One of the enduring income inequalities in New Zealand is that between men and women. Women are paid around 13% less than men for doing the same work, and the Bartlett case last year showed that entire industries have been poorly paid simply because the work is done mostly by women.

This is especially relevant now because New Zealand has just been through a United Nations process called the universal periodic review, which looks at its human rights record. In general, it’s good, but one of the notable recommendations is this:

 Eliminate the gender pay gap across all groups and ethnicities using demonstrated effective mechanisms, including intensive monitoring processes and legislative levers

Let’s hope we’ll see progress on that in coming years, and a good response from the government when it replies to the universal periodic review findings in June.