23 August 2005

National/NZF Govt would send women back to the 1950s

Green Co-Leader Rod Donald says the release of NZ First's Party List today confirms that a National-NZ First Government would be a great leap backwards for New Zealand women.

"The National and NZ First party lists appear to be jobs for the boys, rather than a real attempt to reflect the diversity of New Zealand. They display a contemptuous attitude towards women.

"Voters now face a stark choice between a Green-Labour Government that believes in gender equality and a National-NZ First Government stuck in the 1950s.

"A National-NZ First Cabinet, made up of the first 15 members of National's list and the first five of NZ First's, would contain just two women, neither with Ministerial experience. Excluding women from such important decision-making roles would set the cause of female empowerment back half a century.

"By comparison a Labour-Green Cabinet with the same composition would have eight women, a much more equitable mix.

"NZ First and National both have only two women in their top 18 list slots - barely a 10 percent representation. This is tragic for parties who aspire to be a government-in-waiting, and suggests they haven't yet come to grips with the 21st Century."

Labour has six women in the top 18 places on its list, and the Greens have seven.

"The battle for gender equality is still to be won, and a Labour-Green Government is the only option available for women who want to take up positions of responsibility rather than be consigned to the kitchen," Mr Donald says. "Only a Labour-Green Government will deliver women into important Cabinet positions.

"National and NZ First call breaking down the barriers to female participation 'political correctness gone mad'. We call it promoting the basic rights of New Zealand women to fair representation.

"It is no wonder that Labour and the Greens enjoy a comfortable majority among women voters in opinion polls. Kiwi women can see that a vote for Don and Winston is a vote for sending them back to roles of servitude."

ENDS

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