EMPLOYERS AND ISSUE OF EQUAL PAY FOR WOMEN
WELLINGTON, This Day. An assurance that employers agreed with the principle of equal pay for women for equal work was given to the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, as long ago as 1942, by a deputation from the New Zealand Employers’ Federation, said the annual report of the federation presented to the annual meeting. The .report referred to recent discussions of the equal pay issue. It was not sufficient, said the report, to say that because a woman undertook to do the same type of work as a man she should receive the same weekly wage rate. It was essential to consider the value of the work done, and this could only be arrived at by comparing the long-term output of women with that of men. Further, it had been stated that the industrial life of a woman was less than 10 years, compared with 40 years for a man. It should not be forgotten that over the years the Court of Arbitration had indicated that it would refuse to make provision in tire awards for the employment of women until it was satisfied that the conditions of industry were such as to make it desirable to depart from established practice. Examining comparative wage rates, the report said that between 1914 and 1926 the wages of women increased faster than those of men. This was due to the demand for female labour during the 1914-1918 war. However, from 1926 to 1930 the increase was not so rapid and did not keep pace with the wages increases of men. By 1939 the relative position obtaining in 1926 was restored. The accepted differentiation between male and female wages in industry was at this period 60 per cent, and it had remained at that figure. The - average rate taken over 12 of the latest awards was 63 1-3 per cent., the lowest being 56 per cent, for flock, felt, and feather workers, and the highest 70 per cent, for retail shop assistants.
In New Zealand the male wage structure was based on social grounds, rather than economic grounds.
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Greymouth Evening Star, 18 October 1948, Page 8
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352EMPLOYERS AND ISSUE OF EQUAL PAY FOR WOMEN Greymouth Evening Star, 18 October 1948, Page 8
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