Women’s Network news round-up: New Zealand public sector pay equity U-turn, and more
Here’s our round-up of women-focused and gender equality news from the last few weeks, including responses from France, Belgium, Sweden and Spain to attempts by the US Department of State to get foreign companies and municipal authorities to drop diversity and inclusion initiatives.
You’ll also find news on the New Zealand government’s decision to cancel public sector pay equity claims it says could have cost it billions of dollars; survey findings revealing that the UK Ministry of Defence has failed to tackle sexual harassment following a scandal in 2023; claims that women are being purged from Afghanistan government departments under a Taliban restructuring guise; and more.
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Anger over New Zealand’s public sector pay equity U-turn
New Zealand’s coalition government has cancelled a number of gender-based pay claims and tightened eligibility to lodge future claims, in a bid to save money ahead of its budget on 22 May.
Pay equity claims are designed to raise wages in female-dominated industries in a complex process that involves comparing their work to similar industries.
In nursing for example, a pay equity claim finalised in 2023 bumped salaries for 30,000 workers by tens of thousands of NZ dollars a year.
According to the Australian Financial Review, teachers, hospice workers and midwives were among 150,000 workers in industries who were hoping to finalise similar claims with the government until it announced and legislated the new law blocking such claims last week. It is understood that 33 unresolved claims have been thrown out as a result.
“Women across the country will pay the price for this… it’s a dark day,” Public Service Association assistant secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said.
Prime minister Christopher Luxon has defended the government’s actions and said the move would save New Zealand taxpayers billions of dollars.
European countries push back against Trump administration anti-DEI demands
France and Belgium have pushed back against US demands to cancel diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Letters have been sent by the US Department of State seeking to impose president Trump’s executive order terminating DEI policies within the federal government to French and Belgian companies supplying the US government.
French companies were told in one of the letters that Trump’s directive “applies to all suppliers and service providers of the US government, regardless of their nationality and the country in which they operate” and were asked to sign a form confirming that they “do not operate any programmes promoting DEI that violate any applicable anti-discrimination laws”.
Laurent Saint-Martin, France’s minister for foreign trade, said he was “deeply shocked” by the request, that inclusion policies were in line with French values and “we don’t want to compromise on it”. He said French authorities would seek explanations about the letters and that he wanted to maintain a dialogue with the US.
Belgium’s finance minister Jan Jambon was more forthright in his response, telling a local TV channel: “We have no lessons to learn from the boss of America.”
In a joint statement, the country’s foreign minister Maxime Prévot and equal opportunities minister Rob Beenders said: “Diversity and inclusion are not just buzzwords, but the foundations of a strong and dynamic society. They strengthen our economy, foster innovation and allow talent to flourish.”
Elsewhere in Europe, Stockholm’s municipal authority is the latest to have received a similar request from the US, with the city’s vice-mayor for planning saying it had no plans to comply. And in Spain, Barcelona’s mayor has said that city authorities would defy a demand to cancel a cultural programme hosted by the city and part-funded by the US.
Union calls for inquiry as survey reveals lack of progress on sexual harassment in UK Ministry of Defence
Trade union Prospect has written to UK defence minister Alistair Carns asking for an inquiry after a survey of female members working at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and in the wider defence sector revealed persistent and widespread concern about sexual harassment at work.
Nearly half (46%) of respondents said that their employer has taken no action to tackle sexual harassment in the last year, and that where action was identified, only 28% felt it was effective.
Confidence in reporting incidents of sexual harassment at the MoD fell from 63% to 55% between 2024 and 2025.
In 2023, GGF reported on claims from a group of women working in senior civilian roles at the MoD who described a culture “hostile to women as equal and respected partners”, in which instances of abuse, sexual assault and harassment were widespread.
Prospect’s letter to the minister, sent last month, calls for “an independent, solutions-focused inquiry with sufficient authority to deliver a very necessary shock to the system”.
Women being purged from Afghanistan government departments under Taliban restructuring guise, sources say
The Taliban is using sweeping cuts to reduce the size of public offices as a cover for removing women and former employees of the ousted republic, sources inside several government ministries have told Amu TV.
The restructuring, ordered by Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, includes plans to eliminate tens of thousands of positions across key ministries – most notably 90,000 jobs in the Ministry of Education and 6,400 jobs in the Ministry of Public Health.
Sources told the Afghan digital news platform’s independent journalists that the cuts appear to be selective and politically motivated, targeting groups seen as incompatible with the Taliban’s vision for governance.
“There’s growing concern that these reductions are being used as a cover to remove women and former republic-era officials under the guise of streamlining,” one civil servant said. “There is no transparency in the process.”
Human rights advocates warn that the elimination of women from public roles – which has already been sharply restricted since the Taliban returned to power in 2021 – will accelerate under the current plan.
Autonomous British island seeks to increase representation of women in senior civil service roles
Jersey – a self-governing island off the British coast – has launched a scheme that will see female civil servants given opportunities to serve on the boards of organisations.
The hope is to build skills and experience and to “empower women” to apply for senior roles in its civil service, officials said.
Government data shows that men working in Jersey’s public sector earn nearly 20% more than women, compared to an overall gender pay gap on the island of 6.3%.
It is hoped the new programme will help to close the gap.
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About Mia Hunt
Mia is a journalist and editor with a background in covering commercial property, having been market reports and supplements editor at trade title Property Week and deputy editor of Shopping Centre magazine, now known as Retail Destination. She has also undertaken freelance work for several publications including the preview magazine of international trade show, MAPIC, and TES Global (formerly the Times Educational Supplement) and has produced a white paper on energy efficiency in business for E.ON. Between 2014 and 2016, she was a member of the Revo Customer Experience Committee and an ACE Awards judge. Mia graduated from Kingston University with a first-class degree in journalism and was part of the team that produced The River newspaper, which won Publication of the Year at the Guardian Student Media Awards in 2010.
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