Pay equity debate still raging 

Source: ONE News

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Equal pay for equal work has been the mantra for gender equality in the workplace for decades, but experts say women are still not always getting the same amount of money for the same work.

There is concern that the fairer sex are not getting a fair deal when it comes to pay and a group of women are banding together to try and force change.

Kiwis do not like talking about how much they earn and experts say that is one of the reasons why, on average, women get less in their pay packet every week than men.

Pay equity expert Celia Briar says the gender pay gap in New Zealand is wider than most people think.

"The average difference between men's and women's weekly pay is at 31% this year," Briar says.

This is partly because women make up the majority of the country's lowest paid workers, being employed in jobs like social work, aged care and cleaning.

Official figures show the median weekly income for women is $430 and for men $681.

The Equal Pay Act of 1972 was supposed to stop employers from gender discrimination, but almost 40 years on the fight continues.

Some say women are effectively subsidising the economy by billions of dollars each year.

"Sixty-seven percent of graduates are women, yet by the end of their first year working, the pay gap is 8% alongside male colleagues and after five years it's 14%," says Angela McLeod from the Federation of Professional and Business Women.

Pansy Wong is the Minister for Women's Affairs and told ONE News in a statement that pay equity is a "top priority".

But critics say the government is not treating it that way. Two investigations into pay equity for school support and social workers were scrapped earlier this year and the Labour department's pay equity unit was disbanded, but not before finding problems in nearly every public sector organisation.

"The government haven't shown that they're supportive in any way of reducing the gender pay gap," says McLeod.

It is not just about the public sector though, as big businesses are also being called on to ensure equal pay for equal work.

Phil O'Reilly from Business New Zealand says the issue is about making sure that skills policies and promotion policies do not get in the way of the prospects of women.