Legislation Needed to Close Stalled Gender Pay Gap, Advocates Say

New Zealand's gender pay gap has remained largely stagnant, with women earning 5.3 percent less per median hourly rate compared to men, a slight increase from 5.2 percent a year prior, according to Stats NZ data. This lack of progress is attributed by advocacy group Still Minding the Gap to the absence of legislative requirements for businesses to report and justify their pay structures.

Jo Cribb, founder of Still Minding the Gap, stated that the disparity is not a reflection of women's characteristics but rather a result of internal pay-setting decisions within companies. She highlighted that without legislative drivers, many businesses do not actively examine their pay gaps, with at least half reportedly not having measured them, often citing a belief that they do not have an issue.

Cribb pointed to the European Union, the United Kingdom, and certain US states as examples where legislation has been introduced, compelling companies to analyse and account for their pay disparities. Such laws mandate transparency and accountability, which New Zealand currently lacks.

The pay gap intensifies significantly when ethnicity is factored into the analysis. For Māori women, the gap widens to approximately 12 percent, and for Pacific women, it reaches around 16 percent. These figures underscore deeper systemic issues within the national pay structure.

Stats NZ calculates the overall gender pay gap by ranking individual earnings across the country to identify the median earner for both men and women, then comparing their respective incomes. This methodology reveals that the woman at the median income level earns less than her male counterpart.