Callister & Associates
- economic and social research -
Selected 2011 Publications
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Paid Parental Leave Policy – A Response to Maureen Baker
Paul Callister and Judith Galtry, November 2011
Policy Quarterly, 7(4): 69-71.
Download Paid Parental Leave Policy here. [76 KB pDF]
Abstract: In the August 2011 issue of Policy Quarterly, Maureen Baker sets out to outline 'Key issues in parental leave policy'. One aim of the article was to examine 'some of the continuing debates about paid parental leave'.
However, we argue that the article fails to advance debates about paid parental leave in New Zealand, because: 1) it does not adequately engage with recent national and international literature; 2) it lacks new empirical evidence; 3) its theoretical basis is confused; and 4) no clear, new policy directions are promoted.
The New Zealand 'man drought': is it real, what are its causes, and what are the implications for partnering?
Paul Callister and Zoë Lawton
Working paper, October 2011
Download The New Zealand 'man drought' [1350 KB PDF]
Abstract: The June 2011 population estimates produced by Statistics New Zealand suggest there are around 50,000 more female than male residents aged 25-49, with the greatest imbalance in the prime relationship forming and childrearing age group of 30-44. In the popular media, this has been called a 'man drought'.
A range of research carried out under the 'missing men' research program is used in this paper to evaluate the overall man drought. The factors causing the overall man drought are complex. Undercounting males in census data and differences in mortality between men and women are contributing factors. But the main cause is migration, both in and out of New Zealand.
There is also an educational man drought within the overall man drought. A key driver of this particular drought is the change in educational participation and attainment within New Zealand. In the past, well educated men outnumbered well educated women. Now this imbalance has reversed. The historic tendency of women to 'marry up' to a man with a higher level of formal education than themselves has continued but now there are not enough well educated men for educated women to marry up to.
However, well educated women are now adapting by starting to marry down educationally. In doing so they are competing with each other but also against women who have less education. Well educated males appear to benefit from the man drought as they have a greater choice of partners. As a result, they are increasingly partnering with well educated women. Those most likely not to be partnered are poorly educated females as well as poorly educated males.
Other behavioural changes could occur in reaction to the man droughts. We consider whether women are now partnering more with younger men and whether there could be an increase overseas partnering, including more 'mail order brides' or 'husbands'. We also consider whether women will increasingly rely on their erotic capital to attract partners in the current competitive marriage market.
The 'Meet Market': A Research Update
Paul Callister and Robert Didham
New Zealand Population Review, 36:103-115.
Abstract: Between 1986 and 2006 young men and women made significant gains in educational attainment, with faster gains among young women. There was also a significant decline in partnering of young people, especially for those with no formal qualifications. By 2006 however, it was the well-educated who were most likely to be partnered.
In all censuses from 1986 to 2006 the well educated, when partnered, tended to have similarly qualified partners. In contrast, partnering has been declining for those reporting no formal educational qualifications and, if partnered in 2006, this group were more likely to be with an unqualified partner than in 1986.
Women, men and the new economics of partnering in New Zealand: A research note
Paul Callister, Martin von Randow and Gerard Cotterell, August 2011
Centre of Methods and Policy Application in the Social Sciences Working paper
Download Women, men and the new economics of partnering in New Zealand [132KB PDF]
Abstract: New Zealand census data from 1981 to 2006 indicate that holding formal qualifications, especially degrees or higher, and being partnered are associated with higher personal and household incomes for men and women aged 30–44. Those men and women aged 30-44 with no formal qualifications have faced real income declines.
However, unlike in the United States (US), income growth in New Zealand has been poor even for the well educated. In the US, the existence of well-educated couples both earning good incomes has led to very strong growth in inflation-adjusted incomes for these households, but this is not a pattern we have seen in New Zealand.
Women are contributing a greater proportion of household incomes, but instead of seeing significant household income gains from their additional earnings, in New Zealand we are seeing inflation-adjusted household incomes remaining flat.
Attitudes towards biculturalism in New Zealand: Asking the wrong questions, getting the wrong answers?
Paul Callister, August 2011
Download Attitudes towards biculturalism in New Zealand [180KB PDF]
Sibley and Liu (2004) suggested that young Pākehā students support symbolic biculturalism but these beliefs will not be translated into overcoming inequalities because these students oppose material resources being transferred to Māori. This study is important both in its content and because it has been widely cited in forums in New Zealand.
I argue that Sibley and Liu misrepresented the Treaty of Waitangi partnership and, through this, asked the wrong questions in their study. They put responsibility on individual Pākehā to help overcome the disadvantage that many Māori and Pacific peoples face rather than constructing this challenge as a collective responsibility of all New Zealanders.
More importantly, their ideas for encouraging more Māori and Pacific students to engage in postgraduate study at university, and especially to study psychology, demonstrate a lack of understanding of where disadvantage starts and the most effective and fairest ways of providing resources for overcoming disadvantage.
Globalisation, localisation and implications of a transforming nursing workforce in New Zealand: opportunities and challenges
Paul Callister, Juthika Badkar and Robert Didham, 2011
Nursing Inquiry 18(3): 205–215
Abstract: Severe staff and skill shortages within the health systems of developed countries have contributed to increased migration by health professionals. New Zealand stands out among countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in terms of the high level of movements in and out of the country of skilled professionals, including nurses.
In New Zealand, much attention has been given to increasing the number of Maori and Pacific nurses as one mechanism for improving Maori and Pacific health. Against a backdrop of the changing characteristics of the New Zealand nursing workforce, this study demonstrates that the globalisation of the nursing workforce is increasing at a faster rate than its localisation (as measured by the growth of the Maori and New Zealand-born Pacific workforces in New Zealand).
This challenges the implementation of culturally appropriate nursing programmes based on the matching of nurse and client ethnicities.
A changing population, changing identities: The Crown-Māori relationship in 50 years' time?
Paul Callister and David Bromell, June 2011
Available from the Institute of Policy Studies: A changing population, changing identities [600KB PDF]
Abstract: With the signalled 2014 end of the historical Treaty of Waitangi settlements process, are we ushering in a new era in Crown-Māori relations?
Demographic change will be one driver of changing relationships. The ethnic profile of New Zealand's population has changed significantly over the last 50 years, and we can expect to see an increasing ethnic diversity in the peoples that call New Zealand home.
At least as important, however, is how we think about our identity – the importance we ascribe to ethnicity, how we describe our ethno-cultural identities to others, and how we choose to relate to one another in terms of those identities. This has also changed significantly in New Zealand over the last 50 years and will continue to change as New Zealanders shape and re-shape terms of engagement in an increasingly complex, multicultural society.
We begin with a brief discussion of migration to and from New Zealand. We then introduce the conceptualisation and measurement of ethnicity, some aspects of population change, and report Statistics New Zealand projections of the future ethnic mix of New Zealand's population. We include questions around who is 'Māori', and who or what is 'the Crown'. In doing so, we hope to inform debates taking place on the website: posttreatysettlements.org.nz
Using census and migration data to explain gender disparities in New Zealand's prime adult age groups, 1986-2006, 'Missing men' Background Paper
Richard Bedford, Paul Callister and Robert Didham, April 2011
Available from Institute of Policy Studies: Using census and migration data to explain gender disparities
Abstract: Questions concerning the widening disparity in numbers between males and females in the prime working age groups in New Zealand’s population have attracted increasing attention from researchers and the media following the release of recent census data. Unfortunately it will not be possible to address these questions in 2011 because the census scheduled for that year has been cancelled due to a devastating earthquake in Christchurch two weeks before the enumeration was scheduled to take place.
This working paper reviews some of the findings from research that has been addressing several inequalities based on gender and ethnicity in New Zealand’s population. The analysis here complements and extends that in a paper published in the New Zealand Population Review in May 2006. Our main finding is that a complex combination of issues related to the way our stock (census) and flow (arrival/departure) data are used to compile the population estimates that are used as the base for population projections have contributed to exaggerating the apparent gender disparities in the 20-49 year age groups at successive censuses. There is no single explanation for these disparities.
Our conclusions, which we had hoped to assess with reference to the 2011 census data next year, and the mid-year estimates based on these census data after adjustment for census under-enumeration, will now have to be assessed with reference to a census in 2016 unless the Government decides to enumerate the population in 2012.
'Mail-order brides': are we seeing this phenomenon in New Zealand?
Zoe Lawton and Paul Callister, March 2011
Available from the Institute of Policy Studies: Mail Order Brides [413KB PDF]
Abstract: Cross country, cross cultural and cross religious partnerships are not new. While travel is the traditional way of facilitating transnational partnering, new technologies, notably the internet, are also now providing a means of meeting potential overseas partners.
New Zealand census data provides some inference that mail order brides are immigrating to New Zealand and, given international trends, it is it is almost certain this phenomenon is taking place in New Zealand. Already the Immigration New Zealand partnership policy recognises that mail order brides are immigrating to New Zealand as it contains an avenue for women in this type of relationship to obtain residency when they would otherwise not meet the residency requirements.
While the mail order bride phenomenon is currently generally seen in a negative light, there are some good social and economic reasons for such relationships to exist. Love may not be the main reason why some of these couples form, but that does not necessarily mean that the relationship is not ideal for both partners.
The risks and benefits of sun exposure: should skin colour or ethnicity be the main variable for communicating health promotion messages in New Zealand?
Paul Callister, Judith Galtry and Robert Didham, February 2011
Ethnicity & Health, 16(1): 57-71.
Abstract: Due to a unique combination of factors, New Zealand and Australia lead the world in melanoma incidence. Devising ways of minimising skin cancer risk and achieving optimal vitamin D blood levels among the New Zealand population provides major challenges for researchers and health promoters. These challenges include the many unknowns and uncertainties about vitamin D, such as determining what constitutes an optimal level as well as its association with specific diseases.
There is strong evidence that skin cancer, including melanoma, is caused by excess harmful sun exposure with skin colour having long been established as a risk factor. More recently, there has been significant focus in New Zealand on the potential beneficial aspects of sun exposure, mainly in assisting vitamin D synthesis, especially for Māori and Pacific people. But research also shows that Māori and Pacific people are increasingly at risk of developing melanoma.
In New Zealand, where there is a high rate of ethnic intermarriage and ethnicity is culturally constructed, there is likely to have been a weakening of the relationship between ethnicity and skin colour. Skin colour information is required to understand both the risks and benefits of sun exposure. In the immediate future, ethnicity appears likely to remain an important reference point for assessing the risks and benefits of sun exposure in New Zealand.
However, we contend that while ethnic-based channels may be useful for communicating appropriate sun exposure messages, there are dangers in such advice based on membership of particular ethnic group(s). Rather skin colour, along with other key variables, such as season and time of day, should be the core considerations for assessing and discussing risk. In the longer term, direct measures of skin type are needed when assessing the risks and benefits of sun exposure, including the potential protective effects against various illnesses.
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