Judy McGregor

Pursuing equal pay: The perspectives of female engineers and potential policy interventions

The gender pay gap of higher paid women working in traditionally male-dominated sectors has received less analysis in equal pay research than low paid, female-dominated and undervalued women’s work. This article explores equal pay from the perspectives of female engineers, well paid women working in a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) sector in New Zealand, who perform work of the same or like nature to male engineers but who are paid less for doing so. It explores the gender pay gap against the complex intersections of labour market de-regulation, family demands, work and the ‘cost of being female’ that women in engineering must constantly navigate. The research uses quantitative pay data in the sector disaggregated by gender, and new qualitative data from focus groups and interviews with 22 female engineers. It finds a surprising lack of transparency around pay and remuneration in the sector at the individual level which negatively impacts on women. The article concludes by recommending new public policy initiatives for equal pay in sectors like engineering, where individualised negotiation and bargaining is embedded in neo-liberalism.

Rationalizing pay inequity: women engineers, pervasive patriarchy and the neoliberal chimera

Abstract This article argues that neoliberalism with its pervasive patriarchy and co-option of feminism, renders women tacitly complicit in gendered pay inequalities. We show that in New Zealand, one of the world’s most neoliberal nations, women who might precisely be best equipped to argue for equal pay – engineers – do not do so because neoliberalism makes many feel responsible for, and accepting of, their lower salaries. In interviews and focus groups, many women engineers talk of deserving less pay than men because of their ‘choices’, their ‘personality’ and their lack of ‘responsibility’. In a disempowering environment, some women show agency by disavowing gender as a reason for the pay gap. Such narratives of individualized shortcomings reduce hope of collective action that might uncover and dismantle the systemic causes of pay inequity, which are not due to a woman’s choice or personality but rather what we frame as the neoliberal chimera.

Crime, News, and the Media

This chapter summarises research findings on crime news reporting in Australia and New Zealand and reports on new empirical data from New Zealand to demonstrate the significance of crime content to the news media. It explores the overrepresentation of crime in the news and the concentration on violence and sensationalism as well as who speaks in reporting about crime. The author discusses the gendered nature of crime news and continuing salience of the moral panic concept in research. This chapter concludes by asking whether newer trends relating to social media suggest that crime news scholarship is at a turning point.

Re-envisioning the Dignity of Women’s Work

The concept of dignity of work presumes universally that work is good for you. In this worldview work is an enabler that provides material well-being and intrinsic satisfaction. Dignified work provides a status to those who undertake it, accords them respect as contributing citizens and promotes cohesion in society. This conception regards the right to work as uplifting.

The challenges and limitations of OPCAT national preventive mechanisms: lessons from New Zealand

ABSTRACT It is now a decade since National Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs) were established as part of a novel two-tier monitoring system of detention established under the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT). The politics and processes of designation of the NPMs in New Zealand have impacted on their effective functioning. This analysis of the challenges of implementation has identified gaps in the mandates, independence, resourcing and accountability of the NPMs. The article advocates for more robust parliamentary scrutiny of the mechanisms, and asks whether a single new dedicated NPM might better resolve the current barriers to the full implementation of OPCAT. It suggests that there are several lessons of general application from the New Zealand experience for the Asia Pacific region, particularly now that Australia has announced it will ratify OPCAT by the end of 2017.

The impact of economic and social human rights in New Zealand case law

Although New Zealand has traditionally relied on ‘progressive realisation’ of economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR) through public policy decision-making, recently there has been a small number of cases relying on international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), to support the legal argument. This article reviews the implementation of the ICESCR in New Zealand through an analysis of this case law. The article argues that although there has been an increase in the number of cases relying of ESCR, the courts have been reluctant to grant a remedy without ESCR being explicitly incorporated into the domestic law. The article further argues that the attempt to provide a remedy for ESCR through the declaration of inconsistency under the Human Rights Amendment Act 2001 has highlighted the need for the inclusion of ESCR into the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990.