The annual Minimum Wage review is an example of policy work which incorporates gender analysis into the policy options it considers.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) break down minimum wage earners into groups to consider those affected by the policy. In the 2018 report they identify about 60 percent of minimum wage earners were women and 67 percent of minimum wage earners aged 25–64 were women. They consider that women are more likely to be part-time workers and work in industries which receive minimum wages (such as hospitality) and that women appear to receive minimum wages at later ages than men. Women are one of the groups that MBIE consider for unintended consequences (indirect impact) of minimum wage rises such as workers losing their employment (displacement). In considering adjustments to minimum wages, MBIE create vignettes (including low income families) to explore impacts.
The Canterbury Women in Construction Working Group brought gender into their options by thinking about what opportunities, or entry points, for change existed and how to best use those opportunities in the Christchurch rebuild. Based on research findings, the Working Group decided to increase the visibility of women in the rebuild. The phrase, “you can’t be what you can’t see” encapsulated their thinking about visibility.