Gender pay gap

Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland is committed to building an inclusive and equitable workplace for our diverse communities of staff. Gender pay gaps are broad indicators of workplace culture and conditions. Owning our numbers helps us understand the areas where we need to focus our efforts and is the first step in addressing the systemic issues that produce these gaps.

The 2024 gender pay gap for Waipapa Taumata Rau is 11.9%.

Gender pay gaps are calculated by comparing median hourly pay rates between genders. Our gender pay gap of 11.9% means that the median hourly rate for all staff who are women is 11.9% lower than the median hourly rate for all staff who are men.

The gender pay gap is about overall differences in earnings across genders in an organisation. This is different to equal pay and pay equity. There are many causes of gender pay gaps, including inequities in the labour market and society that result from long-held views and practices around gender roles.

This year’s report includes gender pay gaps for women in different ethnic groups. It also includes analyses of potential drivers of gender pay gaps such as unequal pay, distribution of genders across roles with different salaries and the distribution of genders at different levels within roles.

Important findings

• Overall gender pay gaps are largest for women who belong to Pacific ethnic groups, and smallest for women who are Pākehā or belong to European ethnic groups.
• For academic staff, the gap is largest for women who belong to Asian ethnic groups, at 33.5%.
• For professional staff, the gap is largest for women who belong to Pacific ethnic groups at 13.1%.
• We found evidence of unequal pay in some areas, as well as uneven distribution of genders both across and within roles.

Our first gender pay gap report

Pro Vice-Chancellor Pacific, Professor Jemaima Tiatia-Siau

The Pro Vice-Chancellor Pacific said although the results for Pacific staff are tough to face, the information is crucial for change.

"I had mixed feelings seeing the results of the report. On the one hand, it confirmed my expectations, but having it on paper is quite confronting.

“While it is disheartening to see that the largest pay gap exists for Pacific peoples, it’s not surprising as it reflects wider societal trends affecting all ethnic groups, not just Pacific. There is a strange comfort in this, as it suggests it’s an inherited issue rather than something unique to the University.

“The report gives us a clear indication of where we need to focus our efforts and reinforces the importance of our ongoing work to achieve equity. We are already developing a Pacific staffing strategy aimed at growing Pacific staff capacity and capability, and we’ll use the findings of this report to further strengthen it ahead of its release later this year.”

Pro Vice-Chancellor Māori, Associate Professor Te Kawehau Hoskins

The Pro Vice-Chancellor Māori remarked that the pay gap results for Māori were disappointing, yet not unexpected.

“The report is valuable because it makes visible what can otherwise be hard to see. Now that we have this information, we have a collective responsibility to proactively address the underlying factors, such as how we recognise potential and what we view as achievement. Closing the gaps will take time and will require an institution-wide approach.

“The office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor Māori is working to address these inequities in partnership with stakeholders across the University, through a range of initiatives including Waipapa Tāngata Rau (the Māori Staffing Plan) and Kawea Ake (Indigenising Initiatives Plan 2024-2029).”

Data from the 2023 Employee Experience Survey indicate that the percentage of women with positive perceptions of their workplace was highest for those who belong to Pacific or Asian ethnic groups, and lowest for those who are Māori, Pākehā, or belong to European ethnic groups. This provides broader context for the Gender Pay Gap Report. Staff survey results in relation to the gender pay gap (staff intranet).

Staff networks play a vital role in fostering a more inclusive and supportive work environment, providing a platform for staff members to connect, support one another, and contribute to the organisation’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts.

If you’re interested in developing your own understanding of building an inclusive and equitable workplace for our diverse communities, explore these training opportunities:

• Working with Unconscious Bias
• Navigating our communities: inter-cultural capability

• Racism in academia (2024), by Professor Jemaima Tiatia-Siau. This book chapter is in the Handbook of Critical Whiteness, edited by J. Ravulo et al., and published by Springer Nature.
  
• The Women of Colour Staff Network has prepared a response to the Gender Pay Gap Report (PDF, 179.3KB) that describes their workplace experiences. This provides additional context for our gender pay gap data.
• The Authority Gap: Why women are still taken less seriously than men, and what we can do about it (2022), by Mary Ann Sieghart.
• White Fragility: Why it’s so hard for white people to talk about racism (2019), by Robin Di Angelo.
• The End of Patriarchy: Radical feminism for men (2017), by Robert Jensen.
• Everyday Bias: Identifying and navigating unconscious judgements in our daily lives (2020), by Howard Ross.

• 8 March: Gender pay gap census date for 2025
• 18 September: Gender pay gap report released