One Hundred Years of Labour Force Participation: Some Comments

Lisa Davies, Natalie Jackson

This paper summarises the findings and policy implications of a report, “Women’s Labour Force Participation in New Zealand: The Past 100 Years”, published in 1993 by the Department of Social Welfare. A Women’s Suffrage Project, it presents an account of the changes that have occurred in this area since 1893.

This paper begins by reviewing the key trends in women’s labour force participation, assessing women’s current employment status, and exploring the implications of the changes that have occurred. We argue that improving women’s access to, and position within, the paid labour force will require further action and a comprehensive, broadly focused approach. We then explore how some of the persisting structural barriers to increased labour force participation can be countered through the increased provision of childcare and support services, and legislative reform.

The paper concludes that in these times of  continued labour market deregulation, the most immediate challenge will be for women to maintain the gains that they, and women before them, have struggled to achieve. The final part raises questions and issues about contemporary legislative and policy reforms that may work to hinder, or further constrain, women’s full participation in the paid labour force.