The New Zealand government plans to make companies report their gender pay gaps. The announcement was made Friday by New Zealand Minister for Women Jan Tinetti and Associate Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Priyanca Radhakrishnan.

It’s estimated around 900 entities with more than 250 employees could be required to publicly report their gender pay gap, according to the ministers. That will later be expanded to companies with more than 100 workers after four years.

“The reality is that women have different experiences in the workplace than men, and change is needed,” Tinetti said. “Requiring companies to publish their gender pay gap will encourage them to address the drivers of those gaps and increase transparency for workers.”

Other countries, such as Australia, Canada and the UK, have already introduced gender pay gap reporting, she noted.

Radhakrishnan said pay gap reporting will be voluntary at first, then the government will review this after three years to see if it should be mandatory.

“The government is also committed to exploring the inclusion of ethnicity in pay gap reporting as Māori, Pacific peoples and other ethnic groups often face the compounding impact of both gender and ethnic pay gaps,” she said. “Through this next phase of consultation we’ll be able to consider the inclusion of ethnicity before legislation is drafted.”