PAY EQUITY: NOT SPEAKING UP FOR WOMEN

The overturning of the pay equity legislation by the Government represents a direct attack on the economic interests of working-class women. Yet there are 'feminists' among us who have remained silent. Their silence indicates support for the Government.


DESPITE CLAIMING to be a resolute defender of women's interests, groups like Speak Up for Women and individuals like Ani 0'Brien, Rachel Stewart and Dr Carol Hamilton have had nothing to say about the Government overturning the pay equity legislation.

The gender pay gap should be one of the focuses for the feminist movement. After all, women should be paid the same as men, and as complex as the gender pay gap might be, the solution isn’t that complicated. Pay women what they deserve. But the Government, in one stroke, has now acted to prevent that.

To act insult to injury, it is using the 'savings' to balance a budget in danger of imploding because of, among other things, unaffordable tax cuts and a generous tax break for landlords.

AS NZCTU Secretary Melissa Ansell-Bridges has commented: 'Pay equity is an issue of justice, not penny-pinching. There is no excuse to ignore injustice, especially when employers’ business models have been predicated on the exploitation of women. The coalition is prioritising tax cuts for the rich over justice for poorly paid women.'

Yet there have been no angry social media posts from the so-called champions of women's interests. There have been no terse press statements from Speak up for Women. The cone of silence has descended on them all.

What they represent, of course, is a conservative brand of feminism that spends its time fighting a culture war against the LGBTQ+ community. As Liquid Times has observed on X:

'They actively undermine the important issues impacting women by doing everything they can to ensure the culture war dominates politics.'

It is a reactionary brand of feminism that has nothing to say about the inferior economic position of working class women. This is a strain of feminism that has aligned itself with the Government and with an economic system that actively works to obstruct any progress toward economic equality. It's a strain of 'feminism' that works against the interests of women.