Taking an intersectional approach to the gender and
ethnic pay gaps
solely on ethnic pay gaps means the experience of
Pacific women could be overlooked.
It was important for our Inquiry to not only
understand the ethnic pay gap for Pacific peoples
but also how it intersects with the pay gap between
men and women. While there are some similarities
in the employment experiences of Pacific men and
women, there are also some differences.
The UN Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) recognised
this difference. In its 2018 recommendation, CEDAW
said Aotearoa New Zealand should examine and
address the discrimination that Pacific women
experience through employment and the legal
system.33 This recommendation recognises that
various dimensions of inequality operate together
and may even exacerbate each other. Focusing
Likewise, if pay gaps are examined solely through
the lens of gender, the different experience of
discrimination that Pacific women experience
compared to European women is not as evident. For
the purposes of the Inquiry, we have therefore taken
an intersectional approach to gender and ethnicity.
Table 4 illustrates the gender-ethnic pay gaps for
all ethnic groups in Aotearoa New Zealand. It uses
median hourly earnings from the main job each year
by ethnicity and gender compared to European men
for 2021.
Table 4 Percentage (%) gender ethnic pay gap in median hourly earnings from main wage compared to
European men
Year
2021
Men
Women
European
Māori
Pacific
peoples
Asian
MELAA
European
Māori
Pacific
peoples
Asian
MELAA
ref
14.2%
18.8%
13.8%
-0.3%
11.2%
18.9%
25.1%
17.1%
12.2%
Source: Household Labour Force Survey data from Stats NZ. Note: All percentages are compared to the reference group –
European. MELAA statistics should be interpreted with caution.
Disaggregating pay gaps by ethnicity and gender
teases out the differential experience of pay gaps of
men and women of different ethnicities. This data
set reveals that all women in Aotearoa New Zealand
earn less than their male counterparts of the same
ethnicity. However, European women earn more than
Māori, Asian, MELAA and Pacific men.
These differences are even more pronounced when
we observe average weekly rather than hourly
earnings from main job by ethnicity and gender
(see Table 5). For women of all ethnicities, the pay
gap in average weekly earnings from their main job
significantly increases when compared to average
hourly earnings.
This data also reveals stark differences in income for
Pacific men and women. Among men, Pacific men
face the largest pay gap in comparison to European
men (18.8 percent). Looking across both genders,
Pacific women fare even worse – the pay gap
between Pacific women and European men is 25.1
percent (see Table 4).
As before, this gap is largest for Pacific women, who
experience 34.9 percent fewer weekly earnings from
their main job compared to European men. The most
likely driver of this difference is the larger share of
women engaging in part-time work and/or childcare.
This is supported by higher underutilisation rates
for women when compared to men, with these
differences being most acute for Pacific women.
33
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Concluding Observations on the Eighth Periodic Report of New
Zealand. CEDAW/C/NZL/CO/8. July 25, 2018. https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/concluding-observations/cedawcnzlco8concluding-observations-eighth-periodic-report-new.
Voices of Pacific peoples
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