Unequal pay no picnic for women

The ‘We’re relying on you’ campaign is hosting a picnic on the lawns of Parliament at 1pm on Equal Pay Day, Tuesday 10 November. We are celebrating the success of our campaign to get commitment and support for equal pay from MPs across all the political parties in parliament. This represents the biggest cross-party commitment to end gender-discrimination of pay ever made.

Equal Pay Day is the day when women in New Zealand start working for free until the end of the year. Women in New Zealand get paid 14% less than men on average.

It has been illegal to pay men and women differently for over 40 years but sadly a whole generation of women has been short-changed by the law not being upheld. Now the next generation faces the same struggle for equality.

A woman’s pay affects her and all the people in her life who rely on her paid and unpaid support. When women are paid less because of their gender, whole communities miss out.

Over a thousand people from all over the country have sent their stories to women MPs; and each story highlights a very personal reason why equal pay is a “must have”, not a “nice to have”.

Women MPs understand that gender-based pay discrimination is bigger than politics. So far, the only MPs who have refused to sign are National party members. We can’t understand why any MP wouldn’t be able to publicly say why they support equality. Have they been told by the men at the top not to sign the pledge or do they really not support equality for women? Either way, it’s a shame.

Equal Pay is an unstoppable force. Now is the time for us all to decide whether we want to be on the side of fairness, justice and equality… or not.

ENDS

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