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Section 01
Raraunga Ohumahi - Te iwitanga i roto i te Ratonga Tūmatanui Workforce Data - Ethnicity in the Public Service
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Section 02
Raraunga Ohumahi - Te Ira Tangata i roto i Te Ratonga Tūmatanui Workforce Data - Gender representation in the Public Service
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Section 03
Raraunga Ohumahi - Āniwaniwa Workforce Data - Rainbow
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Section 04
Raraunga Ohumahi - Hunga whaikaha Workforce Data - Disability
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Section 05
Raraunga Ohumahi - Kāhua taipakeke Workforce Data - Age profile
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Section 06
Raraunga Ohumahi - Hāhi Workforce Data - Religion
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Section 07
Raraunga Ohumahi - Whakaurunga Workforce Data - Inclusion
‘Rainbow’ is a broad umbrella term that covers a diversity of sexual orientations as well as gender identities and expressions, and sex characteristics. Rainbow communities make up 9.4% of the Public Service and Te Taunaki Public Service Census results show that the experience of working in the Public Service can be less positive for some people within these communities.
The data we collect provides information about gender, sex characteristics and sexual identity in the Public Service.
Gender
Gender is an individual’s internal sense of being a woman, a man, neither of these, both or somewhere along a spectrum. Gender is not fixed and is able to change. Gender information for public servants has been available since Workforce Data was first produced in 2000 but until 2018, only binary — male/female — data was available.
The latest Workforce Data for 2024 shows 61.9% of public servants are female and 37.2% are male. Results from Te Taunaki in 2021 showed a similar female/male split but indicated a greater number of those with other genders/non-binary at 0.5% (0.4% who were another gender, 0.1% with multiple genders).
Based on Te Taunaki, in 2021 people of another gender or multiple genders:
- made up 0.5% of all staff but accounted for a smaller 0.2% of managers and leaders.
- agreed they received learning and development support and opportunities at very similar levels to females and males.
- had slightly higher qualification levels than males or females.
Transgender
Te Taunaki asked if people were transgender; transgender or trans refers to people whose gender is different to the sex assigned at their birth. Results indicated that 0.5% of the Public Service were trans in 2021.
Stats NZ data for the year ending June 2021, combined other genders with indications of a person being transgender to provide a single figure for ‘transgender and non-binary’ people. This was 0.5% of the New Zealand adult population, similar to the figure for Public Service staff from Te Taunaki.
LGBT+ population of Aotearoa: Year ended June 2021 | Stats NZ
Intersex
Te Taunaki also asked if people had an intersex variation; intersex denotes a number of different variations in a person’s bodily characteristics that are more diverse than strict medical definitions of male or female. Having a variation of sex characteristics is often referred to as being intersex or having an intersex variation. Results indicated that 0.2% of the Public Service were intersex in 2021.
The Stats NZ 2023 Census of Populations and Dwellings collected intersex information for the first time. It found 0.4 percent of the census usually resident population aged 15 years and over who responded) stated that they know they were born with a variation of sex characteristics
2023 Census shows 1 in 20 adults belong to Aotearoa New Zealand’s LGBTIQ+ population
Sexual identity
A person’s sexual identity is how they think of their own sexuality and which terms they identify with. In Te Taunaki (2021), 91.2% of respondents identified as heterosexual or straight, and 8.8% identified with a sexual minority (with 4.3% identifying as bisexual, 2.1% as gay, 1.5% as lesbian and 1.0% identified as another sexual identity). These sexual minorities were considerably larger than in the New Zealand adult population. A June 2021 report from Stats NZ reported that 4.1% of people identified with a sexual minority: 1.4% gay or lesbian, 2.1% bisexual, and 0.6% with another sexual identity.
LGBT+ population of Aotearoa: Year ended June 2021 | Stats NZ
Rainbow communities and working in the Public Service
Te Taunaki results indicated that in 2021 the experience of working in the Public Service could vary by gender, particularly for those who were of another gender or multiple genders, by being transgender, or intersex, and by sexual identity.
For example, in the questions on inclusive workplaces:
- 82% of staff reported ‘feeling comfortable being themselves at work/with their colleagues’. This dropped to 72% for intersex staff, 65% for transgender staff, and 61% for those of another gender or multiple genders. For gay and lesbian staff, this was 79%, 74% for bisexual staff, and 70% for other sexual identities.
- 81% agreed that ‘people in their workgroup behave in an accepting manner towards people from diverse backgrounds’. For transgender staff this was 69%, the same (69%) for those of another gender or multiple genders, and 59% for intersex staff. For gay and lesbian staff this was 79%, 76% for bisexual staff, and 72% for other sexual identities.
- The results were closer for the question on whether people ‘feel accepted as a valued member of their team’. Overall, 79% agreed with this. There was also agreement from 77% of staff of another gender or multiple genders, 73% from transgender staff, and 63% from intersex staff. There was also agreement from 79% of gay or lesbian staff, 78% from bisexual staff, and 77% from other identities.
On being gendered correctly:
- 97.2% of Public Service staff felt that most people gendered them correctly. This was lower for people of another gender or multiple genders (52.9%), transgender people (63.8%) or intersex people (83.1%).
Intersection of rainbow and disability:
- A higher proportion of disabled public servants in Te Taunaki identified as being part of the minority sexual identities or multiple gender/s than non-disabled public servants.
Where rainbow public servants are located:
- The Wellington region was identified by Stats NZ in 2021 as having the highest proportion of LGBT+ people in New Zealand relative to its population, a finding that was also echoed in Te Taunaki with 58% of sexual minority public servants working in Wellington, compared to 44.3% of their straight or heterosexual colleagues.
- Rainbow public servants who worked outside major centres faced challenges with accessing employee-led network support, and often felt more isolated
Rainbow representation in senior management
Te Taunaki found that rainbow public servants were underrepresented at all levels of management: 6.2% of senior managers (tiers 1 to 3) were part of a rainbow community, 7.6% of tier 4, and 6.6% of tier 5 (or another type of manager or team leader). All of these were lower than the overall rainbow proportion of the Public Service (9.4%).
A driver for this underrepresentation was likely to be that rainbow public servants tended to be younger than their non-Rainbow colleagues - this is similar to what was seen in Aotearoa’s LGBT+ population overall in the Stats NZ 2020 report.
LGBT+ population of Aotearoa: Year ended June 2020 — Stats NZ
Patterns in leadership varied across the specific rainbow communities that were asked about in Te Taunaki. For example:
- 2.6% of senior managers (tiers 1 to 3) identified as gay, which is a slightly higher proportion than in the Public Service overall (2.1%).
- Bisexual public servants were the most under-represented, with 1.9% of senior managers with this sexual identity, compared to 4.3% of public servants overall.
- 0.5% of senior managers were transgender, the same as the proportion of transgender people in the Public Service overall (also 0.5%)
- Intersex public servants and public servants of another and/or multiple gender/s were represented across the leadership levels, including senior leaders, but because of small numbers and the associated privacy rules, no specific figures can be provided.
Further information
A more in-depth look at rainbow public servants in Te Taunaki is available in the deep dive reports:
For more data, see the Census drilldown data cubes.
Data drilldown and technical guidance