Call for more women in jobs

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33058, 27 October 1972, Page 2

Call for more women in jobs

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, October 26.

A further significant increase in the proportion of women in the labour force is desirable if women are to make their full contribution both economically and socially, according to a report from the National Advisory Council on the Employment of Women, released today.

“Because of the present structure of New Zealand industry. it might not be realistic, even if it were justifiable, to aim at the high employment levels nowcharacteristic of some industrialised countries,” the report says.

“However, the council hopes there will be an acceleration in the present trends and that, by 1978, two out of every five women aged between 15 and 64 will be in paid employment.” The council believes that employers and trade unions should ensure that there is equality of opportunity in employment, but women themselves must take advantage of these opportunities by preparing in greater numbers for a wider range of occupations and by accepting positions of greater responsibility. “Best judges'”

Women with family commitments should be able to chose whether to enter paid employment, the council says. Women themselves can best judge whether they can successfully combine home and work responsibilities and when to enter the labour force. Because of this element of choice the council accepts that any policy for women’s employment should recognise distinct groups of women: The large group of schoolleavers, most of whom will leave the work force about the time of marriage. A group of women who, in increasing numbers, will return to employment at some time after their youngest child enters primary school. A’ smaller group who will work more or less throughout their adult life or with only short breaks for the care of very young children, or elderly relatives. This group includes the single woman, the career woman, and the solo mother who works from economic necessity.

The council urges a sustained effort through publicity, schools, the vocational guidance service, and voluntary organisations, to inform girls and young women of the likelihood that they may spend much of their adult lives in employment, and of the need to take full advantage of the educational and vocational training opportunities open to them. It calls for the identification of job opportunities for women and of the potential supply of women to fill vacancies. Retraining services Training and refresher courses and appropriate general educational opportunities are urged for adult women. The council says that advisory and employment services should be provided for women returning to work after a period of family responsibilities.

Among measures to help women cope with the dual responsibilities of home and work, in the public sector and in private industry and commerce, it suggests: More part-time opportunities and greater flexibility of hours. Child-care services to safeguard the welfare and development of the children of working mothers. The council also urges measures to protect the position of the single-income family, as recommended by the Committee of Inquiry into Equal Pay. The council was set up in 1967 by the then Minister of Labour, the late Mr Shand. He defined its aims as: “The creation of the conditions for women to make their full contribution to the national

> economy consistent with their 1 individual freedom and their 1 responsibilities as wives and 1 mothers.” Estimated iabour force' figures for October, 1971, in-1 . dicate that now some three f persons ip every 10 in the iabour force are women. Be-: tween 1961 and 1971 there ■ has been a 42 per cent in-1 1 crease in the female labour ■ force, compared with a 16 per • cent increase for men. ; Nearly half the female! . labour force is now married . women, compared with a f third in the 19505. The incidence of part-time work by women continues to i grow. More than a quarter of j ’ the women surveyed in the , Labour Department’s half-i I yearly surveys now work less ■ than 30 hours a week, compared with 14 per cent 10 ! years ago.