A new report has found New Zealand women to be among the most educated in the world – and a growing gap in pay for men and women with similar qualifications, doing similar work.
The World Economic Forum's annual report on the gender gap shows New Zealand ranks 33rd out of 142 countries assessed for wage equality for similar work.
The Global Gender Gap Index ranks countries on the gap between men and women on health, education, economic and political indicators.
New Zealand has improved or stayed the same on all indicators except for economic participation and opportunities. It has dropped in the overall global rankings from seventh last year to 13th this year.
Iceland tops the overall rankings for the sixth consecutive year, with Finland and Norway in the second and third spots.
The index reliably shows a strong correlation between a country's gender gap and its national competitiveness: "Because women account for one-half of a country’s potential talent base, a nation’s competitiveness in the long term depends significantly on whether and how it educates and utilizes its women."
In September, The Wireless producer Elle Hunt wrote of the gender pay gap:
Part of the problem is a lack of confidence, attributable to misconceptions about what women can and can’t do. We don’t sit at the table because we don’t think we deserve to – not just because there hasn’t been a place set there for us.
Read the full report online on the World Economic Forum's website.
