Gloomy picture of efforts to broaden work opportunities

Press, 25 July 1985, Page 8

Gloomy picture of efforts to broaden work opportunities

Very little progress could be found in its survey of attempts to broaden the scope of women’s occupations, according to the review of New Zealand women in the United Nations’ Decade for Women. The most effective programme was the Taranaki Pilot Positive Action Programme, which in 1983 placed 100 young women in training and employment in non-traditional areas. Other work programmes were less successful. In some, none of the trainees found work in the areas they had been trained for, says the report. The Review paints a gloomy picture of non-tradi-tional apprenticeships for women. It points out that, apart from hairdressing, most female apprentices are in horticulture and printing, and that female participation has declined in some trades: Radio: 1980, 16; 1983, 6. Clothing machining: 1981, 27; 1982, 19; 1983, 10. Fitting and turning: 1981, 8; 1982, 7; 1983, 6. Industrial instrumentation: 1981, 5; 1982, 2; 1983, 1. “That is, if trends continue, female participation in some trades could disappear again,” V

view says. The trends, happily, did not continue, and more recent figures indicate greater acceptance of non-tradi-tional jobs for women. 1985 apprenticeship figures for women in non-traditional areas total 285 — a 45 per cent increase, set against an overall increase in female apprenticeships of 35 per cent. The review notes that in industries where women are a high percentage of the total labour force, there are no training facilities to provide women employees with either managerial or supervisory skills. Technical Institute “New Opportunities” courses are reported as being the only specific re-training programmes for women wishing to re-enter the workforce. Inappropriate (for New Zealand) questions — put by the U.N. — often have simplistic answers in the review. It states, for instance, that policies and programmes have been established to assist migrant women in finding employment and housing, child care, vocational training and education. This good news is tempered with the comment

that “there is very little information available on the needs of migrant women.” It also expresses the hope that community whanau (extended family) groups will become stronger. It is the negative responses, those which decline to respond on the grounds that the question was “irrelevant to New Zealand,” and the unasked questions which most interested those spoken to who have read the report. “Major obstacles” were seen in attaining the goals and objectives of the U.N. Decade for Women, says the review. Most of those women who have been involved in that struggle could be explicit in naming quite a few. There is no mention of the enormous amounts of voluntary work done by women — all the most surprising considering that much information about this work was given on a voluntary basis to the survey. Those who believe that the United Nations stands for lesbian marriages will be heartened to know that lesbians do not get a mention. Immigration, whether of women or men, appears not to be seen as an important issueg.

Nevertheless, the United Nations’ monitoring committee, if it studies the review, will find little to criticise about this country’s efforts to promote equality between the sexes.