What we do

The Ministry of Women’s Affairs provides policy advice to the government on issues specific to New Zealand women.

The Ministry brings specialist expertise and knowledge to assist the government to realise the potential of women and to address inequalities where women are disadvantaged. The Ministry is involved in policy development across social, economic, labour market, health and education areas. It offers advice that assists all groups of women, whether to address disadvantages experienced by women, or to increase the ability of women to contribute fully to the social and economic goals of New Zealand.

To provide this advice to government we work closely with public service colleagues, with Māori women, iwi, hapū and whānau, with non-government organisations, women’s groups, and  international agencies.

Working alongside others can involve joint policy work, external critique, committing resources, connecting colleagues to knowledge or promoting gender analysis to enrich the quality of policy advice. The Ministry operates primarily by targeted influence and as a catalyst, through:

• monitoring progress, and stepping in when it is timely to do so to refocus effort upon outcomes for women
• leading policy processes when mainstream agencies are not active in a critical area or where additional complementary leadership is needed
• influencing, through assisting with policy processes led by mainstream agencies
• direct intervention by providing suitable nominees for state sector governance boards.

For information on our work programme see Our Work.