A Fair Share

We’re lauded for being a progressive country in many ways – but when it comes to the gender pay gap, are we resting on our laurels? We meet the women working to achieve pay equality, and find out what we need to do to close the gap

- Kylie Bailey

Did you know that as New Zealand women we’re paid 16% less to do the same job as our male colleagues? Regardless of what profession we are in and even though the work we do is just as valuable?

Just as remarkable is that despite being the first country in the world to give women the vote and the fact our pregnant PM is making international headlines, our efforts to close the gender pay gap have barely moved for a decade.

The gender pay gap in New Zealand sits at 9.4% – slightly smaller than it was 10 years ago. Meanwhile, a study published last year by Motu Economic and Public Policy using 10 years of annual wage and productivity data from New Zealand found women are being paid less to do the same job as men – 16% less to be exact. For MaÌ„ori women, it’s 22% less and for Pasifika women, 26% less.

That is happening even though you are making a contribution of equal value to your employer.

Even more interesting is the fact this study also proved sexism is most likely the major driver behind the gender wage gap. Researchers were able to prove that the average female employee in a private firm earns 84 cents for every $1 the average man gets paid.

To add even more fuel to the fire, a report carried out by AUT and issued by the Ministry of Women last year showing empirical evidence of the gender pay gap in New Zealand found that over the past two decades – at almost all educational attainment level – females now outstrip their male counterparts.

So why throughout New Zealand workplaces do women continue to be paid as though they are less valuable and less qualified than men, and how on earth can we change these abysmal statistics?