Pasifika are volunteering over 14,000 hours a week - and other reasons you should be concerned about fair pay

Thursday, 28 October 2021

Latayvia Tualasea Tautai says Pacific people are integral to the country’s social fabric – but aren’t paid fairly.

Mindthegap NZ will in March launch a public pay gap registry. Nearly 50 years on from the Equal Pay Act, three wahine say it’s time for change.

‘I grew up watching my grandparents work overtime in factories’

Latayvia Tualasea Tautai

Law student, and part time financial mentor at Fonua Ola, a Pacific social service.

OPINION: As a young Pacific woman in university, the gender pay gap is of great concern and adding the intersection of ethnicity is one that myself and my community are disproportionately impacted by. Pacific women are paid 27.4 per cent less than Pākehā men.

If we were to go by current progress rates, without campaigns such as MindTheGap NZ, it would take 120 years to close this gap. Pacific women bring Aotearoa pride on the sports fields, Olympic podiums, the creative world stage. Pacific people volunteer over 14,000 hours per week. We are integral to the fabric of what it means to be a Kiwi. But we should not have to be excellent to be worthy of pay equity, we deserve more.

Gender and racial discrimination is something I’ve been taught to expect, navigate and rise above. This campaign is important so that generations following will not have to face these barriers.

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Growing up raised by a resilient single mother on the benefit with the support of my village, the pay gap issue is not one I was afforded the privilege of thinking about until recently. I grew up watching my grandparents work overtime in factories. The labour intensive work impacted their health and quality of life.

I am very mindful that the working poor are time poor. Their sacrifices have allowed me the opportunity to pursue my passions and speak out about the very issues that they faced and that we as Pacific people especially face today.

Nina Santos says she often feels she shouldn’t rock the boat when it comes to negotiating pay.

As the first in my family to attend university, like many others the responsibility of breaking the cycle of poverty is at the core of everything I do. For many of us, every dollar counts. We just want to be paid what we deserve and work for organisations that are committed to closing the pay gap.

Working for a Pacific social service, Fonua Ola, I am often reminded of the ever present social inequities in Aotearoa. During lockdowns especially, like many organisations, we are inundated with requests for food support. Many families are struggling to afford basic costs of living.

Pacific high school students are leaving high school to support their family’s survival and although this is not new, lockdown has placed even more pressure on families. The past 20 years have seen minimal movement in regards to addressing the pay gap.

Reporting is one step in the right direction. Reflecting on this year’s apology for the dawn raids, I am appreciative for the healing it may have facilitated for the generations before mine. But we are the generation who have been afforded the voice and space to ask for more.

We need the government to mandate organisations to report their ethnic and gender pay gaps because this means a commitment to closing these gaps. Systemic change flows through to organisations, to employees, to families and to the future.

’Imposter syndrome and the grateful migrant effect’

Nina Santos

Delivery manager on the MindTheGap campaign.

It’s infuriating to write a piece about the gender and ethnic pay gaps, something that shouldn’t even be a thing anymore in 2021. But the reality is that they still persist - and women of colour bear the brunt of it. As a young brown migrant nearing the end of her law degree and transitioning into full time work, I’ve mentally prepared myself for a slice of the pay gap pie. It sucks.

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I’ve dreaded any talk about pay since I got my first job at 16, serving tables. I’ve grown to be an outspoken and confident woman who has landed jobs in the public and private sector and yet I still find it awkward to negotiate my pay (or be paid what I’m worth).

Several friends share the same experience. I’ve linked this to the lethal combo of imposter syndrome and the “grateful migrant effect” (the feeling that you should appreciate the bare minimum because you’ve had even less in the past). I often find myself feeling like I shouldn't rock the boat too much and instead I should just be grateful for the opportunity.

Asking for more is an uphill battle for a lot of women of colour due to the power imbalances and lack of bargaining power - it’s hard to ask even when we know we deserve it. The lack of pay transparency in most workplaces makes it even worse. No one really talks about what they’re getting paid so it’s hard to know if you have a decent offer or if you’re being low-balled.

Everyone entering the workforce in New Zealand should expect to be paid fairly for their work regardless of their gender or ethnicity. But as it stands, a grim 9.1 per cent pay gap awaits our young wāhine. It’s even worse for our Māori, Pasifika and ethnic communities who find themselves at the bottom of the pay hierarchy. And it’s not because we’re less ambitious or we work less. The pay gap is driven by a lot of factors including unconscious bias and discrimination.

As infuriated as I am, I also find myself on the cusp of something hopeful. More people are speaking up about the pay gaps and time is ripe for change. The Mind the Gap campaign is calling for the Government to mandate gender and ethnic pay gap reporting in New Zealand - a simple yet huge step in the right direction. We know from overseas that when companies reveal their gaps to the public, they are more likely to work towards closing it. This is long overdue.

Women of colour deserve better and it’s about time we demand for equal pay. I understand how hard it is for some people to negotiate pay or push for advancement in their workplaces. So I’m asking , if you have the privilege and the platform to do so, please advocate for those who can’t.

‘Nations can be measured by how they treat their vulnerable’

Irihapeti Edwards

Finance and international relations, one of the youngest people ever employed by Deloitte (aged 18).

OPINION: It’s 2021, and the systems that govern our society actively strive towards equitable outcomes. All families in New Zealand have enough to eat, stress-related illnesses are at an all-time low, and gender discrimination in the workplace is non-existent. Oh, and there’s flying cars.

Perhaps these were the initial hopes in 1972, when the Equal Pay Act was established to ensure fairness between men and women working in professions that require the same (or substantially similar) level of skill, effort or responsibilities. Despite this, pay gaps still persist 49 years later, perpetuating outcomes that have a disproportionately negative impact on women, the disabled, Māori and Pasifika, and other minority groups.

As a young, indigenous Māori woman, I belong to at least two of these groups. My childhood of growing up in a low-income household, surrounded by overt wealth disparities from a young age, felt like a far cry from the corporate workplace I would enter at 18. I was both intimidated and exhilarated. Now, aged 22, faced with the knowledge that these pay gaps still exist nearly 50 years on from the establishment of the Equal Pay Act, I just feel intimidated.

Wage gaps directly inflict insidious impacts on the lives of people who belong to these groups and their families. Less income than one is entitled to can also be directly correlated to lower quality of life, stress from financial concerns, inability to meet financial obligations and a decline in one’s health. In my opinion, New Zealand’s existing wage gaps are nestled somewhere between indifference and authorisation. Here’s why.

Conversations around wage gaps and financial inequality offer a lifeline to those who suffer from the silence of this indifference. Organisations like MindTheGap NZ have taken initiative to dismantle this indifference, and created a Public Pay Gap Registry, an effort they hope will encourage organisations to report and correct pay discrepancies in the workplace.

MindTheGap believes that the Equal Pay Act alone has not and will not be effective in addressing these issues, and that we desperately need new legislation. Mandatory pay reporting is not a new concept, and already reinforced by the likes of Australia and the United Kingdom. Mandatory pay reporting creates a climate of transparency, and the data collected allows organisations to create actionable steps towards tangible solutions.

The measure of any great nation can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable. For this reason, I urge the government to follow in the footsteps of organisations like MindTheGap NZ, and explore more ways to reduce existing wage gaps, including by incorporating mandatory pay reporting into legislation.

In 2072, 100 years on from the Equal Pay Act being codified into law, it is likely that we still will not have our flying cars. However, the actions we take now could see more women in higher paid jobs, more diverse representation in executive positions, dramatically reduced wealth inequality, and legislation that got it right. Our social attitude towards wage injustice can shift from indifference to action, and set clear precedence for the future to come.