Jo is a consultant who has a track record of developing and executing strategy, influencing decision makers and finding solutions to complex policy and organisational challenges. She visited our club and spoke to us on 24 May about inequalities in the workplace, and Women's homelessness in Wellington.
She mentioned an insightful and inspiring literature review in her talk, the link for which can be accessed at the bottom of the report.
Jo left us with a lot of food for thought, as she discussed the inequality in pay that members of our society with the same qualifications, experience and job perform.
Women are subject to both the gender and ethnic pay gap. Compared to the average hourly pay rate of Pākehā/European men, Pākehā/European women earn 12 per cent less, wahine Māori earn 23 per cent less, Pacific women earn 24 per cent less, and Asian women earn 17.4 per cent less.
In 2022, there was a 9.2% pay gap between (Pakeha) men and women's pay in New Zealand. But Jo illustrated that for men and women of Maori, Asian, and Pasifika decent, for every dollar a Pakeha man earns, these minorities could receive only 85 cents, all depending on their gender and ethnicity.
There is no clear or reasonable explanation for this discrepancy, and Jo works tirelessly to address it in businesses. Why does this happen? "You'd be hard pressed to explain it to an alien" she said.
Mandatory reporting on employee pay rates overseas creates a transparency that helps to eliminate this unfairness. We do not have anything like this here, and for larger businesses, this wouldn't be a hard expectation to adhere to, due to automated accounting systems widely used.
Additional to her work battling inequality in pay rates, Jo is on the board of The Wellington Homeless Women's Trust, one of the Wellington charities Port Nicholson RC support.
She encouraged groups like ours to find ways to offer support at a systems level - at the "top of the cliff". While there is a huge need to respond and support people who are homeless, this is more like an ambulance responding at the bottom of the cliff" - how can we work to contribute to systemic changes that reduce and avoid the need for organisations that support the homeless at all?
Contributions toward research, other transitional housing? Jo mentioned this report, reviewing the literature on effective interventions to support secure homes for homeless wāhine, which offers fantastic insight into causes of women's homelessness in Aotearoa New Zealand, as well as looking at effective interventions that support recovery and achieve secure housing for homeless wāhine with complex needs and an active AOD addiction.
This could be the place to start for our Club to find some "top of the cliff" ways to support women in unsafe or untenable living conditions, before they need "bottom of the cliff" intervention.