Empowering Change: Strategies to Overcome Pay Inequality for Pacific Women in New Zealand

New Zealand prides itself on being a fair and diverse country, but there’s a big problem hiding in plain sight: Pacific women aren’t getting paid as much as they should be. Despite efforts for fairness, Pacific women still face unfair pay in their jobs, showing that there are deeper issues that need to be fixed.

Studies show that Pacific women in New Zealand earn around 26.5% less than Pakeha men. This isn’t just a random number – it shows that there are big inequalities that exist in New Zealand. Pacific women often end up in lower-paying jobs like caregiving, hospitality, or retail, where there’s not much chance to move up. This unfairness is even worse because it’s harder for Pacific women to get into higher-paying industries.

When we turn our focus to Pacific countries themselves, the picture becomes even more complex.  In many Pacific nations, the pay gap for women is exacerbated by a myriad of factors, including limited access to education and economic opportunities, cultural norms that perpetuate gender roles, and systemic barriers that hinder women’s participation in the workforce. While these challenges are not unique to Pacific countries, they are often exacerbated by the region’s remote geography, small economies, and vulnerability to external shocks such as natural disasters and economic crises.

There are a few things we need to do to fix this. We need the Government to follow Australia’s lead and make ethnic and gender pay gap reporting mandatory. We also need to help Pacific women get better jobs by giving them more chances to learn new skills. But it’s not just about laws – we also need to change how people think about Pacific women and their roles. By working together to make these changes, we can make New Zealand a fairer and better place for everyone.

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