8 March 2013

International Women’s Day - the Government’s Day of Shame

“Today women all over the world are celebrating International Women’s Day, however in New Zealand women’s position is getting worse” said Leonie Morris spokesperson for the Auckland Coalition for the Safety of Women and Children. “Our pay is still 12% less than men’s, yet the Government abolished its Pay Equity Unit. One in five women in New Zealand are sexually assaulted in their lifetime. The Government’s Taskforce for Action on Sexual Violence did some excellent work on this, but was then closed down by the Cabinet last year.”

“One in three women in New Zealand experience domestic violence in their lifetime. New Zealand has world leading domestic violence legislation, yet increasingly this law is not implemented. The Police are arresting fewer perpetrators, bail conditions for those arrested do not often prioritise the safety of women and children, fewer perpetrators who are arrested are being convicted, and fewer men are being referred to stopping violence programmes. ”

“The Family Court Proceedings Reform Bill, currently before Parliament, will remove protection for children from abusive partners, most of them men. It will allow abusive men to stay in unsupervised contact with their kids, or even get full day-to-day care of them.”

“As a signatory of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) it is mandatory for our Government to work towards gender equity and exercise due diligence to ensure that it is being carried out. In the CEDAW`s official report on New Zealand, it expressed many concerns about the current inequity of the position of women in New Zealand. Disabled women, Maori women, older women and women from ethnic minorities were identified as being particularly vulnerable.”

“Today is an opportunity for the Government to commit to making real progress towards women’s equality by re-instating the Taskforce for Action on Sexual Violence and the Pay Equity Unit, recommitting to the Domestic Violence Act and withdrawing the Bill to reform the Family Court.”

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