Hon Pansy Wong
Minister of Women’s Affairs

Four-yearly ‘report card’ on women’s status underway

Preparation of New Zealand’s seventh report to the United Nations on the status of women is well underway, says Women’s Affairs Minister Pansy Wong.

New Zealand reports to the United Nations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) every four years, and the next report is due before the end of December. A draft has recently been circulated to key non-government organisations for comment.

“The CEDAW report is essentially a report card on how well New Zealand women are doing,” says Mrs Wong.

“The 2010 report is currently under consultation. It shows, by world standards, New Zealand women are doing well. We regularly rate in the top half-dozen countries in the world for equality between men and women – for instance we were fifth, behind the Scandinavian countries, in the Global Gender Gap Report 2009.

“We should not be complacent though – there are still areas where women do not do as well as men. For instance, recent research conducted by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs shows that women’s skills are underused in leadership across the economy; women still earn less than men (even when their qualifications and jobs are similar); and violence within families continues to be a cause of national concern.

“These are also the priority areas for the Government and we are applying new approaches to old problems.”

Mrs Wong says there has also been some progress since New Zealand last reported to the UN, despite four years being a short time when dealing with generations-old problems and despite the difficulties caused by the recession.

“There have been very high levels of women’s engagement and success in education and employment; a greater awareness and willingness to report family violence; and gains for Māori women – especially in leadership. At the last election, there was also a record percentage of women MPs voted in, at 33.6 per cent.

“There are currently three Māori women Ministers and I am the first-ever Asian woman in Cabinet.

“During the reporting period, Parliament passed the Human Rights (Women in Armed Forces) Amendment Act, relating to the employment of women in combat roles in the armed forces. This allowed New Zealand to lift its remaining reservation to CEDAW,” she says.

New Zealand is also active for women internationally. New Zealand’s strong lobbying during the meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women in March contributed to the UN’s decision to establish a new gender agency, which has the working title ‘UN Women’.

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