Fighting the Same Fight

Feminised or gendered roles in the workforce were carved out in our past and still impact on the lives of women in the workplace today. Find out more in Episode 8 of Beyond Kate.

Girls can do anything... or so the saying goes.

But although women now work in industries previously dominated by men, they still don't have equal footing in society. Nowhere is this clearer than in the gender pay gap, which reflects where women are really at, and how their work is perceived and valued by society.

This year, teachers and nurses have taken strike action as they demand higher wages. And now, midwives are fighting for better working conditions and pay.

But why are they still fighting the same fight - one that appears to be ongoing and where there's no apparent end in sight?

One of the problems that hasn't really been talked about when these stories of pay parity hit the media headlines is the way these jobs have been historically constructed as "gendered" or feminised professions that were performed mostly by women.

From the late 19th century, New Zealand women began increasingly working outside the domestic environment. Domestic service roles were not appealing to young women who were moving towards a more egalitarian way of thinking. And besides, domestic service jobs involved excessively long hours and very little pay.

New Zealand women wanted independence, as well as to be more active in public life.

But entering the workforce came with barriers. One of those was a lack of provision for female workers.

"A women's toilet would be separated from the men's toilet just by a calico sheet, or the women would have to walk through the men's toilets to get to their own toilet," says Te Papa history curator Kirsty Ross.

And, that is if there was even a toilet available for women in the first place.

New Zealand during the late 1800s, when women won the right to vote, was a place that was still largely clinging to Victorian values. Women in the workplace created a great deal of tension and questions around how they would retain their respectability. Even the simple act of being seen going to the bathroom was perceived as "a reduction in women's privacy."

It was also a time when the concept of the "male breadwinner" was prevalent, according to University of Otago historian Barbara Brookes, author of a History of New Zealand Women.

"The assumption was that a man should earn enough to support his wife and family. And that becomes part of the award system," Brookes says.

It also brings into question the differentiation between paid and unpaid work for women, and what is perceived as valid or valuable…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details