Career choices in New Zealand are still limited by gender stereotyping, but we met a number of people who have challenged cultural norms and made non-traditional choices. We heard about female air traffic controllers employed by the Airways Corporation, headquartered in Christchurch, and women sea captains at Whalewatch in Kaikoura. In both cases EEO strategies were used to encourage women into these roles. In the case of Airways, targeted advertising was used, and in the case of Whalewatch, educational opportunities were made available.
Equally, we met with men in non-traditional jobs. A group of male kindergarten teachers in Christchurch has set up mutual support structures and actively promote early childhood careers as a job for other men.
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The group is active in promoting men as early childhood teachers, producing posters and going to secondary schools to talk to career advisers and students about their jobs. They also encourage young men considering career options to go and see early childhood centres. The group supports affirmative action to increase the number of men in the sector. |
Garth Armstrong, an early childhood teacher in Wellington, who featured in the introductory video, said, “We also want to promote the fact that men can be early childhood teachers and for the community to see that we are doing the job as effectively as women, just in our own male way.”
The Navy, which has the highest gender ratio of the three armed forces at 23 per cent, tries to reflect society. “You can’t deny 50 per cent of the population.” We heard of greater promotion of women in the Navy, but also the high number of women who become pregnant directly affects deployment into the field.
The highest ranking female officer in an army group spoken to at Waiouru said the career management structure was now identical for men and women. “When I was commissioned, women could only join certain branches. I wanted to be an infantry officer but I couldn’t as combat trades were not open to women then.”