Fewer women in top jobs

Celebrations surrounding today’s International Women’s Day may need to turn down the volume after a recent report shows the number of women in current senior management roles in NZ continues to fall.

New Zealand was once an international leader in the number of women holding business related senior management roles, but this trend is diminishing slowly according to the latest research released by Grant Thornton.

Figures released from Grant Thornton’s International Business Report (IBR) show that women currently hold 28% of business senior management roles in New Zealand, a drop from the previous year’s 32% in 2011.

Pam Newlove, National director, privately held business for Grant Thornton New Zealand, says although there are several factors that may contribute to the drop they can often be quite difficult to pinpoint directly.

“Women who have families later on during their career are often given a choice of whether to stay in their job role or to provide full time care within the family,” says Ms Newlove.

“These factors contributing to the drop also include being more financially stable within the family due to spouse working habits, right down to the fact employers now have greater employment choices due to the increasing unemployment rate.”

This drop in women’s senior management roles in New Zealand is also reflected internationally in Asia Pacific economies (19% in 2012 down from 25% in 2009), South East Asia (32% in 2012 down from 36% in 2009) and the BRIC economies (26% in 2012 down from 30% in 2009).

Europe, however, seems to be reversing this trend. Despite rising unemployment numbers the proportion of women in senior management roles in Europe has risen to 24% in 2012, up from 20% in 2009 and an earlier 17% in 2004.

When putting flexible working hour offerings into perspective, New Zealand leads amongst the world’s best at 81%, headed only by Finland (89%), Sweden (85%) and Denmark (82%).

“Employers need to be congratulated for this as it does put more pressure on a business to provide this option,” added Ms Newlove.

“It requires other senior colleagues to be highly organised and supportive.”