Today’s Solutions: March 17, 2025

In 2017, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern promised to fix legislation aimed at addressing historic inequalities in pay for women. Following up on her promise, the country’s parliament has unanimously passed an Equal Pay Amendment Bill that ensures workers are not paid less because of their gender. 

The equal pay legislation goes beyond ensuring men and women are paid the same for the same work — which has been enshrined in New Zealand law since 1972. The amendment bill focuses on pay equity by ensuring women in historically underpaid female-dominated industries receive the same remuneration as men in different but equal-value work.

The new bill makes it easier for workers to lodge pay equity claims because it sets clear guidelines for comparing pay between women in female-dominated professions and men with “substantially similar skills, responsibility, and service” in male-dominated occupations.

New Zealand has a long history of prioritizing equality between men and women. The nation was the first globally to give women the right to vote in 1893 and the second country in the world to grant domestic abuse victims paid leave. Ardern was also the first world leader to ever go on maternity leave after the birth of her daughter, Neve, in 2018. 

Solutions News Source Print this article
More of Today's Solutions

Australian man survives 100 days with artificial heart in groundbreaking success

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM For the first time in history, a patient has been discharged from the hospital with a total artificial ...

Read More

How to strengthen your hips for better movement and less pain

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Have you ever stood up after sitting for too long and felt like your hips aged fifty years ...

Read More

Why do so many children detest vegetables? Scientists may have unravelled the...

Humans are social creatures, and our behaviors, particularly those linked to eating, are frequently influenced by what we watch in others. Social modeling is ...

Read More

5 essential work skills to enhance your resume in 2024

In a world where talents are valued above all else, how we approach job searching and resume writing is changing dramatically. As we approach ...

Read More