The gender pay gap in New Zealand is the difference in the median hourly wages of men and women in New Zealand. In 2020 the gender pay gap is 9.5%. It is an economic indicator used to measure pay equality. The gender pay gap is an official statistic published annually by Stats NZ sourced from the Household Labour Force Survey.
Until 1960, separate pay rates for men and women doing the same work were legal in both the public and private sectors. Now there is legislation prohibiting sex discrimination in employment. The Government Service Equal Pay Act 1960 abolished gender-based pay scales in the public service and in 1972 this was extended to the private sector in the Equal Pay Act. The Human Rights Act (1993) and the Employment Relations Act 2000 prohibit sex discrimination in all aspects of employment, including pay. New Zealand is signatory to international agreements with the International Labour Organization and Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women that prohibit sex discrimination in employment. By international comparisons New Zealand is moderately placed on global pay equality indexes. There is a larger difference in the pay gap between men and women from Māori and Pacific ethnicities than those with European ethnicities. Two main sources of New Zealand's gender pay gap have been suggested: women are often clustered in lower paid occupations (occupational segregation) and women are under-represented in higher-level and managerial positions.
As an economic indicator of gender inequality, a gender gap does not validate the claim of failure to ensure the principles of pay equality and equal pay for equal work. There is no standard international gender pay gap measure. The gender wage gap, published by the OECD, provides international comparison. It is calculated using the median hourly wage paid to full-time male and female workers. The New Zealand gender pay gap includes part-time and full-time workers to include the approximately 30 percent of women working less than 30 paid hours per week.
Legislation
Equal Pay Act 1972 Until 1960, separate pay rates for men and women doing the same work were legal in both the public and private sectors.Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment [MBIE] "History of Pay and Employment Equity in New Zealand" Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment: Labour Information. This changed with the introduction of the Government Service Equal Pay Act 1960, which abolished gender-based pay scales in the public service.Government Service Equal Pay Act 1960, s 3(1)(a). In 1972, the Equal Pay Act (EPA) extended the principle of pay equity to the private sector. Under the EPA, if work, or a class of work, requires the same, or substantially similar, degrees of skill, effort and responsibility of its male and female employees, yet pays them different rates, that difference in pay is deemed to be gender-based, and illegal.Equal Pay Act 1972, s 3(1)(a)(i). If a class of work is exclusively or predominantly performed by females, gender-based pay inequality is deemed to exist if a different rate would be paid to male employees with the same, or similar, skills performing the work under substantially similar conditions and with substantially similar degrees of effort.Equal Pay Act 1972, s 3(1)(b).
Equal Pay Amendment Bill 2025 An amendment to the Equal Pay Act 1972, The Pay Equity Amendment Bill, was introduced by the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety, Brooke Van Velden. The bill was passed on Wednesday 7 May 2025 after being put through under urgency. Urgency in New Zealand Government process allows for faster passing of law with no select committee stage. The amendment means the cancellation of 33 pay equity claims that were in process which affects teachers, social workers, nurses and healthcare workers. Opposition to the bill has come from many people and groups.
Human Rights Act 1993 The Human Rights Act 1993 (HRA) expressly prohibits discrimination on thirteen grounds, including sex.Human Rights Act 1993, s 21(1)(a). The HRA applies to all aspects of employment, including remuneration. If an employee feels that they have been unlawfully discriminated against in the course of their employment they can make a complaint to the Human Rights Review Tribunal.Human Rights Act 1993, s 94 As defined by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), sex-based employment discrimination exists when an employer refuses, or fails to offer an employee the same terms, conditions, benefits or opportunities as other employees with the same or similar qualifications, experience or skills working in the same or similar circumstances, but of the opposite gender. Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment Minimum Employment Rights and Obligations (2013) at 8.
Other legislation The Employment Relations Act 2000 prohibits discrimination on the grounds of sex, and grants the Employment Court jurisdiction over employment disputes.Employment Relations Act 2000, s 105 The State Sector Act 1988State Sector Act 1988, s58(3) and the Crown Entities Act 2004Crown Entities Act 2004, s 118(2)(b). impose an obligation on public sector employers to be 'good employers'. This includes an obligation to provide equal employment opportunity programmes aimed at eliminating policies and procedures that cause inequality.
International obligations In addition to its domestic legal framework, New Zealand has ratified several international instruments concerned with pay equality.
International Labour Organisation Conventions New Zealand is a party to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention concerning Equal Remuneration for Men and Women Workers of Equal Value (ILO 100). Art 2(1) provides:Convention concerning Equal Remuneration for Men and Women Workers of Equal Value (adopted 29 June 1951, entered into force on 23 May 1953), art 2(1).
New Zealand has also ratified the ILO Convention concerning Discrimination in Respect of Employment and Occupation (ILO 111), which provides:Convention concerning Discrimination in respect of Employment and Occupation (adopted 25 June 1958, entered into force 15 June 1960), art 2.
Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women New Zealand ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1985. Article 11 provides that states must take appropriate measures to eliminate employment discrimination, including ensuring the right to equal remuneration, and equal treatment for work of equal value. Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women 1249 UNTS 13 (opened for signature 18 December 1979, entered into force 3 September 1981), art 11.
Other international obligations Article 23(2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that everyone, without discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.https://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/ Universal Declaration of Human Rights GA Res 217A, III A/810 (1948), art 23(2). Article 7 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights secures women's right to conditions not inferior to those enjoyed by men, including equal pay for equal work.International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 993 UNTS 3 (opened for signature 16 December 1966, entry into force 3 January 1976), art 7.
Research Research into the causes of the New Zealand gender pay gap finds that up to 80 percent is unexplained by measurable effects such as educational differences, occupation, age or family. Unexplained difference includes differences in men's and women's choices and behaviours, conscious and unconscious bias. The unexplained portion of the pay gap is larger for women with higher wages. Motherhood is an important factor in New Zealand's gender pay gap. Sin et al. (2018) found that women on average experience a 4.4 percent decrease in hourly wages returning to work as mothers. For mothers returning after 12 months, the average decrease is 8.3 percent.Dr Isabelle Sin, Dr Kabir Dasgupta and Professor Gail Pacheco "Parenthood and labour market outcomes" Ministry for Women (2018)
Gender pay gap Although the Equal Pay Act made different pay rates illegal, New Zealand has a persistent pay gap. In 2011 the Human Rights Commission (HRC) described it as "a systemic and enduring inequality for women."Human Rights Commission Tracking Equality at Work (June 2011) at 28. From 2000 to 2008 the gender pay gap consistently sat between 12 and 14%.Ministry for Women "Gender pay gap" Since 2009 it has reduced steadily, and in 2018 stood at 9.2%.Ministry for Women "Gender pay gap" Internationally, New Zealand is moderately placed on global pay equality indexes. In 2014, it was 33rd of 142 countries in the World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report rankings of wage equality for similar work.World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report 2014 (2013) at 284.
In New Zealand, the gender pay gap coexists with an ethnic one. In 2011, the Human Rights Commission found that while the difference between the median hourly wage of a European male and European female was 12.4%, between a European male and a Pacific woman it was 24.4%.Human Rights Commission Tracking Equality at Work (June 2011) at 12.
Several sources of New Zealand's gender pay gap have been suggested:
Occupational segregation 47% of female workers are in occupations where 80% or more of the employees are women.Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment [MBIE] “What is Pay and Employment Equity” MBIE Labour Information. MBIE notes that:MBIE “What is Pay and Employment Equity” MBIE Labour Information. "Women are often clustered in a narrow range of occupations… The skills and knowledge that women bring to the work in female-dominated occupations may not be recognised and therefore not valued appropriately in comparison to other jobs."
A 2011 report by Goldman Sachs noted that female-dominated areas tend to be social services oriented, meaning that employee outputs are more difficult to measure.Philip Borkin, Closing the Gender Gap: Plenty of Potential Economic Upside (Goldman Sachs, 9 August 2011) at 1. This creates a risk of systemic undervaluation. The risk of undervaluation posed by occupational segregation was recognised by the UN Human Rights Council Working Group in the 2009 and 2014 Universal Periodic Review of New Zealand. The 2014 Review included recommendations that New Zealand review its equal pay legislation, with a focus on addressing the issue of systemic undervaluation of women's work, and minimizing the link between the pay gap and ethnicity.http://mfat.govt.nz/downloads/global-issues/Draft%20Outcome%20Report,%20New%20Zealand%20UPR,%2029%20January%202014.pdf United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review Draft report of the Working Group on the Periodic Review: New Zealand XVIII A/HRC/WG.6/18/L.1 at 128.39, 128.99.
Cases concerning occupational segregation Clerical Administrative v Farmers Trading
In 1986, the New Zealand Clerical Workers Union brought a case under the Equal Pay Act arguing that the wages being paid to clerical workers were lower than those being paid for work of equal value, such as that of builders, and that this difference existed because over 90% of clerks were female, whereas the majority of builders were male.New Zealand Clerical Administrative etc IAOW v Farmers Trading Co Ltd [Farmers Trading] ACJ 203 at 6. The application was rejected on the basis that the EPA was limited to ensuring equal pay between male and female employees within the same sector.Farmers Trading ACJ 203 at 207. Comparison across sectors for the purpose of identifying systemic undervaluation was deemed to fall outside the scope of the EPA.