50 Years NZ Equal Pay Act badge

This badge celebrates the 50th anniversary of New Zealand's Equal Pay Act 1972. The Act prohibits employers from paying men and women undertaking the same work at different rates.

The badge was handed out at the official anniversary event run by Te Tai Pari Equal Pay centre at National Library in Wellington on 20 October 2022, and was acquired by Courtney Johnston, Tumu Whakarae / Chief Executive, Te Papa.

The event called on people to reflect on the Equal Pay Act, the people and organisations who campaigned for and negotiated change, and to consider a future where all people are paid fairly for their work.

First wave feminists had begun campaigning for equality in employment in the mid-1890s. Equal pay for women was legislated for the public service in 1961, and the private sector in 1972, but it is still not resolved. New Zealand’s gender pay gap has reduced over the past 25 years, but progress has slowed over the past five years and the gap has remained at 9 percent since 2017 (Stats NZ). The gender pay gap is greater for non-Pākehā and minority women, including wāhine Māori, Pacific women, migrant women, disabled women, older women, LGBTQIA+, and solo mothers (New Zealand Parliament 2022).

In 2022, the largest pay inequities are experienced by Pacific people. The Pacific Pay Gap Inquiry report ‘Voices of Pacific peoples: Eliminating pay gaps’ was presented to the Government on 19 October 2022, the evening before the 50th anniversary commemoration at which this badge was given out.

Tumu Whakarae Courtney Johnston reflected on 2022 as a year of important anniversaries, with the 50th anniversary of Te Petihana (the Māori language petition) in September 2022. She notes that 'it was the progressive changes of the 1970s and 1980s that set the pathway towards the creation of Te Papa in the 1990s, a radical new museum for Aotearoa New Zealand, and in many ways is a manifestation of this spirit of and dedication to social change.'

References:
Johnston, C. (16 November 2022). Personal communication with curator.
New Zealand Parliament (2022). Fifty years of the Equal Pay Act 1972. https://www.parliament.nz/mi/pb/library-research-papers/research-papers/fifty-years-of-the-equal-pay-act-1972/
Pacific Pay Gap Inquiry (2022). Voices of Pacific peoples: Eliminating pay gaps. Wellington: New Zealand Human Rights Commission.
Stats NZ (18 August 2021). Gender pay gap unchanged. Statistics New Zealand.