April 2006

 

The statistics are clear – Maori women’s participation in business has more than tripled since 1991. That still means only 6.5% of Maori women in employment are self-employed or running their own business.

 

Maori women have been taking up the reins of business faster than Maori men since the late nineties, according to statistics from Statistics New Zealand’s Household Labour Force survey of 2005.

 

In 1991, the number of Maori women who were self-employed or running their own business averaged 1700. By 2005 that figure had climbed to 5,800. This compares to a rise in Maori men’s self employment figures from 6,350 to 9,750 in the same period. With the growth in the number of Maori men in the workforce, that number represents a drop in the percentage of Maori men who are self-employed, from 10.7% to10.1%.

 

Women still only represent around 22% of the self employed Maori workforce and evidence suggests many of those businesses are sole trader, subsistence-type activities. The number of Maori women who have grown their business to a point where they employ others has barely moved in 15 years. They make up only 1.3% of Maori women in employment.

 

One factor that drives Maori women towards self-employment has also kept them from developing those businesses much beyond subsistence level: The need to fulfil their commitments to their children and families. Self-employment allows the best likelihood of achieving the necessary flexibility in work hours.