Venu Menon
Wellington, July 12,2023
New Zealand’s latest report on gender equality and improving outcomes for women has been submitted to the United Nations.
The government presented the ninth periodic report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) this month.
The report also provides information on the progress of women in the territory of Tokelau.
“We have made progress in women’s educational attainment, labour force participation, and support for women to take on paid work, enabled through Te Mahere Whai Mahi Wahine- the 2022 Women’s Employment Action Plan, along with other great initiatives,” said Minister of Women Jan Tinetti, who submitted the report to the UN. She said this was the first ever employment action plan for women in New Zealand.
“[The action plan] has a focus on Wahine Maori, Pacific women, young and older women, disabled women, women who are former refugees and recent migrants, and the Rainbow community,” the minister added.
She noted the action plan provided a roadmap toward “a better future for women’s employment and educational pathways and looks at immediate and long-term actions that are needed to help disadvantaged women.”
The report submitted to the UN noted that the representation for women on public sector boards and committees in 2023 was the highest it had ever been, with wahine now making up 53.1% of the members.
It said Maori and ethnic diversity and representation had also increased steadily since 2019, when data collection for ethnicities on boards began.
Women’s participation in the labour force had increased from 54.3% in 1991 to 67.1% in December 2022, the report noted.
“We still have more work to do to address inequities,” Tinetti said, adding, “There are women, particularly Maori, Pacific, migrant and pan-ethnic women, women with disabilities and women from Rainbow communities facing discrimination.”
The report underlined New Zealand’s strong commitment to the protection and promotion of women’s rights, as embodied in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Convention).
“Building on our progressive legacy as the first nation to grant women the right to vote in 1893, Aotearoa New Zealand has strong aspirations to create a society that supports women to not only thrive, but to lead and shape a truly gender-equal society,” the report said.
It said the vision for women and girls in New Zealand was one of “empowerment, safety, connection, and opportunity.”
The report envisioned a society where women were recognised for their achievements and occupied leadership roles, “honouring the mana (prestige) and rangatiratanga (leadership) of wahine Maori through upholding both Te Tiriti and Te Ao Maori (the Maori worldview).”
New Zealand marked a historic milestone with 60 women and 59 men serving as Members of Parliament, the report noted.
In 2023, New Zealand “achieved gender parity in Cabinet for the first time.”
However, challenges remained and more work was needed in areas such as employment, skills and training, safety from violence, and health and wellbeing, the report observed.
It listed a range of government initiatives that were underway to improve outcomes for women, including the Te Mahere Whai Mahi Wahine Women’s Employment Action Plan (WEAP), the Te Aorerekura National Strategy and Action Plan to address and prevent family violence and sexual violence, the Living Standards Framework and the gender analysis tool Bringing Gender In (BGI). The government was also working on making the courts and justice system more responsive to gender equality.
Key issues that emerged in “Voices Of Aotearoa New Zealand Women,” the outcome document from a range of meetings and public consultations throughout the country held between 2017 and 2022, included the need to address family violence, sexual violence and trauma, health (including mental health, addiction, and whanau and community wellbeing), education, housing, land ownership, and “protecting whenua (land) from harm.”
Venu Menon is an Indian Newslink reporter based in Wellington
