Public Service Association Kaihautū Māori Janice Panoho says the Māori gender pay gap is at its lowest ever; however, more should be done for tangata moana.
National gender pay inequity statistics show a nationwide gap of 8.2% between men’s and women’s salaries. Within the public service, this gap is almost halved to 4.3%.
Panoho says while Māori tāne and wāhine are behind their Pākehā colleagues by 5.3% and 5.5%, Pasifika men and women face a gap of around $20,000 in annual salaries compared to Pākehā workers.
She says bias, discrimination, an overrepresentation of workers in lower-level jobs, and an underrepresentation in higher-level jobs contribute to the pay gap.
“So we’ve managed to improve that for Māori, and it was through the guidance that we developed jointly. What we’ve found is, by working together, the union, working with in terms of the Commission, we were able to improve in terms of outcomes for Māori Pacifika and also for gender,” says Panoho.
Janice Panoho says more public job losses could lead to a spike in the equity gap, which will be publicly reported around March 2025.
