item. Articles covering more than one topic have been included in each relevant area.
Building on the research used on Realising the opportunity, we have included other papers which contained significant data or analysis. We have also added in reports which contain concrete proposals for action or recommendations, and information on New Zealand.
We hope Inspiring Action will make it easier for human resources practitioners and managers, Chief Executive Officers and leadership teams, to identify practical steps to take to improve women’s career pathways in organisations. To find articles, use the search function below or download the full report.
2014
Area of focus:
New Zealand
2012
Area of focus:
New Zealand
This research, commissioned by the Ministry of Women's Affairs, interviewed senior staff at six major New Zealand companies, across a range of sectors, to determine what measures they were taking to achieve gender diversity in their senior management. Companies were driving change primarily through concerns about attracting and retaining the best talent. All organisations were tracking gender employment data, and senior staff at each company agreed that visible leadership at the top level, and accountability for creating inclusive cultures, were necessary to effect change.A variety of strategies and practices are discussed, including flexible working arrangements, setting targets, visible role models, career break policies, awareness raising, pay equity, and mentoring amongst many others. The report's introduction summarises the benefits of gender diversity on investor perceptions.
2012
Area of focus:
New Zealand
The Equal Employment Opportunities Trust publish an annual report on New Zealand workforce demographic trends. Amongst the major trends identified, the report highlights that fewer new entrants to the workforce are anticipated due to declining birth rates and the retirement of the baby boomer generation; this is expected to create a labour market shortage in the future.The workforce is ageing, with more people working later into their lives. Three times the proportion of women aged over 65 are in the workforce than a decade ago. In 2010, 59 percent of university graduates were women; women currently comprise 47 percent of the workforce and a higher proportion are now the main earners for their families, but a gender pay gap still exists.Statistics are presented for parents' participation in the workforce, by gender and size of role (full time or part-time), as well as for sharing of childcare responsibilities by gender.
2012
Area of focus:
Flexible Working, New Zealand
This academic paper presents results of a survey of women working in the New Zealand public sector (see Proctor-Thomson, et al., 2011 for a separate discussion of the same survey results). New Zealand legislation offers carers a "right to request" flexible work arrangements, which employers must consider but have discretion to reject on business grounds.The survey collected data on flexible work outcomes for women in public service, finding 37 percent had little or no choice over working arrangements. Data is also presented on the types of leave taken by women, factors identified by them as reasons why flexible work was unavailable when not offered, and women's ratings of the degree of influence they held over various aspects of their work, with workload being seen as the least possible to influence. The authors argue that flexible work is a matter not only of choice, but of a worker's ability to provide meaningful input into organisational decision-making, or "voice".
2014
Area of focus:
New Zealand
An analysis of the board composition of NZX Top 100 companies with offices based in New Zealand, in terms of gender diversity. Of 574 board positions, 71 of them (11 percent) are held by 50 women. 45 percent of companies have no female board members. There is a tendency, although not a strong one, for larger companies to have more female members, and companies based in Auckland or Wellington are more likely to have female members than those in other regions.
2013
Area of focus:
New Zealand
This is the 14th annual Human Resource Capability (HRC) survey of the New Zealand public sector, published by the State Services Commission. The survey gathers data from all departments for the year to 30 June on measures of staff numbers, employment costs, recruitment and retention, leadership, diversity and leave.Key findings in this year's survey were that despite a growth in female representation within the public sector workforce (up to 59.8 percent), the percentage of female senior management has decreased to 41.5 percent in the past year. The gender pay gap for senior leadership has shrunk to 9.1 percent, but overall the public sector pay gap has risen to 14.2 percent. An appendix provides diversity statistics of senior management and of all employees by government department.
2013
Area of focus:
New Zealand
This study takes a strategic human resource management approach to examining the organisational barriers for women in the New Zealand public sector. While 42 percent of senior managers in the public sector are women, only four percent of Chief Executives were female at the time of the study, suggesting a "leaking pipeline" phenomenon is taking place. The paper provides a summary of research into the barriers women face towards their career progression, with particular reference to a wealth of New Zealand research.A series of interviews were conducted with human resource leaders to gather their perspectives. Evidence was found of male-dominated networks, unconscious bias in recruitment and promotion, and leadership and gender stereotypes. Many had expectations of long hours and voluntary overtime for progression to senior roles. The majority of respondents reported no sexism in their workplaces, but there were few specific measures in place to identify this, and some overt cases were described.The author finds that there is an overall lack of gender diversity initiatives or measures in place, as well as a lack of awareness or prioritisation of the issue. Recommendations are made towards audits of HR policy, awareness-raising within the sector, and more global, system-level interventions.
2013
Area of focus:
New Zealand
This study of Māori women Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) identifies the struggle Māori women face to find a distinct voice separate from the broader categories of women and Māoridom. The author discusses research on Māori and women's representation in leadership, examines different theories and models of leadership, and identifies the concept of the "servant leader" as that most closely aligned with Māori values.
Interviews were conducted with six Māori women CEOs, and the paper presents the women's responses in statistical and narrative form on issues such as definitions of leadership, the role models which have inspired them, what motivated them to become leaders, their personal experiences, insights on leadership, and what is needed for future Māori women leaders. The interviewees identified men's stereotypes and attitudes, and women's focusing on "doing" rather than promoting themselves, as the main barriers faced by Māori women.
Some of those interviewed express the feeling that Pakeha women have marginalised Māori women. A results-driven approach, integrity and honesty are seen as the primary competencies needed in leadership. The author offers considerations for future research, and a proposed model for future Māori CEOs to aspire to.
2013
Area of focus:
New Zealand
The head of Human Resources at AMP explains how the company capitalised on a recent merger with AXA to redesign their resourcing function. An internal strategic resourcing team now manages all appointments, and filled 78 percent of the vacancies arising in 2012 themselves. As the costs of hiring externally are significantly greater, attempts are made to fill roles internally. A benefit of this more direct approach to resourcing was its effect on driving the company's diversity programme: 48 percent of senior role vacancies were filled with women in 2012.
2013
Area of focus:
New Zealand
This paper summarises data gathered from a survey of the diversity programmes operating in Australasian companies, conducted by a leading executive search firm. Results are presented, with some discussion, on structural and employment matters including where diversity management is situated within the organisation, size of the team, reporting structure, budget allocation and remuneration.Respondents were also asked about the development of their company's diversity strategy, what stage it had reached, what issues it had prioritised and what issues were forecasted as high priority in the future. Among other findings, the survey finds that diversity strategies at 50 percent of companies are rated as "compliance at best" or "building foundation". Senior and executive management were rated as being the most important people for the success of diversity strategies, but these were assessed as being only "somewhat involved" in leading the strategies.Flexible working arrangements are identified as an emerging high-priority issue for the future. Companies cite recruitment and retention of talent as the greatest motivator for instituting a diversity programme, but the programmes of almost half of the companies are not operationally linked to the recruitment team, suggesting a disconnect between policy and practice.