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Nau mai, haere mai.
New Zealanders are famously reticent about revealing what they earn. But while this is no doubt just a quirk of the collective psyche, you can also be contractually obliged not to share remuneration details. Many believe this needs to change if New Zealand’s persistent gender pay gap is to be closed.
The problem, as Emma Hitchcock and Katherine Ravenswood explain today, lies in the way “pay secrecy” prevents employees knowing what others are earning, and thereby being able to negotiate a fair and equitable rate for themselves. Pay transparency rules are designed to break that silence.
“Essentially, this would require employers to openly share the pay or pay ranges of different jobs, making gender gaps harder to disguise and justify.”
Despite some recent momentum towards embedding such regulations, the current government has largely put the brakes on further progress. The Equal Pay Taskforce has been disestablished, and any planned pay transparency guidelines will be voluntary rather than mandatory.
And although we should be “wary of assuming pay transparency on its own is a magic wand to fix the gender pay gap”, it is still a crucial component in combatting the systemic bias women and minorities face in the workplace.
“While change can come from within,” the authors write, “it is clear progress is faster with the backing of government policy and enforcement.”
Finally, we’d like to thank everyone who has generously supported The Conversation in recent weeks. We’re now 70% of the way to our fundraising target, and every bit helps us fulfil the mission of making all our evidence-based analysis and comment free for everyone to read. Until next week, mā te wā.
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Finlay Macdonald
New Zealand Editor
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Emma Hitchcock, Auckland University of Technology; Katherine Ravenswood, Auckland University of Technology
Requiring employers to be open about who gets paid what is just one tool for closing the gender pay gap. But the government is showing little sign of seriously tackling the issue.
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Rachel Williamson, University of Canterbury
The End We Start From is an ecological disaster story set in a near-future London besieged by floods – as seen through the eyes of a new mother.
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Simone Celine Marshall, University of Otago
If Chaucer makes a comeback in the proposed English curriculum rewrite, we shouldn’t dismiss what his work tells us about human nature – and contemporary New Zealand.
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James Greenslade-Yeats, Auckland University of Technology; Gill Kirton, Queen Mary University of London; Janine Clemons, Auckland University of Technology; Katherine Ravenswood, Auckland University of Technology; Tago Mharapara, Auckland University of Technology
With a 40% staffing shortfall, midwifery needs better funding. But as new research shows, midwives also need recognition and support for the important work they do in the New Zealand health sector.
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Nathan Cooper, University of Waikato
The government’s priorities are shifting towards adaptation to protect communities, jobs and industries. But the longer we wait to cut emissions, the more the costs of climate change will compound.
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Michael Baker, University of Otago; Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato
The world’s best chance of preventing the next pandemic lies in a global treaty. But deep divisions over funding and the sharing of vaccines and treatments have so far prevented an agreement.
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Tracy Harkison, Auckland University of Technology
The government has proposed raising the international visitor levy to $100. But first New Zealand needs a clear strategy about who it’s trying to attract, and in what numbers.
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Jen Purdie, University of Otago
Even the big oil companies are predicting global demand will decline within decades. With investment in oil exploration projected to decline too, New Zealand should be putting its energy elsewhere.
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Katey Thom, Auckland University of Technology; Sarah Gordon, University of Otago
Analysis of 111 calls suggests most responses to calls from people in mental health distress could be led by social service providers without the need for police.
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From our foreign editions
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Jostein Hauge, University of Cambridge
For the past half century, successive US governments have championed free trade. But do they practice what they preach?
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Stella Boyd-Ford, The University of Queensland; Clare Dix, The University of Queensland
Meals can be a recipe for distress when children find recognising feelings of hunger and thirst, completing tasks, processing sensory input or social interactions challenging.
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Asma Aziz, Edith Cowan University
For years, the ‘duck curve’ of low daytime demand due to cheap solar power has challenged energy planners. California is showing the solution is storage.
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Aurelien Mondon, University of Bath
Making a ‘boring’ campaign more exciting, or just distracting from the issues that matter most?
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Alberta SJ van der Watt, Stellenbosch University
Romantic breakups among emerging adults are often trivialised as a rite of passage. Instead they can lead to acute trauma.
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Ed Hutchinson, University of Glasgow
Unusual influenza viruses keep making headlines. A virologist explains how they decide if something is worth fretting about.
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Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, UMass Amherst; Nargiz Travis, Georgetown University
While manufacturers say they are marketing oral nicotine pouches as a safer alternative for people who already smoke, nonsmokers and young people are being drawn to them, a large-scale study found.
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Christine Sarteschi, Chatham University
At the core of sovereign citizen beliefs is the denial of the legitimacy of the government. They do not believe they must obey any laws, nor that they can be held to account for lawbreaking.
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