Lianne Dalziel
12 September, 2006
Give Girls a Go -- women in Modern Apprenticeships
Grand Hall, Parliament
Wellington
Thank you Judy for inviting me here this evening to launch this interesting and timely publication ‘Give Girls a Go! Female Modern Apprentices in New Zealand’.
Although I am here as Minister of Women's Affairs, I could equally give my endorsement to tonight's launch as Minister for Small Business. Many of New Zealand's small businesses are trades-people, who have taken the step to be self-employed and then become employers. Electricians, plumbers, builders, motor mechanics…the list goes on. Many started with an apprenticeship and are today successful businessmen and occasionally businesswomen.
I say occasionally, not as a reflection on the number of businesswomen, which is in fact growing; it's the number that go from apprenticeship to trade to business, who remain few in number, because there are not the numbers coming in at the front end.
The study that is being launched tonight is the culmination of extensive work carried out by the Human Rights Commission and the Women and Modern Apprenticeship Reference Group. Together with a number of Industry Training Organisations and Modern Apprentice Coordinators this report has been produced in an effort to further promote increased participation by young women in work-based training in non-traditional trades and industries. I’d particularly like to acknowledge the Building and Construction, Motor and Joinery ITOs and the employers and modern apprentices who have travelled to Wellington today and all the others who have taken part in the project.
I see from the report that by March this year, two thousand apprentices had completed their training in the Modern Apprenticeship Scheme - one of the flagship programmes of this Labour-led Government.
I was a relatively new Opposition member of Parliament when the Apprenticeship Act was repealed by the government of the day. Although apprentices didn't disappear, there was a massive reduction in commitment to training apprentices and as major industries contracted out much of their work to niche firms, the ability to learn all of the skills in one workplace was greatly diminished. I remember visiting a large workplace in the 1990s and being told by the older tradesmen (and they were all men at this place) how much they missed the apprentices. They felt they had a responsibility to pass on their life skills and work skills to the next generation as their predecessors had done for them.
It was this experience that has made me such a strong supporter of the programme. However, while there is cause for celebration, particularly in light of the planned expansion in numbers to 14,000 Modern Apprentices by December 2008, there is still a need to address female participation and diversity in the Modern Apprenticeship programme and ultimately, in the workplace.
This new report outlines the patterns, causes and possible solutions in addressing the gender segregation, which is prevalent in work-based training and non-traditional work. This disparity is one of the major issues in New Zealand’s gender pay gap. In fact, the report cites that between 20 and 40 per cent of the gender pay gap is due to occupational segregation.
Over the last quarter of a century there have been significant changes to New Zealand’s labour force and women now make up almost 50 per cent of all those in paid employment. However, equal numbers overall does not mean equal distribution and certainly does not mean equal outcomes. The New Zealand workforce is still characterised by most women’s employment being concentrated in a small number of female-dominated occupations, and women continuing to be paid less on average than their male counterparts. The New Zealand University Graduate Report released in June this year found that, despite women being well represented in commerce, health, and the social and behavioural sciences fields, where earning $50,000 or more a year is common, nearly half of the female respondents reported earning $35,000 or less, compared with only a third of males.
And while the proportion of women in occupations such as law and accounting is now around 30 to 40 per cent, just 4 to 6 per cent of the engineering profession is made up of women.
What would be seen as a great irony by our feminist forebears, who fought so hard to open doors for women, is that while more doors are now open, girls continue to choose careers in the traditionally female-dominated service, clerical and sales occupations. These occupations together account for 43 per cent of the female workforce, compared to just 15 per cent of male workers.
Recently the Ministry of Women’s Affairs commissioned preliminary research to look at wages and the cost of education and training in occupations that use work-based training. We are doing this, because we believe that if young women knew what the costs and rewards of entering some of the male-dominated trades were, then more would take up those options. The findings from this research are due out shortly and will no doubt be of great interest to many of you present here this evening. Initial results indicate that the male-dominated occupations tend to have more clearly defined career structures and higher remuneration, and that the cost of training is met by the employer. This compares with the female-dominated occupations where there tends not to be formal training, or if there is, it is the employee who is required to undertake the training before starting work and they pay for it themselves.
These issues are not new. Following the Beijing Conference in 1995 – which set international goals for the advancement of women – the New Zealand government identified, among other areas, the need to address the issue of women’s unpaid work and the gender pay gap. As our latest report to the UN on our obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women shows, we still have a way to go. The CEDAW Report, published earlier this year, shows that while New Zealand has a robust legal framework for the promotion and protection of women’s employment rights, women’s employment is characterised by lower participation rates and lower average earnings, relative to men. This is especially so for Mâori women.
It is interesting to note that research reported on earlier this year in the United Kingdom by the Women and Work Commission has found similar results to New Zealand in that, although girls are now out-performing boys at school, and advances have been made by women, there still very much remains a gender gap in pay and opportunities.
The Government is committed to closing the gender pay gap. But we recognise that there are limitations to what we can do given the way pay and conditions of employment are negotiated, so we have decided it is best that we lead by example. Following a Taskforce report released in March 2004, the government made a commitment to a five-year Plan of Action on Pay and Employment Equity to ensure that remuneration, job choice and job opportunities in the public service and the public health and state education sectors are not affected by gender.
This work is part of the Government’s wider Action Plan for New Zealand Women also launched in 2004. In this Plan is a specific commitment to exploring ways to increase women’s participation in Modern Apprenticeships. This includes looking at ways to break down barriers to women’s participation, increase promotion of and access to information on Modern Apprenticeships and meet the needs of under-represented groups.
I personally find it tremendously heartening to see the ongoing efforts to ensure that our young women not only have greater opportunities, but are also being encouraged to take them up.
In that context can I say that I am particularly pleased to see such a diverse, yet focused group of people here tonight comprising employers, industry training organisations, trade unions, parents and young women. This, to me, speaks of a commitment to closing this great chasm in our work-based training programmes.
I hope that you will agree that it is your role as parents, teachers, employers and career advisors to spread the word. The main barrier to women entering traditional male trades appears to be young women not being exposed to the option.
I remember when we used to debate stupid topics about whether job titles were politically correct or not – I think it started off with a manhole cover being referred to as a utility cover. Anyway there was a sensible contribution to the debate by an educationalist, who said that it did matter if you used the word "man" in words like fireman or policeman, because in order to think about a career, you needed to be able to imagine yourself doing it. And images of men reinforced by the name did exclude girls from dreaming one day they would be a firefighter or a police officer. Maybe we need a movie called Charlie's Electricians!
There are now fewer technical and societal barriers for women entering the trades than there ever were and more employers are willing to employ young women. However, school careers advice, transition-to-work programmes, and the Modern Apprenticeships Scheme all need to do more to inform young women about the opportunities available in non-traditional occupations.
And there is no better time than now to address this. Skill shortages (which are likely to continue due to New Zealand’s record low unemployment levels) and the need to raise New Zealand’s productivity make it critical that more women enter the trades and other non-traditional occupations. To do this, women must have a greater range of occupational choices, and be informed of, and encouraged to take up, opportunities that will offer them good earning possibilities. Research also indicates that diversity in the workforce can improve staff retention and productivity, while improving relations with the community. It can also help an organisation cope with change and provide an expanded pool of skills and creativity. So diversity is good for business.
That's why we need initiatives such as this ‘Give Girls a Go’ report. This valuable publication is a reality check and a wake-up call.
The case studies profiled are also inspirational examples of how, when all the pieces of the machinery support each other, women can, and do, take the opportunities on offer and find interesting, well-paid work that benefits them and New Zealand as a whole.
So thank you to the Human Rights Commission; thank you to those who agreed to tell their stories; thank you to the employers, and the Co-ordinators; and thank you to the parents for the support you have given to enable your daughters to go where too few women have gone before; and good luck to everyone here with spreading the message: 'Give Girls a Go'.
