A party vote is called for. New
Members
Members the ayes are 58 and the noes are 62. The motion is not agreed to.
I call on Members' Order of the
Day opposed.
No.4. Equal Pay Amendment Bill first reading. Jan Logie. I move
that the Equal Pay Amendment Bill
2017 be
2017 be now read a first time. I nominate the Government and
administration committee to consider the bill. Mr Speaker,
this bill was developed
developed by my colleague Catherine Delahunty. It
Delahunty. It was developed after a meeting that
meeting that we both attended sharing New Zealand
research that showed an increasing
gender pay imbalance for students in the first
five years of graduating.
When Catherine
Catherine Delahunty launched this bill
bill in 2011 some people said the difference in men and women's
pay wasn't a result
unnecessary. Innocent the employers and Manufacturers Association
boss made our case for us
and Manufacturers Association boss
at who takes the most sick leave. Women do,
problems. Not all women, but some do.
do. They have children they have to take
take time off to go home and take
leave of. I don't know saying this because it sound
like I'm a sexist but it's a
great proof that bias and discrimination are alive and well,
at least in some parts
of our business community. With
this evidence and the ovenivhelming anger
the Government said they'd take a look at this bill. Anythen won the
election in
won the election in November and the rest,
rest, more accurately described I think
think as subtle dismantling of rights is history. This bill
won't deliver pay equality for
women by itself but it is an
struggle which has been fought for far too long.
fartoo long. This bill provides transparency. So women
can find out if
male colleagues for the same work. It also provides
a prompt for employers
employers to consider whether there may be unconscious bias in their pay
decisions. And it will also provide
much more accurate information
for us to track the causes
of the gender pay differential. In all realty and
truth, this is a very small bill and
what it does is very simple. But
nevertheless, these simple
changer for at least some women. This bill sits within the continuum
of efforts for gender
that started with the suffragettes. After women won suffrage in 1893,
equal pay was next
on their political agenda. That work is still
continuing today, 124 years later.
Women are still
fighting to get paid the same as their male
colleagues. The Equal Pay Act
of 1972 the Human Rights
Rights Act of 1993 made it very clear
clear that it is illegal in this country
country to discrimination on the basis of
basis of gender. We have a strong legal commitment to paying the
job, not the gender,
and yet 45 years on from the Equal Pay Act
women's average hourly earnings are still
Pasifika women. We did
in the '90s but since that time the inequality has become entrenched
that is not because we have reached the point that
we can't do anything more, it is because we have
stopped doing anything much at all.
The way the gender pay imbalance
has been tracking, it will take until
at least 2062 before women finally
get equal
least 2062 before women finally get
that we will be able to colonise the moon by 2022.
I have to say, I don't think equal pay should be harder
than colonising
than colonising the moon. So enough already, hey. Ithink
than colonising the moon. So enough already, hey. I think it is
time parliament got pro active on
this. The
Aotearoa but we do know now that thanks to the unions that
our Equal Pay Act
Pay Act can also be used to deliver equal pay for work of
equal value, a major contributor of the imbalance.
this is
this is the next obvious area for action. Addressing conscious
and unconscious bias. Research
commissioned by the Ministry
of Women found that factors such
as education,
Women found that factors such as
inequality in pay. The conscious or unconscious bias negatively affects
p opportunities for women
for recruitment
p opportunities for women for recruitment or advancement.
Other research found that the difference
in men and women's pay cannot
be justified. And recent
Australian research counters the myth that
women just need to learn to
negotiate. It found that women are
willing to
it's just that men are more likely to get the pay
of the negotiation. Yes, there are
other factors to this problem
problem but there is plenty of evidence of conscious
or unconscious bias in employment pay offers and
progression. It is not always the
can also just be good people not having a prompt to
reflect or
I have an example from my own experience here within my team,
where a man with less experience was
offered two
offered two pay grades higher than a woman
woman with significantly more experience. And we
only found this out
experience. And we only found this out because we have a
very close unionised
information. The people making the
challenged, were upset that anyone would suggest that
they were biased, but they dropped his pay
offer to be equivalent
equivalent to hers. They're good people. I know they
weren't intending to
but the reality is we are all affected
affected by these biases. They exist in our society and they
will come out in this
situation. How much better
would it be to have a system that prompted
reflection ahead of time. That built us that
pretty hard to find out if you're being paid less
for doing the same job especially
job especially as it's quite normal for contracts to
discourage discussing pay and salaries. It shouldn't be by
accident that women find out they are
are being paid less. How
salaries.
when the only people who are able to identify
identify it are those who are doing
The Ministry for Women on their website
BELL RUNG Have key targets,
BELL RUNG
This is Government advice. It provide
provide it is simplest possible framework
Government's advice. A lot of companies
companies are doing this and are finding that it pays off in
terms of lower
lower turnover and happier staff. This
businesses. It is helped their businesses.
businesses. This bill requires employers
to add gender to
and to send it into the Ministry of Business
along with the particulars of all equal pay determinations. And it
enables employees to access the
form. I
form. I fail to see how
that could be excessive.
excessive. I hope that everyone in this House will put
the interests of women first tonight to
move us fonivard instead
journey towards equal pay. Thank YOUI
you, Mr Speaker. Members, the question
agreed to. APPLAUSE Barbara Kuriger. Thank you,
Barbara Kuriger. Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Speaker. The dilemma of equal pay is not isolated to New Zealand. It is a
global issue. And absolutely one that does
There is no denying the significance of this issue
and how very real the fact is that
bias and perceptions about women
about women in the workforce are a key