September 19 marks the 126 anniversary of womenwinning the right to vote in New Zealand.
"Winning the right to vote was the firstpriority for our suffragists, their second priority was securing equalpay," said National Council of Women President, Vanisa Dhiru. "Thefact that we continue to campaign for equal pay for work of equal value 126years on, is saddening,"
"We can have equal pay in New Zealand –the fact that we don't is simply because too many employers are not payingwomen fairly. Sometimes this can be attributed to structural sexism within oursociety and the way we value some roles and not others. Fundamentally, payingworking women fairly is a black and white issue. There is no grey. We eitherpay fairly or we don't," CTU Vice President Rachel Mackintosh said.
"Currently our politicians have draft lawbefore them; the Equal Pay Amendment Bill. This Bill has the potential to makelives better, it has the potential to make New Zealand a fairer better place,where working people are paid fairly regardless of gender," Dhiru said.
"This Suffrage Day we urge the Governmentto commit to ensuring the passage of good equal pay law,"concluded Mackintosh.
