The new Pay Equity Bill is about to enter parliament. Many people believe it is about correcting discrimination by men against women. This is simply not the case.

A traditional issue

Max Whitehead, Managing Director of the Whitehead Group, says the problem of unfairly low wages for traditionally female occupations was inherited from the British settlers.

“At the end of the second world war. Men returned home as heroes and were rewarded with land and paid employment. This meant the women had to hand back the physically demanding and better-paid jobs and return to nurturing roles, such as teaching and caring for the elderly, which in accordance with British tradition, were lowly paid.”

Mr Whitehead explains that New Zealand inherited the British pay relativities, and our unions have maintained it for more than 60 years by annually claiming percentage increases.

The problem with percentages

Mr Whitehead says that over the more than 30 years that he has been involved in collective bargaining, the unions have asked for percentage increases and very rarely addressed relativities between industries.

“There is something many people do not consider with percentage wage increases: the snowball effect. Over time, as wages increase by percentages, the gap between low- and high-paid jobs gets progressively, and unfairly, bigger.”

Blame the British and the unions

Mr Whitehead agrees that pay equity between genders needs to happen. However, he says, people must understand that, today, low wages for traditionally female occupations are not the fault of today’s Kiwi men.

“It is a problem caused by the way wages have been negotiated for the last 60-odd years. If you want to blame anyone, blame the unions and British tradition.”

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