National Council of Women wholeheartedly supports venture

Gender Equal NZ, led by the National Council of Women, wholeheartedly supports today’s announcement by Under-Secretary Jan Logie at the Māori Women’s Welfare League Conference in Gisborne, that the government will be leading a “joint venture” model to prevent and reduce family and sexual violence.

National Council of Women Chief Executive and Gender Equal NZ spokesperson Gill Greer says “family and sexual violence are both a symptom and a cause of gender inequality – and much of it is linked to out-dated stereotypes and attitudes toward gender roles.”

“We have the worst rates of family and sexual violence in the whole OECD” says Gill, “and it has been a preventable pandemic for far too long. This announcement is an important step in the right direction.”

The new model brings chief executives together in a joint venture to deliver an integrated, whole-of-government approach to family violence and sexual violence. International evidence shows that joined up strategies like this can be very successful.

The joint venture business unit will report to a board made up of the chief executives of ten government agencies including Oranga Tamariki, Te Puni Kōkiri, Social Development, Justice, ACC, Corrections and Police. It will be informed by an independent Māori advisory group and other stakeholders.

The public will also have the opportunity to contribute to this national strategy and action plan, including by identifying the actions that individuals, whānau and communities can take. Anyone can contact the Multi-Agency Team to find out how they can be involved by emailing familyandsexualviolence@justice.govt.nz

“The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) urged the New Zealand government to do more to address this in 2012. This year’s UN report goes further, calling on the government to “strengthen its efforts,” listing eleven urgent steps to eliminate gender-based violence and its underlying causes.”

“Gendered violence impacts particularly negatively on Māori, Pacific, Asian, migrant and refugee women, rural women, women with disabilities, and lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women, but it impacts on women in all communities across New Zealand, and has major intergenerational impacts on their children, their health and wellbeing, ” says Gill. “This is certainly not what Kate Sheppard and her colleagues would have expected 125 years after winning the vote.”

“A committed, integrated approach like this is essential to preventing absolutely unacceptable and horrific levels of violence which have so many far reaching effects across so many areas of New Zealanders’ lives.“

Gender Equal NZ, led by the National Council of Women, wants all genders to live safely, free from violence. Only then can we truly make equality, reality.

© Scoop Media