By Vera Alves
An Auckland electrician is fighting the gender pay gap by giving female customers 12 percent off their bills.
Brad Kul told the NZ Herald he started taking 12 per cent off invoices to female customers a few months ago when he got thinking about the unfairness of the gender pay gap. Rather than charge men an extra 12 per cent, he made a decision to bear the brunt himself and just take the percentage off the bill for female customers.
Kul, who's owned his own company for 14 years, says it is a "small and insignificant" gesture that he realised he could do, to play a part in closing that gap.
"I give [the discount] to female clients, just as my way of saying that I think the gender wage gap is stupid," he explains.
"Really it's just an awareness thing, and to tell my clients that people care about issues like sexism."
Because he chose to take the percentage off the price he charges female customers, rather than charging men 12 per cent more, Kul is effectively losing some money in the process. However, he says he never thinks of it as a "loss". "I still do what I and most tradesmen do, provide a great service for a fair payment."
He posted a photo of one of his invoices on his Twitter account and received a great deal of praise for tackling the issue.
Feedback from customers has also been positive.
"Although historically tradesmen are not seen as leaders on social issues, I think we naturally see problems and then try to fix them. That's what we do."