It's International Women's Day, and trade unions want the Government and employers to see it as an opportunity to commit to pay equality.

CTU spokeswoman Sheryl Cadman says there's still too much of a disparity between what men and women earn.

"The market just does not deliver equal pay for women that we need to intervene in the market or else the historic undervalue of women's work will just continue."

Sheryl Cadman says the Ministry for Women should be pushing more actively for women's equality in the workplace.