Men were the decision-makers when Sarah Ottery was growing up in a West Otago farming family – at least from a visual perspective. Financial Services Council research showed more than 80% of New Zealand women rated their level of financial wellbeing as moderate, low or very low.
When stock agents visited and sat around the table, the conversation was always directed at her father, something the young Sarah could not understand, and often wondered about.
“As far as we were concerned, my mother ran the show,” she said.
Ms. Ottery, an experienced professional director, was part of a panel discussion at an Institute of Directors Otago-Southland branch event held at Forsyth Barr in Dunedin this week, discussing building better financial outcomes for women.
The panel included Pie Funds executive director and chief executive Ana-Marie Lockyer, Forsyth Barr’s head of summer and IoD branch chairwoman Trish Oakley, Mary Lewis, who has been in the finance sector for more than 40 years, Forsyth Barr senior investment adviser John Gallaher and Ms. Ottery.
More than 60% worried about money daily, weekly or monthly and 62% did not feel prepared for retirement. However money worries decreased with age.
Reflecting on the ratings of financial wellbeing, Ms. Lockyer said women often tended to mark themselves down, versus their male counterparts, and she believed not enough conversations were held on the topic.
Knowledge came from power, power came from information and information came from the ability to talk, she said.
When asked the critical steps to support women to remove that worry, Mr. Gallaher said the more that knowledge and understanding of “how this all works” could be created, then the more people would have the confidence to get involved.
Education System
Over the years, Mr. Gallaher had given presentations to the education sector.
One of the things the education system did not do well in early stage was introducing conversations in schools, he said.
Ms. Ottery said employers provided support often “as an ambulance” such as providing an employee with the contact for the employee assistance programme and suggesting they get the likes of budgeting advice.
But financial literacy almost fell under the wider responsibility of wellbeing under the Health and Safety Act and more work could be done in that space, she believed.
Ms. Lewis, who created The Success Formula for women, once worked in London in a firm of 800, where she was one of only five women.
Returning to New Zealand, there were no women partners in the firms she worked for in senior roles.
She was grateful for the support she received from a role model and said it was important to “have that legacy and turn around and help the ones who aren’t doing as well as you”.
Women should be in the same position that men were in at retirement and she implored women to understand their KiwiSaver investment.
“It’s your money when you put your money in that fund, it’s not the money of the funder.
“You need to be able to ask questions about it, feel like you own it,” she said.
While statistics showed 48% of financial products were owned by couples — that was legal ownership — actual ownership was nothing like that, and women not getting involved was a problem. KiwiSaver did not split ownership among couples, only when they split up, and that was giving the wrong signal.
KiwiSaver
She did not believe motherhood was valued in society.
“I think we’re far too silent on valuing motherhood and that would help us value our ownership of wealth,” she said.
Ms. Lockyer said KiwiSaver had been a “game changer” in New Zealand and it was great to see some employers taking steps to address lifestyle choices both men and women had been making around caring for children at home.
The industry was also starting to think and talk about decoupling employee and employer contributions, meaning those who were struggling to afford contributions were not disadvantaged in the future.
Pay Gap campaigners MindTheGap have been pre-emptively thanking Prime Minister Chris Hipkins for his support in addressing pay gaps.
Government’s Plans
In the next few weeks, the Government will consider recommendations from the committee tasked with looking at pay transparency including MindTheGap request for legislation to make pay gap reporting mandatory.
Stats NZ figures showed women were paid on average 9% less than men and the pay gap was worse for Maori and Pasifika women.
When it came to employer value propositions beyond remuneration, Ms. Ottery said the last three years had changed dramatically — “a bit like energy and climate change conversations”.
“Flexible work is here and we’re writing policy around that, almost after the fact,” she said.
In the last two years, all the companies she had been involved in had been matching inflation.
Universal health care had been introduced at both Skyline Enterprises and Christchurch International Airport.
Out-of-cycle adjustments were regular and asked for, people were asking to be benchmarked and collective agreements were “upping the ante” in how people were being remunerated.
In the wellbeing space, areas such as learning and development, which had diminished during the Covid-19 pandemic, were now “back on the table”.
At both Skyline and Whitestone Cheese, staff were provided with a daily hot meal and that was an initiative that was worth it to the companies, she said.
Final Word
Mr. Gallaher said it was about creating an environment which felt conducive to people to doing well and that did provide a challenge as to where the balance was.
Asked what conversations were being held globally around menopause and menstruation, Ms Ottrey said it was something which used to be “generally hidden” but it was becoming a conversation topic.
“It’s an issue depending on who you are and how you experience it.
“It does affect us during our lives. It shouldn’t be something to be hidden. The more information out there, the better,” she said.
Source: Otago Daily Times News