New Zealand falls in latest global gender equality rankings

New Zealand has slipped a spot in global rankings for gender equality, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF).

The WEF's latest Global Gender Gap Report, which benchmarks performance of individual nations across various economic and social indicators, said New Zealand maintained high standards globally, but that a downward trajectory loomed.

Weaker economic opportunities and political representation for women had bumped New Zealand from fourth to fifth.

The WEF report measured gender parity across four key dimensions - economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. Each dimension was assessed using various indicators and weighted accordingly.

In terms of economic participation, New Zealand ranked below 70% for the first time since 2007.

"The subindex exhibits a downward trend, despite minor fluctuations over time. There is a further decline in executive perceptions of wage equality."

The report also pointed to falling political empowerment, setting back "notable progress" from 2019-23.

"Parity in ministerial positions has dropped by nearly 30 percentage points, from 81.8% in 2023 to 53.8% in 2025.

"Similarly, parity in Parliamentary representation now stands at 83.6%, down from full parity achieved in 2023."

Minister for Women Nicola Grigg told RNZ that, despite the lower ranking, New Zealand remained in a strong position.

"While New Zealand has dropped one place in the latest ranking, we remain in the top five globally, including maintaining first place in educational attainment.

"This is a strong position, reflecting long-term commitment."

The coalition government has not ruled out a mandatory pay gap reporting system, which the previous Labour government introduced in August 2023.

Cabinet has yet to make any decisions, with the focus for now on supporting businesses to build the capacity to measure and report their own gaps.

If ministers were to push ahead with a mandatory pay gap reporting system, decisions would first be required around funding and resourcing the system.

As such, the government has sought to ramp up data on the gap itself and its causes, Grigg said.

"The gender pay gap is complex and nuanced, with around 80% of contributing factors being 'unexplained', like hiring bias.

"That is why, last year, I launched the first-ever government-backed Gender Pay Gap Toolkit, which was designed by businesses themselves to help them address these complex issues. Since launching the calculator toolkit, we've had great engagement, with over 23,000 visits to the site."

Grigg told RNZ that the government's recent pay equity changes, which changed the bargaining system, while scrapping all existing agreements and notifications, supports gender equality.

"The changes will identify genuine sex-based discrimination in the workplace. New Zealand's system remains more liberal than many listed in the 2025 Gender Pay Gap Index, for example.

"Having a fair-pay equity system and giving businesses resources to reduce the gender pay gap contributes towards achieving gender equality."

In response to those changes, a cross-party group of female former MPs, led by Dame Marilyn Waring, formed the People's Select Committee on Pay Equity pressure group.

Former equal employment opportunities commissioner and advisor to the group Saunoamaali'i Karanina Sumeo told RNZ that the changes would have come about too early to be counted in the WEF report.

"The global ranking is something that makes us look great, but we've got to look underneath that," she said. "We know around 38.2% of households in New Zealand think that their income is either not enough or barely enough to get by - that should matter to us more."

While progress had been made, Sumeo said underlying drivers of gender inequality still persisted.

"I wouldn't feel comfortable that we're going to maintain it in the top five. I suspect that we're going to fall back."

Sumeo said a mandatory system would be ideal and, while she hoped the government moved it forward, she wasn't holding out for it.

"Unless it's mandatory, it won't go on a to-do list, so ultimately we'd like to go there, but also we need to support our businesses, so it's not a scary exercise to do and so we're all doing it for the right reason."

rnz.co.nz