Conclusion
Litigation is an important theatre of struggle in social justice movements. Litigation played a significant role in the campaigns for equal pay in New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom. Often the litigation was used to expose the injustices of paying women less than men. The Parker case in New Zealand was the most successful example of litigation being used in this way. The industrial relations frameworks that existed in these jurisdictions made the use of litigation inevitable. Though some variation existed, the political and legal systems had directly descended from the British system.
Governments would respond to equal pay demands in the way that Australian Minister for Labour did in 1953 by saying the Arbitration Court rather than the government was the appropriate body to deal with remuneration issues.[1] This evasive response from governments was also used in response to ratifying ILO convention 100 and 111. The Arbitration systems that existed within New Zealand and Australia upheld the ideology of the male breadwinner. Unions in the early 20th Century subscribed to this breadwinner ideology. When unions took arbitration claims for equal pay as they did for tram conductors during World War 2, this was done explicitly to protect the wages for the men who unions assumed would take these jobs back after the war.
The British campaign had nearly succeeded twice in achieving equal pay in 1936 and 1944. The eventual changes in 1954 to implement equal pay for the civil service were in response to a sustained campaign, where litigation had played a role. The changes in Britain were a significant influence on the New Zealand campaign. The changes in Britain resulted in well attended public meetings in support of equal pay and the movement grew after this change.[2] What made the litigation component of the New Zealand campaign potent as a campaign tool was the response of the state. In demoting Jean Parker to a lower public service role as a result of winning her appeal, the Public Service Commission caused outrage that helped unite those who supported equal pay.
In Australia while NSW passed equal pay legislation in 1958 it was not until the mid to late 1960s that other Australian states followed. In 1969 the ACTU took a case to the Commonwealth Arbitration Court and successfully had the minimum rate for women raised from 25% less than the male minimum.[3] The use of litigation in Australia relied on the union peak body making this issue a priority, quite some time after Australia and New Zealand had passed legislation.
It was assumed that once equal pay had been won in the public sector the gains would then flow onto the private sector. The campaign in New Zealand had followed the advice from British unions and feminists in making the public service their focus.[4] In Britain it was not until 1970 that equal pay legislation covering all women workers was passed, 15 years after the civil service changes. Similarly, in New Zealand women in the private sector had to wait a further twelve years until they too gained equal pay in statute. In Australia while some public service unions had made equal pay a focus, there was not the same priority given to gaining equal pay in the public sector first.
The campaigns in Britain, Australia and New Zealand did result in changes legislatively in the 1950s. These changes were in part aided by the use of litigation that unions took on behalf of female workers they represented. These campaigns, while failing to end the gender pay gap, did fundamentally challenge the male breadwinner ideology. The post-World War 2 equal pay campaigns successfully shifted public opinion against wage rates being determined by the workers gender. Grace du Faur summarised the 1950s campaign this way: “we did not have to chain ourselves to the railings to get equal pay, but it was certainly a lot of work.”[5]
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[1] Sheridan and Stretton 136
[2] PSA Journal 200 women at Wellington meeting Volume 42 number 3 March 1955 6
[3] Patricia Grimshaw Zelda D’Aprano, Leadership and the Politics of Gender in the Australian Labour Movement Labour History number 104, May 2013 111
[4] Margaret Long, interviewed by Alison Lash, epcas 38, series 38, August 10 1985
[5] Grace du Faur, interviewed by Cath Kelly, epcas 38, series 38, August 9 1988
Nick Kelly 