New Zealand: More female leaders as strides made to close gender pay gap in public sector

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For the first time in almost two decades, more than half of senior leadership positions within the public service are held by women and the gender pay gap is closing. But Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter says there is still a lot of work to do.

Genter said, women make up the majority of public sector workers, they are close to 60 per cent of the workforce, so 53.2 per cent is still below their representation in the workforce but it is really, really, good progress.

It was the highest level since measurement began in 2001. The figure has steadily increased in 2017 women made up 47.9 per cent of this workforce, 48.8 per cent in 2018, and 49.6 per cent in 2019.

Similarly, the proportion of women on state sector boards and committees is also rising. In 2018, the Government set a goal for boards to be made up of 50 per cent women by 2021. That target was achieved earlier this year as of June, there were 1340 women and 1339 men on the state sector boards.

Unfortunately, progress for gender equity in leadership positions might be short-lived.

Genter said, it will fluctuate. Inevitably, there will be different people appointed to different roles but we just need to keep that lens of equity to make sure there is diversity in our leadership, diversity in our decision making. We make better decisions when more perspectives and viewpoints are better represented. They need to do better, there is no excuse ... They need to up their game and take some action.

Genter hoped the Government’s progress would spill over into the private sector and inspire businesses to do more especially those which had not made any major changes since the 1950s.

The NZX Diversity Statistics report from April 1, 2019, to March 31, 2020, found female leaders made up 30.1 per cent of directors across 50 NZX and S&P listed companies.

Genter said, the Government absolutely has to lead by example as an employer and I am keen to ... continue to work with the leaders in the private sector to ensure that the private sector workforce is fair for everyone.

The Public Service Commission also reported positive steps towards closing the gender pay gap. For the first time since records began in 2000, the gap based on average pay has dropped below 10 per cent. The 2020 mean gender pay gap came in at 9.6 per cent, down from 10.5 per cent the year prior.

The median gender gap in the public service also dropped from 6.2 per cent in 2019 to 5.8 per cent. In comparison, the median gap for the entire country continued to rise it was 9.2 per cent in 2018, 9.3 per cent in 2019, and 9.5 per cent in 2020.

Genter said, there was no excuse for gender pay gaps to be present in like for like roles.

The Government was on track to close that gap by the end of the year. However, closing it across the board might take a bit more work due to occupational segregation roles predominantly occupied by women or men. A number of organisations were making good progress and were being proactive in their gender pay action plans. Despite all the progress made for females in the workplace in terms of representation and remuneration, Genter acknowledged there was still a mountain to climb.

She highlighted the need to improve pay disparities for Māori and Pasifika women, as well as women with disabilities, and migrant and refugee women. She next part of the journey is really around ethnic diversity and ensuring that a whole lot of other perspectives are represented. It was important to ensure all boards and committees in the public sector reflected the communities they represented. The gender and ethnicity breakdowns of state sector boards and committees will be analysed at the end of the yea

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