Gender pay gap: Kiwi women now 'working for free' until 2020

Monday, 18 November 2019

Westpac NZ has focused strongly on gender equality, but still has a significant gender pay gap, RNZ's podcast The Detail reports. (First published in October 2019)

New Zealand women will be working for free from Monday until the start of next year due to the gender pay gap, the Council of Trade Unions says.

'The gender pay imbalance in the average wage is 11.9 per cent. From November 18 there is 11.9 per cent of the year left,' vice-president Rachel Mackintosh said.

'Because women aren't paid equally to men, they are now working for free until the end of the year.'

There is still a gender imbalance when it comes to equal pay in New Zealand (file photo).

Pay inequality was worse for Māori and Pasifika women, Mackintosh said. They started 'working for free' on October 12 and September 29 respectively.

* Can pay transparency reduce the gender pay gap?

* Men in industry and trades still earn 20 per cent more than women**

According to the Ministry for Women, the gender pay gap is 'a high-level indicator of the difference between women and men's earnings'.

It compares the median hourly earnings of women and men in full- and part-time work.

In 1998, the gender pay gap was 16 per cent. It now sits at 11.9 per cent.

'If the gender pay gap continues to close at the same rate it has since 1998, it will be 100 years – 2119 – until women are on average paid the same as men,' Mackintosh said.

'It will take 36 years (to 2055) on the median wage trend.'

Statistics NZ figures showed in the quarter to June 2019, the occupations with the smallest gender pay gap were clerical and administrative workers (7.1 per cent) and labourers (9.7 per cent).

The occupation groups with the largest gaps were professionals (16.7 per cent) and technicians and trade workers (16.2 per cent).

An earlier study by researchers at Motu Economic and Public Policy concluded sexism was to blame for the difference between women and men's pay.

They found men and women were statistically indistinguishable in how much value they added to their firms, but the average woman was still paid less than the average man.

Mackintosh called on the government to pass the Equal Pay Amendment Bill and make the gender pay gap a thing of the past.

'Creating a more equal society requires a shift in values, it requires our society to value the contribution of everyone,' she said.

'Our elected representatives can show they truly care about creating a more equal society with the passing of good law which breaks down the barriers to equal pay.'