Red Thursday for Women

BPW NZ Media Release: Red Thursday for Women

For immediate release

The New Zealand Federation of Business and Professional Women (BPW NZ) announces that due to the widening of the gender pay gap, Equal Pay Day has increased by a further three days, now the 21st February.

Statistics provided by the StatisticsNZ Quarterly Employment Survey show that the average hourly wage for men is $29.09, while women earn only $25.15 per hour, a difference of nearly 12%. Equal Pay Day is calculated using these figures.

Women are required to work almost two months to achieve parity with their male counterparts.

“This increase is clearly disappointing to us as we had hoped that we would see an Equal Pay Day closer to the start of the year, not to have seen it grown,” says Carolyn Savage President BPW NZ.

“Are women not worth the investment? We say they are, and our economy needs it.

“The biggest consumer decision-makers are women and if paid equally women would have the capacity to spend or save another $3.94 per hour.

“It does not take a financial genius to note that an increase in the purchasing power of women would lead to benefits and an overall increase in GDP.

“Both the Government and business sectors need to take heed of this and follow the logic of the Goldman Sachs research that showed a reduction in the gender pay gap would lead to an increase in GDP.

“Men had a higher percentage increase in income in the year ending December 2012 than women. The data shows the reality, this is a very real issue.

“This theft of the potential financial growth of NZ has to stop,” says Mrs Savage.

“It is time to make a stand, to be leaders and implement change for the future financial growth of the New Zealand economy by reducing the gender pay gap.

“We need to see women out of the red,” says President Carolyn Savage

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