The first country to give women the vote was New Zealand in 1893. The first country to elect a woman as its head of government was Sri Lanka in 1960. The first country to establish gender pay equity is still to be decided. Ensuring pay equity between men and women is undoubtedly a laudable objective in a genuinely meritocratic society. Moreover, as Kofi Annan one remarked, 'gender equality is more than a goal in itself'. People and their talents are among the core drivers of sustainable longterm economic growth. If half of those talents are underdeveloped or underutilised, growth and sustainability will be compromised. It is perhaps for these reasons that many countries and organisations are redoubling their efforts to eradicate pay inequality.
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