At the March For Pay Equity events on Saturday – the day after Suffrage Day – women stood up for themselves at protests throughout the motu. Sarah Lang went to the rally in Wellington.
When I saw a young woman’s tote bag emblazoned with the words “there’s a lot of female rage going on at the moment,” I nodded my head. She and I were among around 1000 people at the March For Pay Equity in Wellington on Saturday – the day after Suffrage Day, and four months after the government passed the Equal Pay Amendment Bill which terminated the 33 pay equity claims that had been slowly progressing through the system.
On Saturday, thousands of people from Whangarei to Invercargill gathered at 22 rallies organised by the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU) and its affiliate unions. Flyers handed out beforehand said “stand with the community, education and family workers in your life” – but, hey, you don’t have to know one of them in order to feel outraged, especially right around Suffrage Day. As Christchurch PSA union delegate Nancy McShane said, “we won the vote 132 years ago. We’re not waiting another 132 years for financial equality”.
While Christchurch residents marched from Victoria Square to the Bridge of Remembrance, and Aucklanders marched down Queen Street to Britomart, Wellingtonians met at Midland Park on Lambton Quay. Friends and workmates bumped into each other, some hugging. There were a decent number of men. Teenagers stood together. Kids were chasing giant bubbles that dissolved just like those pay equity claims.
A few friendly police officers directed traffic, in a brief delay, as we made the short walk from Midland Park to Parliament. A bus made it through just before traffic was stopped. The driver tooted and many of the passengers waved wildly at us.
Some of the protestors held event flags bearing the words “respect us, value us, pay us”. Others held up home-made signs that said “pay equity regardless of sex,” “this coalition has got to go,” “women’s pay is not your slush fund,” “dollars don’t have a gender,” “this is an outrage,” “women are worth it,” and “it’s 2025 not 1925”. The chants were “what do we want, pay equity, when do we want it, now”, and “stand up, fight back”.
The march was certainly not as large or loud as the one in May, but there were the same emotions. Anger. Determination. Unity. Refusing to be silent.
Outside Parliament, five women spoke: E tū union co-president Muriel Tunoho, care and support worker Robyn Campbell, care and support worker Kate Halsall, ECE teacher Catherine Vaughn, and Jessica Tupai, a youth MP of Sāmoan and Tongan heritage who represents the Green Party’s Tamatha Paul in Wellington Central.
“Today,” Jessica says, “I carry with me the countless women that have empowered my life and made me who I am. I am a young woman, but I am standing here today because I refuse to accept that this [policy] statement alone means that my work and the work of others is considered to be worth less than a man’s. I am standing here today because I refuse to accept that the women we carry with us – our aunties, our sisters, our mothers, our grandmothers and our daughters – have their work measured in a system where the scales are already tilted.”
“I’m standing here today because I know that when this government changed the pay equity requirements on May 6, they did not think about the individual lives of every women it will affect. They did not think about the teachers who shape the future of our tamariki when they educate. They did not think about the social workers holding families together when they advocate. They did not think about the nurses and healthcare workers saving lives as they medicate. They did not think about the aged-care workers who give dignity to our elders with the time they dedicate.” (Personally, I think the relevant government ministers did think about these women – they just didn’t care enough – and they certainly care more about the fact that the economy is contracting sharply).
Jessica spoke so passionately that my 11-year-old son – who had been taking a video to capture her words – passed my phone back so he could clap thunderously after she finished.
Green MP Julie Anne Genter and Labour MP Camilla Belich spoke briefly. Then the aforementioned speakers came to stand next to them to ask, if they become part of a new government, would they restore the pay equity claims? Yes and yes.
“Shame,” we yelled in tandem about the current government.
Afterwards, the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul across the road hosted a party for pay equity. The church setting made the cause feel blessed in a way (and I’m not religious). There was free kai: sausages wrapped in bread, fruit, muesli bars, chips, a thermos for tea and instant coffee. There was a kapa haka performance. There was face painting and lego for kids.
Women aren’t going to shut up about this. The government must be wondering sometime soon: was it worth picking a fight with many wāhine, their families and friends, plus others who sympathise with them? The woman holding the sign saying “next election we’ll remember your treachery” thinks the answer is no.
