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• 3.1 Introduction
• 3.2 Visibility of work undertaken by women
• 3.3 Rural women’s paid employment
• Employment Status
• Employment Patterns
• Industry Participation between 1976-1991

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3. Women in Paid Employment

3.1 Introduction

This section of the report looks at the visibility of the work undertaken by women, and then documents the regional and national employment situation of rural women as reflected in statistics on the paid workforce. It discusses women’s employment situation (as employees and as business owners) on farms and in rurally-based servicing businesses. In addition to information from Statistics NZ, data has been obtained from a postal survey, and face to face interviews.

3.2 Visibility of work undertaken by women

When looking at the literature on the current economic role of farm women, Rivers (1992) found that the topic was not addressed particularly well because of perceptions about what is considered to be work, and what is seen as women’s work. Official records generally only count paid work. Much of the work undertaken by rural (and especially farm) women is (or was) unpaid. Some 65% of unpaid work in New Zealand is carried out by women. Rivers found that rural women are increasingly becoming involved in paid employment, and the range of work undertaken is as diverse as that of urban women. Women’s overall earnings are 80% of men’s. Of note is Wilkinson’s (1990) study which showed that while many farm women now work permanently off-farm, their husbands have an [unrealistic] expectation that they will return to the home.

In the questionnaire sent out as part of the follow-up to Rivers’ (1992) report, the women were asked to look at the work they did in the context of "how people define work affects how the work is valued". The range of comments on this question can best be summed up by the following two: "without the assistance of women many farms and farm-based businesses would not exist as such" and "largely voluntary unpaid work, essential for the smooth running of the community, but often taken for granted".

The community was seen to value the work done by rural women, but to some extent only really noticed if the work was not done. Work was recognised as work if it was paid work, although unpaid work was appreciated. By far the majority of respondents considered that unpaid work — at home, or with voluntary organisations — should count as work. Voluntary work was seen as being valued by the community — but the value of the work varied in terms of how high a profile the activity carried (eg festivals affecting a whole region carry a higher profile than fund raising for women’s refuge).

If women’s work is unpaid and invisible then the women are invisible as beneficiaries of policy — be it private or public, social or economic. Level of recognition (or visibility) affects power status and influence in policy making. Not only does this impact on the ability of the woman herself to "get the job done", but it has serious ramifications for the effectiveness of industry, producer board, local and central government activities (Shaw, 1993).

That a change in perception of women’s work, including that carried out by farm resident women, is needed, is clear from research which shows that not only have rural women been involved in business as long as rural men (eg Harper, 1980), but that there have always been significant numbers of women farmers (Dalziel, 1977).

The lack of acceptance or recognition of women as farmers until recently, is reflected in Government policy (Pomeroy, 1986: 90, 92). For example, the Department of Agriculture provided home science training for "farmers’ wives" from the mid 1940s to late 1960s to improve the living conditions of farm households. This extension activity recognised only part of the work undertaken by women farmers and farm women but, under the culture of the day, the contribution of the women to running the business of the farm was not acknowledged. The women themselves only really started recording their involvement in agricultural production in the population census in the 1970s (table 2.3).

Likewise, the number of roles farm women carry out have broadened from those recorded in 1949 (WDFF, 1951) compared to those documented in 1993 (Taylor and Little, 1995). The work of farm women has expanded from home (cooking for non-family farm workers) and voluntary community work, to also include farm work and work in non-farm related business. A fifth role is the involvement by farm women in farm ownership, and in farm management and decision-making (Taylor and Little, 1995). While there is increasing recognition of women’s skills as managers and business operators, this recognition is not universal, particularly among the farm servicing community. Yet it is the innovation and business skills of these women which are needed to spearhead the development of the new enterprises required to broaden the rural economic base. For such enterprise development to take place there needs to be acceptance, appreciation and support.

Because work undertaken by women is so often invisible, structures are not in place to support working women. A study of grassroots community development initiatives in 1994 found that the women interviewed had difficulty accessing business finance, a shortage of training designed to meet their needs, and difficulty juggling of paid and unpaid work (Boswell et al, 1994). In some cases unpaid work was so time consuming that employment was not an option. Many of the respondents in Boswell’s study were Maori women who mentioned a clash of values and roles when cultural beliefs conflicted with entrepreneurial beliefs.

3.3 Rural women’s paid employment

Labour Force Participation

Like the general workforce, while the number of males in the rural labour force has been declining (particularly in the period 1986-91), the numbers of women in the rural labour force have been steadily increasing. Thus the proportion of the rural labour force which is female has increased from 28% (60,300) in 1976 to 40% (92,000) in 1991 (table 3.1).

Source: MAF Customised Data Set —Statistics NZ

The proportion of women who participate in the workforce varies by location. Women living in the country (outside centres of 300+ people) are more likely to be in the workforce than women living elsewhere in New Zealand (table 3.2). The small proportion of women in the paid workforce living in minor urban areas is likely to be a reflection of the over representation of women 60+ years who live in retirement in those centres.

Employment Status

Like most people in New Zealand, rural women are predominantly wage and salary earners (table 3.3). However, more self-employed women (including employers) live in the country than in other places (25% of country women in the workforce are self-employed or employers compared to 10% of the total female workforce). This is due to the numbers of country women involved in agriculture (38%) and the predominance of the owner-operator structure in the agricultural industries (55% of the women engaged in agriculture in 1991 in New Zealand were self-employed or employers). Similarly, the high proportion of ‘unpaid workers in the family business’ located in the country is likely to be due to the method of payment common in agriculture (eg payment through business accounts, dividends, or in kind, rather than a set salary) than lack of payment. Agriculture has the highest proportion of any industry group of ‘unpaid’ workers (17% — see appendix 1).

The proportion of unemployed rural women living in the country is low in comparison to other areas. This may be due to under-reporting in areas where work opportunities are limited, and to the migration of jobseekers to centres perceived to provide opportunities for work. Between 1986 and 1991 the proportion of unemployed rural women to the total rural female workforce increased by about 0.5%. The increase in unemployment for both men and women and falling levels of full-time employment (especially for men) concerned rural women interviewed for this report for several reasons. Where they had been the primary income earner or had provided a substantial part of the family’s cash flow, difficult decisions had to be made on the likely future viability of family businesses (especially farms) versus moving elsewhere. When partners lost their jobs women often had to move away from the area with their partners, thus leaving their community support networks. In some cases families became separated as husbands looked for work elsewhere leaving women (often with children) on their own.

Source: Statistics Regional Summary

Employment Patterns

As a group, the agricultural industries are important for rural women, but are not as significant as for rural men. It is the service sector which is of greatest importance, providing work in 1991 for 52% of the country women in the labour force (including 28% working in social, community and personal service areas) and for 73% of women living in rural centres (36% in social personal and community services; 25% in wholesale, retail, restaurants and hotels). Maori women living in the country are even less involved in primary industry and more involved in the community, social and personal service industry than country women in general. Maori women living in rural centres are more involved in manufacturing and community services, and less involved in retailing and restaurants than rural centre women in general (see appendix 1 and table 3.4).

Industry Participation between 1976-1991

Rural-based industries and the rural workforce reflect the employment volatility and trends marking employment in general. Table 3.5 shows the key changes in female industry participation over time (with the data adjusted for boundary changes). Involvement by rural women in agriculture, other primary industries, manufacturing, and building and construction peaked in 1986, whereas involvement by rural women in all other tertiary sectors continued to increase to 1991. The most significant change was, as for rural men, a decline in involvement in agriculture and an increase in involvement in community/social/personal services.

Table 3.6 provides a breakdown of selected industry groups for 1986 and 1991 by full and part-time employment. More women left the agricultural industries (predominantly sheep, dairying and fruit growing) than left other industries. Since full-time employment in those industries was not replaced by part-time employment, it is likely that many women formerly engaged in agriculture have either retired (the majority of women 65+ years still in the workforce are involved in agriculture) or shifted to one of the service industries these figures around. ces and retailing employ the greatest numbers of rural women and are continuing to grow. Increases in rural female part-time employment occurred in all sectors of secondary and tertiary industry and tended to partially offset losses from full-time employment. The decline in numbers of rural women providing food and accommodation is echoed by similar declines in numbers of women engaged in that area from minor urban areas. The growth in rural tourism in the 1990s (see below) is likely to turn these figures around.

Contact for Enquiries

Rural Affairs Coordinator
Sector Performance Policy
MAF Policy
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND

Phone: +64 4 894 0675
Fax: +64 4 4 894 0745
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