International Women’s Day celebrated around New Zealand

As women celebrate March 8th, International Women’s Day, in 23 events around New Zealand, it’s timely to reflect on the fact less than a third of our Members of Parliament are women, and that occupations that women dominate, such as caregivers, are amongst the lowest paid in New Zealand, Sue Kedgley, President of UN Women NZ said today.

“We hope that women’s issues will become prominent during election year and that all political parties will commit to policies that promote gender equity in New Zealand,” Ms Kedgley said.

“While women have made enormous progress in the last few decades, violence against women continues unabated and many women and girls suffer from discrimination and disadvantage around the world.

The Governor General, Sir Jerry Mateparae, says International Women’s Day is a day on which we celebrate the many acts of courage by ordinary women in New Zealand, who have played an extraordinary role in our history.

It’s also a day, as the Executive Director of UN Women, Madam Phumzile Mlambo Ncguke points out in her International Women’s Day message, when we reflect upon the fact that no country in the world has achieved equality between women and men and girls and boys, and violations of the rights of women and girls remain an outrage.

“We can no longer afford to hold back half the world’s population,” Ms Mlambo Ngcuke says. “The 21st century has to be different for every woman and girl in the world. She must know that to be born a girl is not the start of a life of hardship and disadvantage.”

Dame Anne Salmond will speak on Women and Democracy at a breakfast function in Parliament on Friday 7th March.

ENDS

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