The MindTheGap campaign is applauding New Zealand Cricket for its decision to award equal pay to men and women players.

New Zealand Cricket has closed the pay equity gap for women’s cricketers, with both men and women receiving the same pay for the same work, on the same day.

In a landmark decision, new men’s and women’s combined agreements will see the White Ferns and domestic women’s players receiving the same match fees as the men across all formats and competitions.

MindTheGap co-founder Dellwyn Stuart says the decision is a good example of righting historic wrongs.

“While it is hard to believe we are still paying women less than men in parts of New Zealand, it is great to see this has been not only recognised as wrong but action has been taken to fix the unfairness."

‘Sadly, when some women and ethnic groups are earning as much as one-third less than their male, pakeha counterparts, there is still much more to be done.

MindTheGap has joined with forty unions and charities to get the government to urgently change legislation to address New Zealand’s gender and ethnic pay gaps immediately and help reduce poverty.

In an open letter to the Government, the group says “Many women and people in our Māori, Pasifika and other ethnic communities earn much less than they would if they were a Pākehā man. That’s not fair. It’s not the Kiwi way. The playing field is tilted against too many,”

MindTheGap is asking New Zealanders to sign a petition to call for urgent action on the issue https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/close-the-gender-and-ethnic-pay-gaps-make-pay-gap-reporting-mandatory-for-businesses-in-new-zealand

The campaign wants the Government to work with businesses to agree on a standardised approach to reporting and introduce pay gap reporting legislation with urgency. Mandatory reporting is already in place for the New Zealand public service.

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