Genter vows to close gender pay gap
The advancement of women in New Zealand has hit a wall.
We have our third female prime minister in Labour’s Jacinda Ardern. Her election means that, for the first time since 2001, we’ve achieved the all-powerful feminine triptych once again; both the Governor-General and Chief Justice are also women.
Still, we can do more, says incoming Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter.
But, in the face of a seemingly inauspicious start - the portfolio being dropped from Cabinet - the first-time Green Party minister has a significant goal signed into its governing agreement with Labour.
‘‘We have a series of policies. One of the things we talked about was making chief executives in the public service directly accountable and responsible for closing the gender pay gap.
‘‘We’ve taken advice on what’s a realistic timeframe for achieving that. I think there’s more that we can be doing with the private sector so that they can be doing the same thing,’’ she said.
Genter has indicated she would be open to looking at legislating to make it happen in the private sector.
Ready to don the mantle of ‘‘fulltime feminist’’, Genter says New Zealand has strong credentials as a global leader in gender equality but has ‘‘rested on its laurels’’.
At September 1, the gender pay gap stood at 9.4 per cent, according to StatsNZ.
Genter said business was open to progress, but accepted it needed certainty over any law changes. New Zealand could not advance on the issue without specific policies.
‘‘It’s 2017, it’s only fair. I think most people in New Zealand would say that people should be paid fairly for their work and they should not be paid less because they are a woman.
‘‘And yet we haven’t had as much progress in closing the gap as we should have, and I think that’s because we haven’t been as proactive on policies that will be effective.’’
The Ministry for Women had been working to improve female representation on boards. Genter said that could be further pushed in the private sector, where it lagged.
‘‘There is no reason why women shouldn’t be equally represented in politics, governance and leadership.
‘‘It’s not because they don’t merit it, it’s because there’s a set of unconscious bias. Unless we have systems to get around it, it’s not going change.’’