Locating Women in the New Zealand Computing Industry

It is well recognised that women are under-represented in computing occupations in many Western countries, but is the situation similar in New Zealand? This article presents a quantitative analysis of gendered employment patterns in New Zealand's computing industry. Findings from analysis of 2001 and 2006 census employment data demonstrate that women are now well represented in some newer computing occupations in New Zealand, but they remain significantly under-represented in traditional computing roles such as programming and systems analysis. Furthermore, New Zealand women in computing do not have pay parity with men. On some occasions during the early days of computing in New Zealand women participated more equally in number but they have always experienced pay discrimination.