Another International Women’s Day is about to be celebrated but New Zealand women are not celebrating the lack of movement in pay gaps.
MindTheGap campaigners say the pay gap has not moved from over nine percent on average with some sectors facing a much larger gap, and co-founders Dellwyn Stuart and Dr Jo Cribb say they want the Government to move fast to implement mandatory reporting of pay gaps.
The co-founders welcomed the Government move to refer the issue of pay gap transparency to an advisory group last year but Stuart says there is mounting pressure on women and ethnic communities who are facing even greater hardships.
“Since our campaign was launched in October 2021, women, Māori, Pasifika and ethnic minorities have been impacted disproportionately by new issues such as the cost-of-living crisis and the impacts of flooding in the northern and eastern parts of the country,” Stuart says.
“We know from overseas experience that requiring businesses to measure and report their pay gaps is an important first step towards establishing a mandatory pay transparency system that will make a real difference to the lives of New Zealand women and our ethnic communities. But it is important that the work is completed quickly so we can get on with making the many more changes New Zealand needs.”
But while the New Zealand Government is talking about addressing pay gaps, Cribb says we have fallen behind internationally with Australian Prime Minister Albanese last month introducing a bill into the Australian Parliament that will require all employers with over 100 staff to report their gender pay gap by 2024.
“While our government has talked about it, the Australians are acting. How long will the wait be until a New Zealand Prime Minister makes the same statement in our House,” Cribb says.
“We have prided ourselves across this side of the ditch on our human rights record how serious we take equity and how fair we are. We often looked over the Tasman with a sense of smugness at how advanced we were. But in terms of pay transparency and addressing pay gaps, the Aussies have thrashed us.”
Cribb says MindTheGap has proven that a large part of New Zealand wants Government and businesses to address pay gaps.
“We have numerous businesses who have led the way by registering their pay gap reporting. Almost 9000 people signed a petition urging action on pay gaps, we have a poll that shows 75% of kiwis want mandatory reporting and charities and unions have told us how urgent this is.”
‘We know mandatory reporting works – we’ve seen its success in the public sector. We look forward to the outcome of the advisory group to be expedited quickly.”
Currently for every dollar a Pākehā male earns, a Pākehā woman is being paid 89 cents, a Māori man 86 cents and a Pasifika woman 75 cents.
