23 March 2017

Women’s pay in Parliament’s hands

The Green Party is thrilled to have had a Member’s Bill drawn from the ballot today that offers a concrete solution to fix the gender pay imbalance in New Zealand.

Green Party MP Jan Logie’s Equal Pay Amendment Bill was today pulled from the ballot. If passed, it will require all employers to publish information about how much men and women are paid for doing the same job in their organisation. Women currently earn 13 percent less per hour, on average, than men.

“I am so pleased that women’s pay is going to be on the agenda. There’s a real choice that all MPs will have to make about this Bill: whether they want the gender pay imbalance to be a relic of the past, or for it continue to affect Kiwi women every single working day for decades to come,” said Green Party spokesperson for women, Jan Logie.

“Women should be paid what they’re worth and we have a responsibility to make sure they are.

“On International Women’s Day, the Minister for Women launched research revealing that gender bias may account for up to 80 per cent of the gender pay imbalance. When something is this entrenched, we’re not going to fix it with words.

“By supporting this Bill, the Minister for Women Paula Bennett can take a tangible, positive step towards equal pay, once and for all. I hope equal pay is something all parties can get behind.

“At the moment women only find out by accident, if at all, if they’re being paid less than a male colleague.

“Shining a light on circumstances where women are paid less than men empowers both bosses and employees to be able to fix the problem and set things right.

“This Bill will make that possible while still maintaining strong safeguards to protect privacy and ensure that individual people’s pay information is not released publicly,” said Ms Logie.

© Scoop Media