3 - Gender, Income and Literacy

• What proportion of those with both high prose literacy and high numeracy skills are women?
• How do the incomes of women with high prose literacy and numeracy skills compare with similarly skilled men?

This section examines these and similar questions.

Prose literacy and numeracy are singled out for analysis in this section because they are the domains of relative strength for women and men respectively (see Section 2). 

Prose literacy, numeracy and gender

Prose literacy and numeracy skills were measured by the ALL survey, and the (simultaneous) distribution of both among the adult population of New Zealand by gender is shown in Figure 3.1.

Figure 3.1 - Prose literacy and numeracy, by gender, ALL only

Note:

1. Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number.
2. Blank cells indicate that cell membership was too low to allow accurate statistical analyses   
   

Figure 3.1 shows how the proportion of men and women varies for different combinations of high and low prose literacy and numeracy.  It shows, for example, that the population with level 4 or 5 numeracy skill and level 3 prose literacy skill was 32% women and 68% men. 

Looking at Figure 3.1:

• and reading up the columns, regardless of prose literacy skill, for the populations at different numeracy levels, the higher the numeracy level the greater the proportion of men
• and reading across the rows, regardless of numeracy skill, for the populations at different prose literacy levels, the higher the prose literacy level the greater the proportion of women.
  

Prose literacy, numeracy, income and gender

The income variable analysed in this section is gross personal income from all sources.  Income is reported by ‘decile’.¹ A decile is one of ten sub-populations of approximately equal size into which a population can be divided. For example, the lowest income decile is the tenth of the population with the lowest income.

The reason for reporting income by decile is that it controls for changes in all incomes over time. This allows incomes from 2006, for example, to be meaningfully compared with any similar data collected in the past or in the future.

The income decile ranges for the ALL survey are as follows:

decile 1:     $0 - $3,000

decile 2:     $3,001 - $10,000

decile 3:    $10,001 - $17,000

decile 4:    $17,001 - $24,000

decile 5:    $24,001 - $30,000

decile 6:    $30,001 - $39,000

decile 7:    $39,001 - $46,000 

decile 8:    $46,001 - $57,000

decile 9:    $57,001 - $75,000

decile 10:    $75,001  and higher.

Figure 3.2 shows the same information as Figure 3.1 but adds, in each cell, the income decile of its mean income.

Figure 3.2: Prose literacy, numeracy and income decile, by gender, ALL only

Note:  
Blank cells indicate that cell membership was too low to allow accurate statistical analyses.

Figure 3.2 contrasts income for men and women while controlling for their skill levels.  It shows, for example, that, for the population with level 4 or 5 numeracy skill and level 3 prose literacy skill, women’s mean income was in the 7th income decile and men’s was in the 9th. Figure 3.2 also shows that the mean income for men was at least two deciles higher than for women across all skill categories.

One question raised by Figure 3.2 is whether these differences persist after controlling for time spent in the workplace.  Men and women have different rates of labour force participation, including full-time and part-time work, and thus different patterns of earnings. The ALL survey collected information on whether employed respondents worked full- or part-time to allow this question to be investigated.

Table 3.3 shows, for men and women in full-time employment, income decile by prose literacy and numeracy skill profile.²
 

Table 3.3: Prose literacy, numeracy and income decile for the full-time employed, by gender, ALL only

Note:
Blank cells indicate that cell membership was too low to allow accurate statistical analyses.

Figure 3.3 shows similar but less pronounced patterns to Figure 3.2. In particular, Figure 3.3 shows that the mean income for men employed full-time was at least one decile higher than for women employed full-time across all skill categories.

Prose literacy, income and gender

The mean prose literacy score for the men and women in each income decile is shown in Figure 3.4. This provides a more detailed perspective on the rows of Figure 3.2

Figure 3.4: Prose literacy means and income decile, by gender, ALL only 

Figure 3.4 shows that, for both women and men, higher income deciles are associated with higher mean prose literacy skill. Figure 3.3 also shows that for each income decile, the mean prose literacy skill of women is higher than that of men. This difference is more marked for income deciles 4 to 9.

Numeracy, income and gender

The mean numeracy score for the men and women in each income decile is shown in Figure 3.5 This provides a more detailed perspective on the columns of Figure 3.2

Figure 3.5: Numeracy means and income decile, by gender, ALL only

Figure 3.5 shows that, for both women and men, as income decile increases so does mean numeracy skill (although income deciles 2 and 3 do not follow this trend).³ Figure 3.5 also shows that for most income deciles, the mean numeracy skill of women is equal to or greater than that of men (although income deciles 1, 2 and 10 don’t follow this pattern.) 

Footnotes

1. In this report income deciles are used to represent patterns (including relationships between skill, gender and income) within the ALL data in finer detail than is possible with income quintiles. Note that: quintile 1 corresponds to deciles 1 and 2; quintile 2 corresponds to deciles 3 and 4; quintile 3 corresponds to deciles 5 and 6, and so on.
   
2. Note that Table 3.3 does not contain information about proportions of men and women with various prose literacy and numeracy skill profiles.
3. This phenomenon occurs in other analyses by income. For example, in Statistics New Zealand’s Household Economic Survey (for the year ended 30 June 2007), the number of employed people aged 15 and over increased as income decile increased except for between income deciles 2 and 3, where it decreased.