We might have lead women's movements 120 years ago, but New Zealand is lagging behind other APAC countries in wage equality, according to a survey of salaries in the creative, marketing and digital industries.

Run by marketing, creative and digital recruitment specialists named ‘font' the online Salary Survey shows New Zealand has the widest pay discrepancy between men and women across company size and years' experience, compared to other markets surveyed; Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.

A handful of $100 notes. Photo: file.

Men earn 44 per cent more than women in small businesses, 23 per cent more in medium-sized businesses and 18 per cent more in large corporates.

While female graduates can command slightly higher pay than male colleagues ($49,750 compared to $45,000), men go on to surpass them by 19 per cent at five years and 18 per cent at 10 years. Only at 16 to 20 years' experience do women see pay parity.

The figures on OnlineSalarySurvey.com is a specialist salary comparison site run by ‘font'.

The figures are a refreshed view of the e-salary survey, which has been conducted since 2008 and has collected more than 40,000 surveys to-date. In the year to October 2013, 4350 surveys were collected across four sectors within the creative and advertising space providing the basis of this commentary.

While the survey results reflect a trend for women to seek careers that offer a better work-life balance around child-bearing age, it is also important for woman to start valuing their contribution and asking for more, says Jacqui Barratt, managing director of font and board director of the trans-Tasman Recruitment Consulting Services Association.

'Men have no issue with negotiating more; and when they get a pay rise, they feel it's well deserved. However, when women get a pay rise, they feel very thankful,” says Jacqui.

'I believe women are their own worst enemies – we need to be more confident in our abilities and value what we deliver.”

Advertising, which notoriously panders to its Mad Men-esque ‘boys' club' image, pays men 37 per cent more than women in large companies, and 40 per cent more in the first year of employment, says Jacqui.

The study finds men earn significantly more in small companies, suggesting top level executives leave large creative agencies to set up on their own.

Marketing managers appear to have the largest salary increase since this time last year, with women jumping nine per cent to a median of $98,500, but this is still behind the guys, who jumped 24 per cent to a median salary of $111,500.

There were 781 New Zealand participants in the survey.