Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier sided with the Herald in a dispute with TVNZ over the release of data showing an on-air gender pay gap. Photo / File
Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier sided with the Herald in a dispute with TVNZ over the release of data showing an on-air gender pay gap. Photo / File
Male presenters at Television New Zealand earn an average $40,000 more a year than their female counterparts, a gender pay gap the state-owned broadcaster spent two years trying to keep secret.
Figures released by TVNZ following a two-year investigation and an adverse ruling by the Ombudsman show an average genderpay gap of 17 per cent among the broadcasters' highest-profile staff such as Simon Dallow, Wendy Petrie, Hilary Barry and John Campbell.
The data shows the majority of TVNZ's 20 highest-paid presenters were men, who between 2017-19 earned an average of $254,510 a year. Women in the group were paid $210,597.
TVNZ chief executive Kevin Kenrick defended his management of the gap, and said focussing on a small subset of his organisation's staff was misleading.
TVNZ chief executive Kevin Kenrick defended his organisation's handling of the gender pay gap. Photo / File
"I think we would all acknowledge the gender pay gap is a real thing across all industries. We look at it holistically, and the total gender pay gap at TVNZ is 4.6 per cent and we expect that is going to decline further in the next 12 months," he said.
Employment consultant Dr Miriam Hughes said the data unearthed by the Weekend Herald was "concerning".
She said the Equal Pay Act made the issue clear-cut: "If you are not paying male and female employees who are doing substantially the same work the same pay, you are breaking employment law."
Hughes was not surprised to hear of the two-year battle required to make the data public: "Why do people hide things? They know what they're doing is wrong. Once the information is out there and acknowledged, then the pressure is on them to do something about it."
Broadcasting Kris Faafoi refused comment. Photo / Andrew Warner
Requests for an interview with broadcasting minister Kris Faafoi over the broadcaster's transparency and its gender pay gap were declined. A spokesman for Faafoi said the minister "doesn't wish to comment on TVNZ operational decisions".
Equal employment opportunities commissioner Dr Karanina Sumeo said Faafoi's non-response was "not helpful".
"This being an operational matter? It's a legal matter, it's a national matter, this gender pay gap. We need our leaders to not trivialise this."
Sumeo said the data obtained by the Weekend Herald was "quite revealing" and would assist women within TVNZ, and in related industries, agitate for better pay. "If you can see it, it's empowering; It's empowering to people who don't know they're being underpaid or undervalued."
Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter said: "Women working in the media, just like every other sector of society, should be paid fairly for the work they do. Pay transparency enables workers to know how their pay compares with other employees, and drives change to close the gender and ethnic pay gap."
