Male workers play more than women?

Press, 9 February 1983, Page 27

Male workers play more than women?

New Zealand employers are more ready to provide recreational facilities for men than for women, according to a survey.

A summary of the survey, in the latest newsletter of the Council for Recreation and Sport, says: “Figures obtained by the Internal Affairs Department research unit suggest that firms with a high proportion of female employees have a markedly poorer record of recreational activities than those in which men are in a majority.” The newsletter suggests that this may be because many of the female employees are part-time, or they have no time to use facilities if they are provided.

One of the interesting facts to emerge from the survey is that 14 per cent of workplaces where there are 100 or more employees have a bar; 30 per cent have a games room; and 20 per cent

have another indoor recreational facility for staff. Smaller workplaces, with fewer than 100 employees, are less likely to have indoor recreational facilities. The survey found that only one in 10 has a games room, bar, or similar facility. The survey found that 36 per cent of small and 71 per cent of large workplaces have leisure equipment indoors. Nearly one in 10 large workplaces has its own playing field and two in 10 have

other outdoor facilities. The most common facilities are for cricket (25 per cent of large workplaces and 2 per cent of small). Nineteen per cent of all workplaces have facilities for either netball or rugby, or both. For soccer, the percentage is 13. A third of the larger organisations field teams in serious competitive sport. The full report of the research unit is expected to be published about June this year.