Unions are campaigning for pay equity to eliminate the gender pay gap between women and men. Pay equity means women are paid the same as men for the same work, and for work of equal value.
On average women earn 13% less than men. A big part of the problem is the undervaluing of jobs that are perceived as womens work. Professions such as nursing, which have traditionally been seen as female occupations, are underpaid compared with other more male-dominated jobs. The pay gap is even worse for Maori and Pacific women.
In 2003, the then Labour led Government set up a Taskforce to advise how the factors that contribute to the gender pay gap apply in particular parts of the New Zealand Public Service and in the public health and public education sectors. The Taskforce was also required to advise on a five–year plan of action for achieving pay and employment equity.
In response to recommendations in the Taskforce report, the Government established the Department of Labour Pay and Employment Equity Unit in 2004. The Unit is charged with implementing the Pay and Employment Equity Plan of Action.
Pay and employment equity reviews have been conducted in a variety of different organisations in the public sector, but in February 2009 the National Government scrapped enquiries into why female social workers at Child, Youth and Family are paid 9.5% less than their male counterparts, and inequities in female school support workers’ wages due to cost.
Labour MP Sue Moroney has launched a petition calling on the government to:
- reverse its decision to scrap pay equity investigations for school support staff and social workers,
- implement the findings of previously completed pay and employment equity reviews,
- develop a strategy to eliminate the gender pay gap in New Zealand.
Please take action to support the removal of pay inequality for women workers by signing the petition. You can access the petition here
