13-hour clock for women the answer to fixing pay discrimination in New Zealand

Monday, 18 December 2017

A new 13-hour clock has been created so women can work longer and and reduce the gender pay gap.

In a tongue-in-cheek video made by the Public Service Association (PSA), it also suggests a 13-month calendar would allow more time to make up the 12 per cent more a man in New Zealand earns than his female colleague in the same job.

The PSA say the video is intended to be 'tongue-in-cheek', but it serves as a 'visual reminder that when it comes to fairness at work, we've still got a long way to go'. 

The PSA has been campaigning for equal pay for more than 100 years. 

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* Auckland tradie tackles gender pay gap by giving female customers 12 per cent discount​**

PSA national secretary Erin Polaczuk​ said the Office Stationery for Working Women kit is 'a tongue-in-cheek solution to a very serious problem'.

'All we need to do to fix pay discrimination in Aotearoa is ensure women have an extra hour a day or an extra month a year,' she said.

The kit, with the clock and calendar, has been sent to prominent women across New Zealand.

Polaczuk said the idea of women working these extra hours for free should be upsetting to New Zealanders.

'Women and men should be paid the same for the same number of hours worked, because equal pay is a human right.'

Currently, women in New Zealand earn 12 per cent less on average than men doing the same job. 

For Māori women, the gender pay gap is 23 per cent and for Pasifika women it is 27.9 percent, according to Statistics NZ data.

According to the PSA the Government is one of the worst offenders, with some gender pay gaps in the state services being more than 35 per cent.

'While we have a supportive Government ready to stand up for women's rights to fair and equal treatment, when it comes to equal pay, we've still got a way to go,' Polaczuk said.

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