The New Zealand Government legislations and policies

There are a number of different policies and legislations that have been set in place to help reduce the gender division between male and female.  Below is a brief timeline to show how government has implicated different ways to reduce gender discrimination and enhance women’s rights in our country:

• Equal Pay Act 1972 (which requires employers to pay men and women the same wages for the same work)
• Human Rights Commission Act in 1977 (to outlaw discrimination on a wide range of grounds)
• The establishment of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in 1985
• The introduction of parental leave in 1987
• The introduction of paid parental leave in 2002

(Ministry of Women’s Affairs, 2013)

A new report from the Human Rights Commission shows that women are losing ground in terms of equal pay and employment (Human Rights Commision, 2012).  In this report Equal Employment Opportunities commissioner Dr Judy McGregor says “… women appear to be earning up to $7664 a year less than men in full time roles” (para. 6).   

The New Zealand Nurse Organisation (NZNO) is also concerned that the gender pay gap is widening (New Zealand Nurse Organisation, 2009).  The NZNO states that in 2008 the gender pay gap had increased to 12.38% and that this has a server impact on their low-paid workers who are just barely earning a little bit more than the average minimum wage (NZNO, 2009).  The NZNO president Tunnicliff states that “Such inequities contribute to poorer health outcomes and research shows that inequalities in any one section of society mean worse health outcomes for all of society” (NZNO, 2009, para. 5). 

The gender pay gap looks and measures the difference between what males and females earn.  The Ministry of women’s affairs measure this by using the median hourly earnings of men and women which is data collected from the New Zealand Income Survey (NZIS) and is compared to the Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) which is the hourly earnings of men and women to identify any gender pay gap (Ministry of Women’s Affairs, 2013). 

In 2010 a study on new graduates with bachelor degrees in New Zealand showed that men were in fact earning more money than women (“Study show “significant” gender pay gap in New Zealand, 2010).  Women’s affairs minister Pansy Wong used data from Inland Revenue to look at differences between male and female income between one and five years after the students had graduated and started their employment (“Study show “significant” gender pay gap in New Zealand, 2010).  Through this she found that the pay gap started developing from the first year and after five years it ranged between 1 percent to 20 percent, with the biggest difference in management and commerce.  It was clear that there is a big difference in income between male and female who graduate from the same degree.

However, evidence does show that the gender pay gap has decreased over the years where in 2008 it was at 12% and then reduced to 11.3% in 2009 and in 2010 it went down to 10.6%:

Year

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

Gender pay gap (%)

13.07

12.32

12.44

12.67

14.19

12.47

11.79

13.00

11.25

10.60

9.60

9.30

 

 

  Source: Statistics New Zealand: New Zealand Income Survey

In June 2012, the gender gap has been measured to 9.3% which is the lowest gap since the NZSI began in 1997 (MOWA, 2013).  We are the third lowest country under the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) towards equal gender pay for men and women.  The OCED is an organisation that strives to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. 

There are many legislations under the Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) that apply to public and private sectors in New Zealand.  The New Zealand legislation for gender equity at work includes the Equal Pay Act of 1972, the State Sector Act, 1986 and the Human Rights Act 1993, including its amendments in 2000 (National Equal Opportunities Network, 2013).  These legislations advocate for equal pay for women, outlawing sex discrimination and sexual harassment at work and setting out rights for equal employment for career progression at work.
 
An understanding of the ways in which gender operates personally, structurally and historically can help assess what sort of change we might want to make and how change can be achieved. 

References

Crossley, J. (2011). Gender equality ranking slips; NZ loses fifth place as other nations improve. Dominion Post. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/902135462?accountid=39646.

Human Rights Commission. (2012). EEO commissioner supports accounts’ effort to reduce gender pay gaps. Retrieved from http://www.hrc.co.nz/2012/eeo-commissioner-supports-accountants%e2%80%99-effort-to-reduce-gender-pay-gaps.

Ministry of Womens Affairs. (2013). Gender pay gap. Retrieved from http://mwa.govt.nz/gender-pay-gap-0.

Ministry ofr Women’s Affairs. (1997). Gender pay gap at new low. Retrieved from http://mwa.govt.nz/news/gender-pay-gap-new-low.

New Zealand Nurses Organisation, (2009). Gender pay gap hits low-paid workers harder. Retrieved from http://www.nzno.org.nz/activities/media_releases/articletype/articleview/articleid/737/categoryid/15/gender-pay-gap-hits-low-paid-workers-harder.

Study shows "significant" gender pay gap in New Zealand. (2010, Mar 07). Xinhua News Agency - CEIS. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/451520797?accountid=39646.