Last night I said to my husband “I’ll be out at my International Womens Day (IWD) events tomorrow till around 8pm” he replied “Is that tomorrow, what are you doing?”
It made me stop and think. How many men know that it’s International Women’s Day all over the world on 8 March every year? And do they care?
An ex-male-friend of mine in London said to me, “Rachel, this woman thing you are always on about doesn’t affect men so why would we care”. And in a lot of ways he was right. When you are not directly impacted by something you don’t connect until it matters.
Today I’m interested to hear from women in the workforce around the world. How many organisations recognise IWD and celebrate the progress women have made? And more importantly how many organisations treat it as just another day at the office?
Here’s our national airline Air New Zealand celebrating women and their contribution!
Of course there are men who do recognise and celebrate IWD with us and many lead as champions for change. My husband lives with conversations about diversity inequalities everyday and so do many other husbands, dads, uncles and CEO’s. So men who are in households of women who advocate and champion gender quality will be more “conscious” of the challenges and successes half the world are facing. We hope!
There’s that c word “conscious”. Let’s dig a bit deeper into some of the reasons why things like gender pay gap still exist in the workforce. If employers are “unconscious” about the challenges women face in being paid fairly and on equal terms to men we begin to see gaps until one woman raises her voice and says “that’s not fair”.
In our small yet mighty country of Aotearoa, New Zealand we continue to strive for equality, diversity and inclusion. Even though we were the first country in the world to vote in 1893 and have had two female Prime Ministers. We also have a legacy of Indigenous Māori women as leaders Te Puea Herangi, Dame Te Atairangikaahu, Dame Whina Cooper with a new generation of modern Māori women stepping into leadership here and abroad in all areas of business, corporate, community and governmental roles.
The reality today is that we have fallen behind Slovenia, Phillipines, Rawanda and Ireland in the 2016 World Economic Forum Gender Pay Gap Report.
Today we sit at No. 9 out of 144 countries in the world. In 2006 when this report was first published we were 7th out of 115 countries.
2006 2016
- Sweden Iceland
- Norway ` Finland
- Finland Norway
- Iceland Sweden
- Germany Rwanda
- Philippines Ireland
- New Zealand Philippines
- Denmark Slovenia
- United Kingdom New Zealand
- Ireland Nicaragua
Empirical evidence based research released by The University of Auckland states that 80% of the reasons women are paid less are down to a form “unconscious bias” which could not be explained by differences in education, occupation and industry, or part-time work. Read the full article below.
The evidence also found that even though women were more qualified than men in a range of fields, women’s qualifications were often not reflected in their earnings and the pay gap remained stagnant at 12% for the last decade. The statistic I found most staggering was from Massey University. Female journalists were paid 26% less than men which backs up the anecdotal evidence from friends in the industry. Read more HERE.
The comments under the articles kept me interested for about 10 seconds. Fair play we live in a democracy have your say. But really!
The great news is that when we become more conscious of a challenge we can start to do something about it. Employers declaring comparative salaries and time bound diversity and inclusion plans will be imperative to moving this conversation forward. Government support like the current review of the Equal Pay Act is a good start thanks to women like aged care worker Kristine Bartlett who said this is not fair! Our new Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett needs to walk the talk and BE the champion for change.
At all levels we need to continue to push the diversity, inclusion and equality agenda to ensure we have the choice to fully participate in all parts of society. At home talk to your newly graduated daughters who are going into their first job to ask the pay equity question “Will I be paid the same as my male colleague?”.
Since returning home in 2015 I am observing Aotearoa, New Zealand growing up from that laid back teenager who only wore tee-shirts, board shorts and jandals if you were lucky! To a super diverse country who are having courageous conversations about cultural shifts of identity, leadership, globalisation, Māori innovation, space travel, social enterprise, automation……the list goes on.
To me it feels like growing pains of a teenager moving into adulthood. It may feel uncomfortable for some of us talk openly about these issues, why can’t it stay the way it is? you may hear yourself saying.
I invite you to sit with and stay in the uncomfortable for as long as you can! Eventually the uncomfortable will become comfortable again, That’s how we grow, move forward and continue learning.
My hope is that Aotearoa, New Zealand is known as the World Leaders of Cultural Integrity and Indigenous Innovation.
Culture, celebration and conscious are my words for 2017 International Women’s Day. What are yours?
My blog today is dedicated to my sister Pania Taka-Brown, that’s her on the right and my mum on the left last year at the Westpac Women of Influence Awards.
Pania has raised four awesome children with her husband Aaron in Auckland (most expensive city I’ve lived in to date). It’s a real honor to be your sister. Thank you for all the work you do as a mother, daughter, sister and provider of your whānau (family).
Hari Ra Wahine o Te Ao! Happy International Womens Day!
#weRISEtogether
Rachel Petero – Founder Rise2025 “Join us and 100,000 indigenous women as we transform the world one coaching conversation at a time” www.rise2025.com
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