Women bucking gender pay gap trend in New Zealand’s private sector boardrooms

Women are earning more than their male counterparts in private sector boardrooms, but are significantly underrepresented. Photo / 123RF

Women sitting on the boards of private companies in New Zealand are bucking the national trend on gender pay gaps, according to new data from Strategic Pay.

The latest Directors’ Fees Survey found women are earning more than their male counterparts in private sector boardrooms.

However, women are significantly underrepresented in those roles.

Female non-executive chairs are earning 3.7% more than males, while female non-executive directors receive 17.2% higher fees, according to the survey.

But women comprise just 21% of non-executive chairs and 36% of non-executive directors at the private sector level. This was lower than the public sector, where 28% of chairs and 39% of directors are woman.

“The private sector’s gender pay dynamics represent a fascinating contrast to broader market trends,” said Strategic Pay managing director Cathy Hendry.

“While it’s encouraging to see women earning more in these roles, the significant underrepresentation suggests there’s still substantial work to be done in achieving genuine board diversity.”

Hendry said the higher average pay for women is largely due to their greater presence in larger listed organisations, which tend to offer higher fees.

While the overall female sample (392 directorships) was significantly lower than the male sample (858 directorships) in the survey, 61% of the female sample sit on large, listed organisations and 55% are on boards of companies with a turnover exceeding $200 million.

“Listed companies are possibly a bit better at attracting females or have got a greater emphasis on getting some diversity in the directorships,” Hendry said.

However, there is no pay advantage for women in the public sector, the survey found.

Public sector fees showed an 8.7% pay gap for directors in favour of men, while at the chair level men earned 27.5% more than women.

“So, we’re seeing the opposite in the public sector versus the private sector,” Hendry said.

“We’ve got greater representation of female directors [in the public sector] … but clearly if we’re seeing males being paid more, clearly the females are in smaller directorships still.”

The survey found that directors of private-sector, publicly listed companies continue to command a significant premium, earning 59% more at the median than their counterparts in unlisted private sector organisations.

Listed organisations had an 11% movement for their chairs and 10% for their directors, while unlisted organisations had similar movement for both their chairs and directors, at 7.7% and 8% respectively.

The survey also revealed significant disparities in director fees across industries.

The highest fees were paid to non-executive chairs and directors within the retail, wholesale/import/export, and manufacturing industries, while the education industry recorded the lowest fees for both roles.

Female board representation was also largest in the leisure, travel and tourism sector, while professional services recorded the lowest percentage.

Cameron Smith is an Auckland-based journalist with the Herald business team. He joined the Herald in 2015 and has covered business and sports. He reports on topics such as retail, small business, the workplace and macroeconomics.