Pay and employment equity (PaEE) reviews are progressing well in the tertiary-education sector, with five institutes of technology and polytechnics, Otago, Telford, Waiāriki, NMIT, and UCOL, and Te Wānanga o Aotearoa all scheduled to have their pay and employment equity review reports and action plans finalised by the end of this month.

Eight other institutions that started reviews last year or early this year are due to complete their reviews by August at the latest. They are Aoraki, Bay of Plenty, CPIT, EIT, NorthTec, Te Tai Poutini, the Open Polytechnic, and WINTEC. Last month, Massey announced that it would be the first university to undertake a review.

This widespread progress in the sector stands in contrast to media reports of the government scaling back support for pay and employment equity reviews.  While the government has cancelled two PaEE investigations in the state–sector, reviews and plans in the tertiary-education sector are making solid progress and are likely to identify several systematic gender inequities both with institutions and across the sector as a whole.

In the latest PaEE Reviews in the Tertiary Sector newsletter, project managers for the various reviews were reminded that it was important to keep an eye out for factors that contribute to gender inequities that may not be within the power of the organisation to change but which may have some sector-wide implications. Examples of these factors may be the labour market, collective agreements, or funding.