New Poll Says Jobs Not Seen as Equal

New Poll Says Jobs Not Seen as Equal

New Zealanders believe equal opportunities do not exist for men and women in the workplace.

The finding comes from the SEEK Watercooler Index, a new poll that tracks the attitudes of New Zealanders on workplace issues.

The Watercooler Index surveyed both New Zealanders and Australians and found similar attitudes on either side of the Tasman; 60% of all respondents believe that equal opportunities between men and women do not exist in the workplace.

According to Statistics New Zealand, in June 2009, women earned 81% of men’s average weekly earnings, and 87.8% of men’s average hourly earnings.

Responses to the poll included comments on everything from the pay equity gap to examples of discrimination in the interview process.

Comments also illustrated that gender is a barrier to career advancement, including one which suggests males in charge tend to give opportunities to other males, “got to be in the old boys club to get opportunities to progress.”

In contrast one comment from ‘Hana’ suggested that it’s more about how each individual presents themselves, “there are equal opportunities and no discrimination, it’s called 'personal worth' and how you present yourself, take a look in the mirror and find out.”

With International Women’s Day on Monday March 8th, SEEK General Manager Annemarie Duff expects the topic will be of interest at water coolers around the country.

“As the number one website for job seekers, SEEK is in a unique position to take the nations’ temperature on views ‘around the water cooler’ with more than 860,000 visitors to the site each month. Significant occasions tend to get us all talking about our views so we decided to bottle that chatter and share it, we think it’s an interesting gauge of public opinion on workplace matters.”

ENDS

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