Government Reaches Target for Women on Public Sector Boards and Committees

Minister for Women Jan Tinetti, Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio, and Minister for Diversity, Inclusion and Ethnic Communities, Priyanca Radhakrishnan announced that the government has achieved its target of 50 percent women on public sector boards and committees.

Public sector boards are now made up of 50.9 percent women, up from 45.7 percent in 2017.

Minister Tinetti says, “more diverse boards make better quality decisions and better representation of our diverse communities will be critical in securing our recovery from COVID-19 for all New Zealanders.”

This is the second year the Stocktake of Gender, Māori, Pacific and Ethnic Diversity on public sector boards and committees measured ethnicity data, now received for 98.6 percent of board members.

The report found:

  • 71.4 percent of board members are New Zealand European (down from 71.6 percent in 2019)
  • 22.3 percent are Māori (up from 21.1 percent last year)
  • 5.4 percent are Pacific peoples (up from 4.6 percent last year)
  • 4 percent are Asian (up from 3.6 percent last year)
  • 0.8 percent are Middle Eastern, Latin American or African (up from 0.6 percent last year)

Minister Sio says ,”it is vital that the Boards of today reflect the communities they serve. Just as our communities are multi-cultural, and come from many walks of life, we must gain the same varied perspective on our boards to ensure that diversity is achieved.”

 Image credit: Ministry for Women, Manatū Wāhine 2019 data