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Story: Workforce composition

Women in full-time employment, 1936–2006

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The proportion of women in full-time employment almost doubled between 1936 and 2006, although there was a temporary dip in women’s employment at the end of the Second World War.

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Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Source: Anne Horsfield, Women in the economy: a research report on the economic position of women in New Zealand. Wellington: Ministry of Women’s Affairs, 1988, p  257; New Zealand official yearbook, 1990 and 2008

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How to cite this page

Paul Callister and Robert Didham, Workforce composition – Men’s work, women’s work, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/graph/22690/women-in-full-time-employment-1936-2006 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Paul Callister and Robert Didham, published 14 April 2010.