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New Zealand
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A Pay Gender Gap in New Zealand? Yes, even today, when men receive a $20 note women receive 12% less and their portion is only $17.60.
So why was the Pay and Employment Equity Unit disestablished on 30th June 2009 well before equity existed between our male and female counterparts?
This is one of the issues that BPW organisations are addressing in the USA, Australia and Germany and our local BPW Whangarei members are no exception. Their yellow banner and red bags could be seen fluttering in the Cameron St Mall on Friday as they set about raising awareness of the gender pay gap in support of the pay Equity Coalition which is chaired by Angela McLeod, president of BPW New Zealand.
“We have come long way from the days when women salespeople were paid more for selling men’s clothes than they were paid for selling women’s clothes in the same department store,” says BPW Whangarei’s Vice President Noell de Zoete, “but we are not there yet.”
Margery Toulson Scholarship Winner 2009
Dianne Glenn – Margery Toulson Scholarship winner 2009 "Past President of BPW Franklin and BPW NZ, and winner of the inaugural Margery Toulson Scholarship (2009), Dianne Glenn is now seeing fruition of Board training that she has been undertaking. The Ministry of Women's Affairs Nomination Service has been nominating Dianne for board appointments and her recent appointment to the Auckland Conservation Board is the first to be confirmed. It takes up to 6 months for some appointments, making it a waiting game, whereby you have almost forgotten you have been nominated." Dianne Glenn, for twelve years the Auckland Regional Councillor representing Franklin and Papakura, has recently been appointed to the Auckland Conservation Board. In contrast to her previous governance role, this one is an advisory role to the Department of Conservation and the New Zealand Conservation Authority, providing for interaction between the public and the Department at conservancy level. The Auckland Conservation Board is one of 13, each with a defined geographical boundary coinciding with each conservancy boundary, the Auckland one being similar to the Auckland Council in the north and in the south, it runs from Port Waikato (on the west coast) to Miranda (Firth of Thames). A board’s focus is on policy issues, strategic direction and planning, not day-to-day operational details of the Department’s work. A major responsibility of each board is overseeing the implementation of the Conservation Management Strategy (CMS) for its region and any national park management plan. The CMS implements general policies and establishes objectives for the integrated management of natural and historical resources, (including any species managed by the Department), and for recreation, tourism and other conservation purposes. Dianne was inducted on Tuesday 1 February which included a briefing on the Auckland Conservation Management Strategy, which is currently in a “mock-up” form, ready for input from the Board members of which there are twelve. It is envisaged that in future there will be more consistency between the 13 Conservancies, with a new approach of being simpler, more concise, strategic and based on “place” rather than “functions”. Dianne is excited about the development of this CMS and sees much of the work she undertook in strategic planning, policy development and environmental management as a Regional Councillor, and her knowledge of both the 40,000 hectares of Auckland regional parkland and the 38,000 hectares of the Auckland conservation estate, as being extremely helpful over her term on the Board. “I am also sure that my community networks will provide valuable input during the consultation phase of the development of the CMS”, she said. CONTACTS: Dianne Glenn, 59 East Street, Pukekohe. 2120 09 238 5352 and 0274 284 779 dglenn@ihug.co.nz
On Thursday May 13, Angela McLeod, President BPWNZ was interviewed
on television about women in leadership and their pay. Click on
the YouTube
link to see the full clip.
Want to find out the latest about Pay Equity?
Click on the link to visit the Pay Equity website: www.payequity.wordpress.com.
Pay Equity Challenge
Coalition Work for Free day (PDF file 722kb)
On November 18 members of the Pay Equity Challenge Coalition
gathered outside Parliament in Wellington to present the government
with a bill for some $4 billion - the estimated amount owing to
women to close the Pay Equity Gap. On average women are paid 12%
less than their male counterparts for each hour worked. The significance
of the 18 November is that it is 88% of the way through the year.
With the pay gap, it means that effectively women are working
for the remaining 12% of the year for free! Angela McLeod, President
of BPWNZ was interviewed by TV1 Breakfast on 18 November 2009
and TV3 Sunrise on 19 November 2009. The event was also covered
by TV3 News on 18 November 2009. Follow the links below to view
the media clips on Youtube.
TV1 Breakfast 18 November interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6OlsB1xK5Q
TV3 News 18 November - coverage of the Pay Equity Challenge Coalition
Media event at Midland Park, Wellington: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsSF2T0vJjc
TV3 Sunrise 19 November: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5TeBlWiepk
Pay Equity Media Release - 6 Nov 2009
Media release for immediate use.
Which Gender Pay Gap?
"Which gender pay gap?" asks Angela McLeod, President
of the New Zealand Federation of Business and Professional Women
(BPWNZ), "the 12% per hour worked OR the 42% median weekly
income?"
"Which one does the majority of the Transport and Industrial
Relations Committee think they can sweep under the carpet?"
In the report released by this select committee this week it was
stated that 'the majority of us have no matters to bring to the
attention of the House'.
The government have acknowledged that there is a gender gap through
the Minister of Women's Affairs, Hon Pansy Wong who has said that
women "should enjoy equal pay and employment opportunities".
There are many pieces of research, here and internationally,
stating the many ways women are disadvantaged in the workplace
including the findings of the Department of Labour's Pay and Employment
Equity Unit (now defunct) and the Ministry of Women's Affairs
publication 'Indicators for Change'.
New Zealand has also signed international agreements such as
CEDAW, ILO Convention 100 and MDG 3, all of which outlaw pay inequity.
"We are not meeting our international obligations".
"The Minister is right when she says "the gender pay
gap is clearly one of the main challenges we face" but the
government is wrong to dismiss, in a one page statement, 15 808
signatures asking the government, among other things, to develop
a strategy to eliminate the gender pay gap in New Zealand"
states Mrs McLeod.
Ends
For more information or to schedule an interview please contact
Angela McLeod on 027 497 2761.
Pay Equity Update
from Sue Moroney (PDF file 16kb)
The Media Release
of 18 September (PDF file 13kb)
Pay Equity Speech (PDF
file 14kb)
White Ribbon Day
(PDF file 150kb)
Click here to download the Media
Press Release 30 June 2009 (PDF file 12kb)
Many of you will remember Judi Klein who attended
our conference in Hamilton – an amazing young woman. Below
is a transcript of her email she sent to BPW on her return from
the Global Young Leader’s Conference and attached is a copy
of her full report – with pictures (attached
is her email as a word document and her report as a PDF).
Information for New Members
Our founder Lena Madison Phillips said:
What a member must do
"Individuals who are without office, chairmanship,
or other special responsibility usually underestimate their importance
to the club's programme network. Too often each considers her
part done by the payment of dues and a single appearance upon
the programme. She feels free to attend meetings or to stay at
home, to come late and leave early, to complain, criticize and
behave generally like a disinterested onlooker. Such an attitude
reveals a dangerous misconception. The members of any club are
the most important and should be the most vital part. To express
their will, to do their bidding, all else exists. Without their
interest, comprehension, forceful activity, the organisation is
but an empty shell."
Angela Mcleod, BPWNZ 1st Vice President attended a celebratory
breakfast for the Quality Flexile Work Legislation, held in Wellington
on a cold and frosty morning on 1 July 2008.
Click here to display Angela’s speech
(PDF file 4.4kb)
Click here to display
the Quality Flexible Work Speech (PDF file 31kb)
Click here to display
the Media Release 6th November 2006 (PDF file 13kb)
Empowering
Women
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