Friday, March 29, 2024

New data shows more women than ever on public boards

Women’s representation on public sector boards and committees has reached 52.5% – the highest level in New Zealand’s history.

Minister for Women, Jan Tinetti said diverse boards bring a wider range of knowledge, expertise and skill.

“Which of course can only be of benefit to the organisation the board is governing,” said Ms Tinetti.

The new statistics on membership of public sector boards and committees released by the Minister today also showed that 54.6% of new appointments were women.

“This Government is taking action to make Aotearoa a more equal society for all. Ensuring women’s voices are around the board tables of our public organisations is a crucial component. It also paves the way for more women to follow,” she said.

“We have also received ethnicity data for 98.9 percent of board members, the highest number of ethnicity data that we’ve ever been able to collect.

“The results show gradual improvement in the diversity of our board members.”

Minister Tinetti said the Government was committed to increasing ethnic diversity across all public sector boards and committees.

“Ensuring our organisations are representative of the communities they serve is critical to developing organisations to be the best they can be,” she said.

The stocktake of public sector boards and committees is undertaken annually by Manatū Wāhine Ministry for Women, as at 31 December each year. More than 2,600 appointed members serve on public sector boards. These include large SOEs, conservation boards, and community trusts.

The Stocktake of Gender, Māori, Pacific and Ethnic Diversity on public sector boards and committees, and access to the Ministry’s nominations service, can be found at www.women.govt.nz.

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