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Despite steady progress, women in New Zealand still earn significantly less than men, particularly as they age and take on caregiving roles.
According to Statistics New Zealand, the gender pay gap (which measures the difference in median earnings between men and women in part-time and fulltime work) fell from 16.3 percent in 1998 to 8.2 percent in 2023. When measuring only full-time workers (known as the gender wage gap) New Zealand performs even better, with a gap of just 4.2 percent in 2023, according to OECD figures.
Economists suggest New Zealand’s relatively low gender wage gap measure is partly due to its minimum wage, which boosts lower-paid jobs predominantly held by women.
However, progress on closing the gender pay gap has slowed, and it widens significantly as the workforce ages. Stats NZ figures show the gap is 0.8 percent for workers aged 15 to 19, rising to 3.9 percent at ages 35 to 39, and reaching a peak of 13.3 percent at age 60.
Research by the Ministry of Women, shows factors that contribute to this gap include unconscious bias, unequal career progression, and the uneven distribution of unpaid work. Although studies have found that men and women work roughly the same amount of hours, women perform more unpaid work in activities like caring and volunteering. Around one-third of women aged 30 and older switch to part-time work, often due to caregiving responsibilities, while fewer men make this shift. This unpaid labour significantly impacts women’s long-term earnings.
The earning gap becomes pronounced for mothers, often referred to as the “Motherhood Penalty” especially as many women remain in part-time work until retirement, balancing paid employment with family responsibilities.
Over the past decade, efforts to address gender pay equity have included landmark cases and legislative reforms.
The Equal Pay Act 1972 outlawed discrimination in wage rates between men and women performing the same job. It was amended in 2020 to create a more accessible process to handle claims based on the bargaining framework of the Employment Relations Act 2000.
Several high-profile cases have reshaped wages in traditionally female-dominated sectors. In 2017, caregiver Kristine Bartlett’s landmark case resulted in a historic settlement raising wages by 15 percent to 50 percent for 55,000 aged-care workers.
In 2018, Oranga Tamariki social workers achieved an average pay rise of about 30 percent , acknowledging long standing undervaluation. Teacher aides followed suit in 2020, securing pay increases averaging 19 percent to 30 percent for 22,000 school support staff. Similarly, school administration staff received a 22 percent increase in 2022.
One significant ongoing case involving library assistants, including those on the Hibiscus Coast, remains unresolved. In 2019, the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi (PSA) lodged a pay equity claim against six councils, including Auckland Council, representing more than 1000 library assistants nationwide. Despite initial agreement on undervaluation due to gender discrimination, negotiations have stalled. In March, the PSA lodged a pay equity claim with the Employment Relations Authority (ERA).
“Six years is far too long for councils to make this little progress,” library worker delegate Kamala Roberts said. “They’ve left us with no choice but to escalate.”
The PSA said it had presented extensive evidence that demonstrated significant gender-based underpayment, which the councils had initially agreed with but had since tried to undermine.
“We all know the vital part that libraries play in our communities. They are centres for everyone to connect and learn. To keep them going, the people who work there need decent jobs, with decent wages,” Roberts said.
PSA library worker delegate Tessa Bowler expressed disappointment in the councils’ failure to resolve the claim.
“They keep benefitting from our hard work while we struggle to make ends meet because they’re underpaying us.”
In 2024, the government disestablished the Public Service Commission Pay Equity taskforce, amid criticism by the NZCTU that it would undermine progress towards pay equity in the public sector.
