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No Easy Victory: Towards Equal Pay for Women in the Government Service 1890-1960

Foreword

page ix

Foreword

Almost a century after the start of the campaign for equal pay for women and men in the government service, the goal of pay equity still eludes us. That is not to detract from the achievements of the campaign. Equal pay for the same work in the state sector was the breakthrough and, as this study demonstrates, it was certainly no easy victory. The PSA is joining the Trustees of the Dan Long Trust in publishing this history because we need to remember our past, learn from it and pay tribute to the commitment and political acumen of the activists of the equal pay campaign.

If New Zealand governments have been slow to make improvements in working conditions for women in state sector employment, they have been even slower to require private sector employers to follow their lead. It was 12 years before the concept of equal pay for the same work was extended to the private sector with the passing of the Equal Pay Act in 1972.

And now, nearly 30 years after the passage of the Government Service Equal Pay Act, women as a group are still paid much less than men. In 1987, on average, women in full-time work earned 73 percent of the amount earned by men in full-time work. The PSA has recently published a research discussion paper analysing the reasons for the pay gap.

The campaign continues but today the goal is equal pay for work of equal value. Women have realised that pay equity is impossible unless enormous social changes take place. The work women do must be valued at least as highly as that of men. But women also need to be freed from the constraints which still confine them to five main occupational groups and to lower paid jobs.

In 1988 many more victories remain to be won — none of them easy — to close the pay gap. The immediate challenge for the government is to work with unions to devise legislation which will facilitate the pursuit of pay claims based on equal pay for work of equal value. The challenge for unions will be to take the opportunities such legislation should provide and to give priority to pay equity claims.

I hope that the timely publication of this study will encourage those who continue the campaign today and be an inspiration to those who will follow.

Signature of Colin Hicks
Colin Hicks President, New Zealand Public Service Association Chair, Dan Long Trust