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Ministry of Education New Zealand
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Our gender pay gap is currently 17.8% percent. This measure is calculated by taking the average salary of men less the average salary of women, divided by the average salary of men.

This measurement, however, is heavily influenced by the distribution of our population across our remuneration bands. The female workforce is distributed more towards the lower paid salary bands whereas the male workforce is distributed more towards the higher paid specialist and managerial salary bands. This difference in the population distribution impacts the overall gender pay gap figure.

As shown below our gender pay gap is reducing over time and at a faster rate than the public service.

Year20152016201720182019202020212022
Education's Gender pay gap26.4%25.7%24.8%22.9%21.0%18.9%17.4%17.8%
Public Service pay gap14%13.5%12.5%12.2%10.5%9.6%8.6%7.7%

What are our gender pay gaps for similar roles?

Given the distortion in the overall gender pay gap figure (due to our population distribution) we are focussed on similar roles.

When we look at gender pay gaps for similar roles (within a salary band) we find:

  • Gender pay gaps within remuneration bands are small - all are lower than 5%, with many being in favour of women.
  • Only 6 of our 19 remuneration bands have a gender pay gap in favour of males
  • 9 of our remuneration bands have gender pay gap is in favour of females
  • 4 of our remuneration bands have no gender pay gap

What are we doing to address the gender and ethnic pay gap?

Te Tāhuhu, along with other public sector agencies has already committed to closing any gender and ethnic pay gaps as part of our wider Diversity and Inclusion work programme.

Hautū have accountability for understanding and addressing any factors contributing to gender pay gaps within their groups. We review and report on gender pay gap information monthly, and quarterly and actively make changes where any gaps are identified.

Ministry Gender Pay Gap Action Plan

The Ministry’s Gender Pay Gap Action Plan for 2022/23 has been published, this will be updated in early 2023 with more analysis.

The action plan covers over our gender pay gap data, the drivers of our gender pay gap and the actions we are taking take in 2022/23 to further address it. The action plan sets out the activities that will have an impact on the gender pay gap.

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