Is active intervention still needed to improve the position of women in the New Zealand labour market

Abstract

Substantial differences in employment and occupation patterns, levels of seniority and earnings between men and women remain in the New Zealand labour market despite considerable narrowing of the gaps favouring men. The extent, if any, to which remaining differences amount to discrimination is controversial. Interpretations vary along many dimensions, including political persuasion. With women’s educational achievements having surpassed those of men on many measures, such as the proportion of those gaining a first degree, some argue that equal employment opportunity (EEO) has been achieved and discrimination against women no longer exists. However, feminist economists show how economic systems and policies still involve substantial gender inequities, with indirect discrimination common inside and outside the labour market, together with greater constraints on women’s choices.

Pursuing equal pay: The perspectives of female engineers and potential policy interventions

“…While the data also shows male and female engineers almost reaching pay parity later in their careers this relates to fulltime employees only (IPENZ, 2015). Hyman (2015) states that removing part time workers from gender pay gap calculations could be misleading and inappropriate.…”

“…It has, too, emphatically penalised low paid women in under-valued but critical jobs such as age care. Calls for more active interventions (Hyman, 2015) to address structural discrimination in pay differentials requires a renewed political determination, particularly given the central role of the State in equal pay outcomes. There is no evidence, though, of an enhanced commitment to an enabling employment strategy around the gender pay gap.…”

“…Reliance on anti-discrimination legislation, the Human Rights Act 1993, to cure sex discrimination has failed to address the systemic gender pay gap, although it provided individual redress in specific cases. As Hyman (2015) notes there is no clear overall trend towards the disappearance of the gender pay gap, which remains stubbornly persistent at between 13-15 percent, with considerable negative variability by ethnicity and age.…”

“…Orthodox economic arguments prevail in New Zealand with political and policy acceptance of limited interventions only to address market determined outcomes (Hyman, 2015). These arguments presumed that women's increased educational achievements (they are 1.4 times as likely as men to participate in tertiary education) combined with improved occupational choice and access to previously male dominated work in addition to sector encouragement will eventually close the gaps (New Zealand Institute of Economic Research, 2013).…”

Between survival and relevance: remaking 30 years of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs

“…Yet, by the government's own estimate, the welfare reforms have contributed to a reduction by at least 10,292 in the number of working-age women beneficiaries, while the corresponding reduction in male beneficiaries since the reforms was half that (New Zealand Government, 2014). The instances of ongoing inequalities in the labour market, especially of lowerpaid 'female' work and among minority women (see Hyman, 2015) and the persistent poverty of single mothers (Dwyer, 2015), raise important questions about the well-being of women who are no longer on welfare. The reforms have also been treated with caution by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, which seeks assurance that 'the ongoing welfare reforms do not discriminate against disadvantaged groups of women and that an independent evaluation of their gendered impact is made' (United Nations, 2012, p.10).…”