Catherine Delahunty

What: Green MP Catherine Delahunty will sign pay equity pledge and attend gathering Where: Sonja Davies memorial tree (just inside Parliament Grounds from Lambton Quay entrance) When: 12.30pm, Tuesday 8 March 2011 (Tomorrow) Who: Green MP Catherine Delahunty, members of the Pay Equity Challenge Coalition, union activists, and working women.

Green Party Women's Affairs Spokesperson Catherine Delahunty will sign a pledge to fight for pay equity for women on International Working Women's Day tomorrow.

The Pay Equity Challenge Coalition will launch the pay equity pledge at a gathering of working women on Parliament grounds at lunchtime tomorrow.

The gathering will also pay tribute to the many working women in Christchurch who have lost their homes, loved ones, and jobs in the devastating earthquake.

The Pay Equity Challenge Coalition has invited 100 New Zealand women leaders to take the pay equity pledge to strive for pay equity and to challenge the Government to 'urgently reassess its strategy on pay and employment equity with a plan to significantly close the pay gap in the next three years'.

"We need immediate action to close the gender pay gap in New Zealand," Ms Delahunty said.

"Not only must we strive for pay equity - or equal pay for work of equal value - for women, but in some sectors we still have a problem with equal pay - women getting paid less than men for doing the same job.

"This was outlawed nearly 40 years ago by the Equal Pay Act 1972, yet we haven't eradicated the problem. It's simply not on that we are still fighting equal pay battles 40 years on."

Ms Delahunty said she was working on an amendment to the Equal Pay Act to update its provisions and make it easier to access information about gender pay in different workplaces, which she would enter into the Parliamentary ballot at the next opportunity.

"I hope that by updating the Equal Pay Act and making it easier for women to access information about gender pay in their workplaces, we can improve the chances of taking a successful case under the Equal Pay Act and eliminating the problem of unequal pay.

"Meanwhile we must all challenge the Government to take wider action on pay equity, recognising the work that many women do in low-paid industries and valuing it as highly as we value the male-dominated trades.

"Only then will we see real progress towards closing the gender pay gap in New Zealand."

Ms Delahunty is joined in signing the pay equity pledge by fellow Green MPs Metiria Turei and Sue Kedgley, along with former Green Party Co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons.