Aiga

This means extended family and originates from the Samoan language. Similarly to the use of whānau in the modern Aotearoa New Zealand context, aiga can refer to nuclear or extended family.

Backcoded ethnic group

‘Backcoding’ ethnic data usually means to reclassify data gathered already. For ethnic group data, this usually means converting detailed ethnic data into broader categories. Ethnic pay gaps are typically calculated and reported at the least detailed level of ethnic classification (Level 1, e.g. ‘Pacific’ pay gaps rather than for individual Pacific ethnic groups). However, employers should be able to gather data on people’s individual ethnic groups. If someone is Niuean, they should be able to select or write in ‘Niuean’ in their ethnic data. Analysts should then be able to create a new column in a spreadsheet and assign or ‘backcode’ them to the ‘Pacific’ category for the purposes of Level 1 analysis of pay gaps.

Contractors

These are engaged by a principal (the other party) to perform services under a contract for services. Contractors are self-employed and earn income by invoicing the principal for their services. They are sometimes referred to as self-employed contractors.

Cultural labour

This means unpaid labour performed by employees from minority ethnic groups based on their cultural skills.

Cultural tax

This means performing extra duties relating to an employee's cultural background, which are not part of their job description, and which are uncompensated. This may include being asked to do karakia, being a translator, sitting on diversity committees, or mentoring staff from the same minority background as themself.

Direct discrimination

This is when a person is treated worse than another person or other people because:

They have a protected characteristic.
Someone thinks they have that protected characteristic (known as discrimination by perception).
They are connected to someone with that protected characteristic (known as discrimination by association).

Employment equity

This is pay, conditions, experiences in the workplace and access to jobs at all levels not being affected by an employee’s ethnicity or gender.

Equal pay

This means the same pay for the same job.

Ethnic group at level 1, 2, 3 and 4

Stats NZ ethnic classifications become more detailed as they go up levels – from least detailed at Level 1 (e.g. ‘Pacific’, ‘Asian’ or ‘European’), to the most detailed subgroups at Level 4 (e.g. ‘Kailoma Fijian’, ‘South African Indian’, ‘Welsh’). Many organisations with lists of ethnic options on forms will likely be collecting at Level 2 or 3, with write-ins to specify further details. See the full list here.

Gender pay gap

This is the difference in median hourly earnings between women and men. At present, the data available only relates to men and women and does not include those who identify as gender non-binary or gender diverse.

Hapū

(noun) Kinship group, clan, tribe, subtribe - section of a large kinship group and the primary political unit in traditional Māori society. It consisted of a number of whānau sharing descent from a common ancestor, usually being named after the ancestor, but sometimes from an important event in the group's history. A number of related hapū usually shared adjacent territories forming a looser tribal federation (iwi).

Hidden skills

This means skills gained through lived experience that are not reflected in lists of qualifications, including soft skills, cultural skills and language skills that Māori and Pasifika candidates and employees may assume are not valued or important enough to share on a CV.

Horizontal pay gaps

Describe the difference in average or median pay for groups across the same level or tier (such as job size) within the organisation.

Indirect discrimination

This happens when there is a policy that applies in the same way for everybody but disadvantages a group of people who share a protected characteristic, and a person is disadvantaged as part of this group. If this happens, the person or organisation applying the policy must show that there is a good reason for it.

Kāwana[-tanga]

(loan) (noun) Government, dominion, rule, authority, governorship, province.

Māori, Pacific and ethnic pay gaps

These are the gaps between the average and median pay of European men, and Māori, Pacific, and other ethnic minority people.

Multi-ticking or multi-coded ethnic group

Ethnic data should always be gathered in a way that allows for multiple ethnic groups. That means people should be able to state or ‘tick’ as many groups as are required to express their identity. Kia Toipoto recommends that a organisation’s employee records system should be able to cope with at least three ethnic groups per person. This is known as ‘multi-ticking’ or ‘multi-coded’ ethnicity in a data and records system. The same ‘multi-coded’ or ‘multi-ticked’ data can be analysed and reported in lots of different ways, according to what an employer is trying to achieve, e.g. total ethnic group, or prioritised ethnic group. The most important thing is for employers to collect data well to start with.

Vertical segregation / Occupational segregation

Women, Māori, Pacific and Asian peoples and people from other ethnic minority communities are more likely to be employed in a narrow range of occupations that are at the bottom levels of an organisation. Māori, Pasifika and women clustering at lower job levels of an organisation, and European men clustering at the top, is often the main reason for overall organisational pay gaps.

Ōritetanga

(noun) Equality, equal opportunity.

Pay equity

This means the same pay for different jobs requiring the same level of skill, but which have been historically valued differently (often due to gender bias).

Pay parity

This means the same pay for the same job, across different employers/workplaces.

Pay transparency

This is an umbrella term for:

Making information about what people are paid publicly available so workers can compare what they are paid with what others earn,

Making pay scales publicly available in job advertisements, and

Removing clauses in employment agreements banning employees from discussing their pay rate.

Prioritised ethnic group

Relevant to: Data analysis and reporting‘

Prioritised ethnic group’ is a way of counting actual individuals. People with multiple ethnic groups are backcoded to single ethnic categories depending on what group is being prioritised for equity initiatives, or for a particular calculation, e.g. a pay gap for an ethnic group. It is a good way of dividing data to get a realistic view of the inequalities between Pakeha and other groups. This is particularly important for Māori, as 46% of all Māori acknowledge Pākeha whakapapa in the Census. ‘Prioritised ethnic group’ as used in the public services has a specific order according to prioritised need for services due to unequal outcomes. However, in analysing data, ethnic groups can be prioritised depending on what is wanted for calculating individual statistics. For example, an employer may want to report the Pasifika pay gap, and so would prioritise the Pasifika category to calculate that specific number.

Ritenga

1. (noun) likeness, custom, customary practice, habit, practice, resemblance, implication - the normal way of doing things. 2. (noun) ritual.

Rangatira

(noun) Chief (male or female), chieftain, chieftainess, master, mistress, boss, supervisor, employer, landlord, owner, proprietor - qualities of a leader is a concern for the integrity and prosperity of the people, the land, the language and other cultural treasures (e.g. oratory and song poetry), and an aggressive and sustained response to outside forces that may threaten these.

Single and combined ethnic group

Relevant to: Data cleaning
‘Single and combined ethnic group’ is a way of back-coding multi-coded ethnic data to create one list of individual people, like for prioritised ethnicity, but instead of ‘prioritising’ one group, creating new ‘multiple ethnic group’ categories so an employer can see how many people have more than one ethnic group. There is no set way of doing this. ‘Single and combined’ is the term Stats NZ uses when reporting ethnic group data that is not ‘total ethnic group’, but without prioritising any particular group for policy purposes.

Subsidiary workforce

This includes labour hire workers and contractors.

Tangata Whenua

(noun) Local people, hosts, indigenous people - people born of the whenua (land), i.e. of the placenta and of the land where the people's ancestors have lived and where their placenta are buried.

Taonga

1.(noun) property, goods, possessions, effects, objects. 2. (noun) treasure, anything prized - applied to anything considered to be of value including socially or culturally valuable objects, resources, phenomenon, ideas and techniques.

Tauiwi

(noun) Person coming from afar.

Te Ao Māori

The Māori worldview.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi

(loan) (noun) Treaty of Waitangi.

Tikanga [Māori]

(noun) Correct procedure, custom, habit, lore, method, manner, rule, way, code, meaning, plan, practice, convention, protocol - the customary system of values and practices that have developed over time and are deeply embedded in the social context.

Tino rangatiratanga

(noun) Self-determination, sovereignty, autonomy, self-government, domination, rule, control, power.

Total ethnic group

Relevant to: Data analysis and reporting

‘Total ethnic group’ doesn’t provide a headcount of individual people in a workplace. It is a count of the total ‘ticks in boxes’ that everyone made. ‘Total ethnic group’ usually results in a count that is bigger than the actual number of people. It is a good way of describing the ethnic diversity of a workplace so that everyone’s identity is counted.

Tuakana-teina

The tuakana–teina relationship, an integral part of traditional Māori society, provides a model for buddy systems. An older or more expert tuakana (brother, sister or cousin) helps and guides a younger or less expert teina (originally a younger sibling or cousin of the same gender). In a learning environment that recognises the value of ako, the tuakana–teina roles may be reversed at any time. For example, the student who yesterday was the expert on te wā and explained the lunar calendar may need to learn from her classmate today about how manaakitanga (hospitality) is practised by the local hapū. Refer here.

Vā

The vā/va'a/vaha is a pan-Pacific notion that describes the spatial and relational context within which secular and spiritual relationships unfold. Social, spiritual, and relational contexts allow for personal and collective well-being and growth through knowledge generation, social action, and cultural transformation. Refer here.

Whakapapa

(noun) Genealogy, genealogical table, lineage, descent - reciting whakapapa was, and is, an important skill and reflected the importance of genealogies in Māori society in terms of leadership, land and fishing rights, kinship and status. It is central to all Māori institutions. There are different terms for the types of whakapapa and the different ways of reciting them.

Te reo Māori definitions derived from Te Aka: Māori Dictionary

Glossary