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Pay the job not the gender

There is an increasing appetite to deal to the persistent gender pay gap, the Council of Trade Unions said today.

The New Zealand Income Survey, out today, shows that average hourly pay rates for women are still 14 percent lower than for men.

“New Zealand women deserve better than this. The time has well and truly come to end pay discrimination on the basis of gender,” CTU secretary Sam Huggard said.

“I have a real sense that the push for equal pay is gathering huge momentum.  Unions are very active on this issue, including through the historic court case about the underpayment of women workers in aged care, and several community, legal and womens organisations are stepping up their efforts to challenge gender based pay discrimination.”

“That the gender pay gap is unmoved this year from 2014 when it was also 14 per cent, is a wakeup call for action on equal pay,” Sam Huggard said.