Wednesday, 10 August 2011, 4:44 pm Press Release: Green Party
10 August 2011
Gender pay gap needs legislative
solution
A Goldman Sachs report on the gender pay gap
is right to highlight the problem, but it won’t be solved
by simply encouraging women into male-dominated trades or
appointing more women to boards, the Green Party said
today.
“Women earn on average 12 percent less than men
per hour,” Green Party Women’s Affairs Spokesperson
Catherine Delahunty said.
“The Goldman Sachs report is
right to highlight that it is in everyone’s interests to
close this gap and unlock the hidden value of the female
workforce.
“However, the answer is not simply to
encourage women into male-dominated trades and appoint more
women to boards, as was suggested by Women’s Affairs
Minister Hekia Parata today.
“There is significant
anecdotal evidence to suggest that even in the same jobs,
men are being paid more than women.
“This has been
illegal since 1972 under the Equal Pay Act, but in the
modern workplace, it is almost impossible for women to find
out whether they are being paid less than men for doing the
same job.”
Ms Delahunty said her Equal Pay Amendment
Bill would help to address this problem by requiring
employers to collect information about gender pay and make
it available.
“I am pleased to see that the report
acknowledges that making pay information more available is
one way to bring the gender pay issue to the fore.
“The
best way to make information available is to amend the
existing legislation to ensure that it is doing what it is
designed to do: guarantee that women and men doing the same
job get the same
pay.”
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