New Zealand prides itself on its record of women’s rights and representation. We were the first nation to give women the right to vote, and in the 126 years since, our country has made significant progress in ensuring gender equality.
However, there is still much work to be done in our business sector if New Zealand is to live up to its reputation as a society that recognises, promotes and enjoys the full benefits of equal representation for women.
For the technology sector in particular, the latest MYOB Business Monitor research makes sobering reading. Nearly half of the industry’s female leaders have personally experienced gender bias during their career, just 25% of local technology businesses have equal representation in their leadership teams (41% to 60% of their leaders are female), only one in ten tech businesses work to actively address discrimination and less than half pay their female employees the same as men in the same role.
The perceived barriers to achieving greater gender diversity differ for men and women. While both genders believe the tech industry lacks appeal for women, female business owners feel more strongly about other barriers – specifically, the lack of female representation in senior leadership, the industry’s reputation for gender bias, the lack of female role models, and biased recruitment techniques.
In your opinion, what are the barriers, if any, to achieving greater representation of women in New Zealand’s technology industries?
Lack of appeal of industry to females
Biased recruitment techniques
Lack of female representation in senior leadership
Lack of commitment from tech companies to achieve gender diversity
Reputation of gender bias within industry
Lack of access to STEM education/training
Lack of female role models in the industry
There are no barriers
Women in business are missing from leadership teams. While more than a third of all SMEs have balanced leadership teams (41% to 60% female), just a quarter of the technology industry report the same. In contrast, nearly three fifths of the tech SME sector (57%) have majority male leadership teams (0% to 40% female).
Businesses with gender neutral leadership teams (41% to 60% of their leaders are female)
34% of all SMEs
25% of technology SMEs
Businesses with leadership teams predominantly made up of women (61% to 100% of their leaders are female)
12% of all SMEs
15% of technology SMEs
Businesses with leadership teams predominantly made up of men (0% to 40% of their leaders are female)
53% of all SMEs
57% of technology SMEs
Gender bias is more commonly experienced by employees in the technology sector. While more than a third (36%) of female SME owner/operators reported experiencing gender bias in the workplace, nearly half (46%) of female SME owner/operators from the tech sector said the same.
Women who have experienced gender bias in the workplace
36% of women in SME sector
46% of women in SME tech sector
Men who have experienced gender bias in the workplace
14% of men in SME sector
17% of men in SME tech sector
Women who have witnessed gender bias in the workplace
42% of women in SME sector
46% of women in SME tech sector
Men who have witnessed gender bias in the workplace
24% of men in SME sector
30% of men in SME tech sector
Only a fifth (21%) of New Zealand businesses believe gender diversity is important to their business. While nearly two fifths (38%) of female-owned technology businesses said gender diversity was important to them, less than a quarter (23%) of male-owned technology businesses said the same.
Business owners who believe gender diversity is important to their business
25% of female-owned businesses
18% of male-owned businesses
38% of female-owned technology businesses
23% of male-owned technology businesses
Only half of New Zealand’s SME sector provide equal pay for men and women in the same role. This is also the case for New Zealand’s technology SME sector.
Businesses that provide equal pay for men and women in the same role
50% of SMEs
48% of technology SMEs
Tech companies are more likely to provide flexible work hours in support of gender diversity than general SMEs. More than two fifths (43%) of technology SME business owners said they offer their staff flexible work hours as a policy to build gender diversity and inclusion.
Businesses that provide flexible work hours
36% of SMEs
43% of technology SMEs
Only one in ten SMEs in the tech sector have anti-discrimination policies or rules in place to stop gender bias.
Businesses with anti-discrimination policies or rules
18% of SMEs
10% of technology SMEs
While technology SMEs are less likely to use anti-discrimination policies or rules to stop gender bias, they are more likely to adopt equality-focused recruitment techniques to build gender diversity in the workplace.
Businesses with equality-focused recruitment techniques
18% of SMEs
23% of technology SMEs
Positively, policies to assist in building gender diversity are more commonly used by technology businesses than other SMEs. Just one in ten tech companies report no policies, while nearly a quarter (24%) of all SMEs said the same.
Businesses that do not have any policies to assist in building gender diversity
24% of SMEs
10% of technology SMEs
According to SME owners, gender diversity policies and practices help attract new staff and talent; retain existing staff; improve company performance; and fulfil their company values. Only a quarter (24% of all SMEs and 26% of technology SMEs) said gender diversity policies had no benefit – or weren’t important to their business.
Gender diversity policies help in attracting new staff
36% of SMEs
36% of technology SMEs
Gender diversity policies help to fulfil company values
22% of SMEs
18% of technology SMEs
Gender diversity policies help in retaining existing staff
32% of SMEs
36% of technology SMEs
Gender diversity policies are not important or needed
24% of SMEs
26% of technology SMEs
Gender diversity policies improve company performance
30% of SMEs
28% of technology SMEs
Technology businesses find it more difficult to improve gender diversity in the workplace than other SMEs. Only 14% of all SMEs said they find it difficult to improve gender diversity, while nearly a quarter (23%) of technology businesses said the same.
It is difficult to improve gender diversity in the workplace
14% of SMEs
23% of technology SMEs
While only 14% of businesses find it hard to improve the gender balance in their workplace, just 16% find it easy, simple or straightforward. One quarter said it is reasonably straightforward.
It is easy to improve gender diversity in the workplace
16% of SMEs
16% of technology SMEs
As a developed Western nation with mostly gender-neutral ideals, New Zealand is one of the world’s leading countries with regards to gender diversity and equality. Among SMEs, nearly a third believe New Zealand is better than other OECD countries when it comes to gender diversity in the workplace. Just 12% believe New Zealand is worse.
New Zealand is better than other OECD countries when it comes to gender diversity in the workplace
29% of all SMEs
34% of technology SMEs
New Zealand is worse than other OECD countries when it comes to gender diversity in the workplace
12% of all SMEs
13% of technology SMEs
To ensure a sustainable, profitable and more inclusive tech workplace for all New Zealanders – now and in the future – we need to take action. We need to look deeply into the data, understand the reasons why women are being underpaid, under-represented and discriminated against.
And, as an industry, it is not enough just to ask the question, we must work to find the answers. Re-thinking how we educate our young people will be critical, as we work to expose more women and young girls to the industry early on in the education cycle. It’s also important for every industry to promote and champion the female business leaders – both old and young – who are already striving for change and tackling the big issues within their own organisations.
It’s a massive undertaking – one that will require the cooperation and support of industry, education, government and community. However, if we can work together to promote the importance of diversity in the workplace and set achievable goals, we can build a technology sector worth celebrating on the world stage and set a precedent for communities everywhere.
Ingrid Cronin-Knight
MYOB NZ Country Manager
Download the report here.
Women in Tech Report 2019MYOB is a leading provider of online business management solutions. The leading technology company makes business life easier for approximately 1.2 million businesses across Australia and New Zealand by simplifying accounting, payroll, tax, practice management, CRM, job costing, inventory and more. MYOB is committed to challenging traditional gender roles and aims to raise awareness of gender equality in technology – and the wider workplace – by starting conversations, addressing unconscious bias, hosting events and building partnerships.
MYOB has a strong representation of women across the business (43%) and in its Senior Leadership Team (44%). It is making a contribution to the improved representation of women in technology through initiatives such as: DevelopHer, offering paid scholarships to women who are changing careers or looking to re-enter the workforce; targeting the hiring of women into more than 40% of entry level engineering roles; and actively seeking opportunities to transfer female leaders from other areas into technology teams.
In 2017 MYOB completed its first gender pay-gap analysis and it continues to focus on this area with regular reviews, to ensure no pay-gap exists between men and women in equivalent positions. CEO Tim Reed has continued his active support through his membership of the Male Champions of Change initiative, ensuring that commitments are delivered within MYOB.
For more information, visit www.myob.com/nz or follow @MYOB on Twitter.
The MYOB Business Monitor survey of over 1,000 small to medium sized businesses across New Zealand examines the current performance of the SME sector as well as the pressures it faces. The latest survey was conducted in March 2019.
Carried out by Colmar Brunton, the survey sample includes 220 technology-related companies (IT services, software development, digital marketing, web development and others), as well as responses from 383 female business owners and 625 male business owners.