Gender and the Trans-Tasman World of Labour: Transnational and Comparative Histories

Frances, Raelene; Nolan, Melanie

doi:10.2307/27516308

Cited by 11 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…This is in contrast to the impact, since the advent of the neo-liberal era in New Zealand from the early 1990s, of enterprise bargaining and individual contracts on women’s position (e.g. Frances and Nolan, 2008), indicating that, during periods where the state has a stronger (supporting) role, employer autonomy is moderated by dialogue and engagement between the ER parties; union organisation is strengthened; and collective bargaining is more centralised, gender pay relativities tend to improve though the specific impacts of (labour) institutions on women are neither simple nor unambiguous (cf. Martin and Bamber, 2004; Parker, 2003).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…the global financial crisis, Covid-19) as well as nation state complexities in relation to gender pay and wider equity (e.g. Frances and Nolan (2008) observe that New Zealand operates under an essentially unitarist ER regime while, in the federated nation of Australia, state institutions and economies continue to play an important role). Future research might also more deeply examine specific features of key legislation, legal cases and various policies designed to tackle pay inequity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These are evident in the waning appetite for centralised regulation, and widespread reform and support for measures enabling more fragmented forms of wage-setting, with markets expected to help realise gender pay equity (cf. Frances and Nolan’s (2008) conclusion that pay equity could more easily be instituted in a centralised wage-fixing context in Australasia). At the organisational level, too, even ambitious efforts to encourage pay equity, while best taken in a period of turbulent change when structures are fluid (Parker, 2003), are more modest than those which underpin Cockburn’s (1989) political vision of transformation in terms of overhauling masculinist practice.…”

Section: Evolving and Contextual Approaches To Pay Equitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research on its impact suggested that women workers were worse off under a decentralised, flexible, contract-based ER system, given their relative position in the labour market (e.g. Frances and Nolan, 2008; Sayers, 1993). As Hyman (2017) notes, ‘lower levels of unionisation and collective bargaining, together with a rise in casualisation resulting from the [ECA] and related policies … dealt a blow to the position of lower-paid women’ (p. 46).…”

Section: Shift Of Pay Equity From State To Workplace Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

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The revival and refashioning of gender pay equity in New Zealand

Parker

Donnelly

2020

Journal of Industrial Relations

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While the foundations for redressing gender pay inequality in New Zealand were established half a century ago, significant numbers of women still endure the sharp end of gender-based pay differentials. Following a landmark test case in the aged care sector which focused on the (re)interpretation of the Equal Pay Act 1972, gender pay equality is once again under intense scrutiny. On the 125th anniversary of women’s suffrage, the New Zealand government signalled the introduction of legislative amendments to address this enduring challenge. Although widely contested, the intent of the Equal Pay Amendment Bill is to lower the threshold for raising pay equity claims, while establishing a bargaining process for resolving them. Alongside this, the government has introduced an ambitious workplace action plan to eliminate public service gender pay gaps. Informed by gender equity policy approaches, this article examines New Zealand’s (gendered) regulatory history relating to equal pay, yielding insights into how labour law and policy have both addressed and evaded the objective of equal remuneration for work of equal value, concluding with a discussion of recent initiatives. This qualitative analysis illustrates how institutional contexts for wage-setting and value-laden equality strategies impact women’s experience of work in New Zealand.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Evolving and Contextual Approaches To Pay Equitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Shift Of Pay Equity From State To Workplace Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

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The revival and refashioning of gender pay equity in New Zealand

Parker

Donnelly

2020

Journal of Industrial Relations

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“…Consequently, there was a major decline in union membership and collective bargaining in the early 1990s, particularly in the private sector (Crawford and Walsh, 1999). This was seen as reversing the gains made for women via unions and the former arbitration system (Coleman, 1989;Frances and Nolan, 2008). The return of a Labour-led government in 1997 led to some employment and labour market protections, notably with the replacement of the ECA with the Employment Relations Act 2000 (ERA).…”

Section: Employment Regulation In Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collective Regulation and Working Women in New Zealand and Fiji

Parker

Arrowsmith

2014

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Summary In many nations, women’s labour market presence is significant though it tends to lag that of men on most indices, including pay and seniority. The ramifications of such are huge for women’s experience of employment, their circumstances in other spheres, and thus societal progress. Employment relations (ER) regulation seeks to structure equitable access to and progress within the labour market. However, despite on-going, work-related gender inequities, there is a relative dearth of cross-national (particularly South Pacific), gender-focused analyses. This constrains the development of theory and policy geared towards gender equality in the labour market. This paper thus compares how recent collective ER regulatory initiatives have been applied in New Zealand (NZ) and Fiji, amid shared and unique national and international conditions. Martin and Bamber’s (2004, 2005) ER system model frames an analysis of qualitative survey responses and documentary evidence to more particularly assess the meaning of ER regulation for working women. It emerges that the achievement of gender equality via regulatory instruments has proven elusive, particularly in Fiji. A withering of formal employment regulation and its decentralisation in NZ; weakly implemented regulation in Fiji’s politically tumultuous setting; and the space left by a shift away from collective bargaining in both contexts has not been replaced by social dialogue, fundamental social rights, and in Fiji, regulatory enforcement. This has contributed to deteriorating circumstances for some working women in NZ and comparatively more in Fiji. However, informants showed a preference for certain regulatory measures for improving working women’s situation, concurring that stronger formal regulation of ER, tripartism and effective enforcement are needed in both nations, and that particular issues for working women require tailored responses. The paper discusses how ER regulatory measures might be theorised in terms of improving working women’s context-bound circumstances in Fiji and NZ, and with regard to the infusion of gender-related and socio-cultural values in wider economic and political approaches. It also examines how regulatory initiatives might operate and impact in a more gender-sensitive way by being re-couched in ‘win-win’, inter-connected terms for different ER stakeholders. For Fiji, much hope also rests on its return to democratic rule, and for both countries, on strengthened union activity.

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Currents: the wellsprings of decolonisation

Mar

2016

Decolonisation and the Pacific

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Gender and the Trans-Tasman World of Labour: Transnational and Comparative Histories

Cited by 11 publications

References 14 publications

The revival and refashioning of gender pay equity in New Zealand

The revival and refashioning of gender pay equity in New Zealand

Collective Regulation and Working Women in New Zealand and Fiji

Currents: the wellsprings of decolonisation

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