The table provides information regarding men and women who worked in various employment patternts-namely, manufacturing, building, commerce, services, IT, and farming-in New Zealand over a decade spanning from 1993 to 2003.
Overall, at the beginning of the period, female employees were the most in commerce and services, while the percentages of males in building, IT, and farming were the highest. In addition, at the end of the period, the rates of men were still higher in those fields, but they decreased significantly, being similar to the proportion of women in services and commerce.
In 1993, the trend for males in manufacturing was 55%, having the same figure as for females in the field of commerce. However, in 2003, these rates decreased dramatically to 52% and 50%, respectively. Moreover, the proportion of men in IT was 80%, while the rate of women in the services was more by 5 percentage points in 1993. In 2003, the figure for men in IT, on the other hand, declined sharply to 70%, whereas the rate of women in services dropped to 60%.
Men employees in farming were 75% in 1993, falling by 10 percentage points in 2003. In contrast, the trend for women in this field was lower, being one-quarter in 1993 and increasing to 35% in 2003. Of note, the percentage of women in the field of building and manufacturing rose by 3% and 8% in 2003, starting at 45% and 32% in 1993, respectively.