Sex Ratios, Labour Markets and Partnering: Mid 1800s to 2006

Abstract

In recent years the existence of an Antipodean ‘man drought’ has attracted considerable media attention. Australian demographer Bernard Salt first used this term in 2005 when highlighting unusual sex ratios in each country’s census. It has been suggested this ‘drought’ affects the ability of women to find male partners. However, unusual sex ratios are not new in New Zealand. In the early period of colonisation there was a shortage of women. Sex ratios are determined by three fundamental factors: births, deaths and migration, with migration having a particularly strong effect among the younger working age groups. Labour market demand has historically driven gendered migration flows and continues to do so. Until the middle of the 20th century New Zealand’s workforce was mostly male, of European ethnicity, and working in primary or manufacturing industries. The rise of service industries and increasing numbers of women in paid work has significantly changed the nature of the workforce. Absolute sex ratios potentially affect living arrangements. But, based on the idea that most women still seek male breadwinners as partners, United States researchers have suggested another important ratio: that of the number of employed men to the total number of women. We therefore consider long term changes in this ratio. Finally, we examine how living arrangements have changed from the mid 1800s through to 2006.