Panui March/April 2011

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Contents

My board strengths: making smart choices
– About the Nominations Service
Celebration and sorrow – From the Minister
– About Hon Hekia Parata, Minister of Women’s Affairs
What do you think of Pānui?
Celebrating 100 years
Creating change workshops
Ministry welcomes new policy directors
Women on the move
UN Women launched
– What is CSW?
‘Feminism means equality’
Disasters and women
In brief
– NZ Childcare Survey 2009
– Benefit rates increase
– Supporting teen fathers
– Domestic violence and disabled people
– Welfare Working Group reports back
– Te Matatini o Te Ra 2011
– Race relations report

 

My board strengths: making smart choices

Women who are, or wish to be, board directors can now go on to MWA’s website and get personalised governance advice.

My board strengths is a new online self-assessment tool that allows women to assess their governance skills. It provides tailored advice about the types of roles they could consider, personalised feedback on developing their governance skills, and the chance to hone their governance skills in the boardroom using specially-developed interactive scenarios. The tool is part of a whole new look for our Women on Boards website.

MWA Nominations Service Director, Pamela Cohen, said the tool had been created to address the lack of information and advice available to women about governance in New Zealand.  This is one of the reasons behind the low level of participation of women in many governance roles.

‘We developed my board strengths to support women’s ability to make smart choices about their involvement in governance. The tool will help women find where they ‘fit’ and where the governance opportunities are for them across sectors, including business, government, Māori, and community/not-for-profit, and the skills and experience required for different types of roles.

‘Users of my board strengths go through a series of questions. At the end of the assessment, women will receive a report that gives them advice on how to develop their competencies and some suggestions of the types of board roles that are best suited to their skills and experience. There is also an option to take part in a tailored scenario of a board meeting so they can get a feel of what it is like.

My board strengths has been user-tested by a sample of women registered on the Nominations Service database.  One of those women, Lisa Bates, said she found the tool ‘excellent and very easy to follow’.

‘The report I received made me reconsider my learning goals in the area of governance, and which skills I needed to brush up on. For example, it encouraged me to enrol at an Institute of Directors’ course to make sure I have the most up-to-date tools for reading financial reports.’

My board strengths is on the Women on Boards pages of our website http://www.mwa.govt.nz/women-on-boards.

 

Here is how my board strengths works:

 

About the Nominations Service

Through our Nominations Service, MWA provides:

• an avenue through which women can register their interest in and availability to take up board appointments.
• a place where Government officials and others seeking board candidates can get access to a professional service that will help them find the right woman for the job.

 

We also

• work with key individuals and organisations in the public and private sectors to increase the number of women on boards
• research and publish information that inspires and encourages women to participate in leadership and decision-making roles.

Our Nominations Service is staffed by a small team of people who work solely in this area.

Celebration and sorrow

From the Minister

Kia ora

The centennial of International Women's Day on 8 March was certainly something to celebrate but, with the impacts of the Christchurch earthquake and the cluster of disastrous events in Japan that began on March 11, it is hard to wholeheartedly celebrate anything.

I have seen first-hand the earthquake’s impact in Christchurch and have offered the Government’s appreciation and help to women and to ethnic communities, the population groups for which I have Ministerial responsibility, and my appreciation and encouragement to the energy companies responsible for lighting, heating and fuelling the city.

The response of New Zealanders everywhere has been stunning.  Overwhelmingly the earthquake has brought out the best in people. Communities are working together and people are supporting each other. 

We know that maintaining that spirit over the coming months will be difficult.  The challenge for us all is to sustain our involvement and support, not just now when the disaster is so fresh in our minds, but in three and six and twelve months time when the people of Christchurch will still need us.

The indomitable spirit of Cantabrians and the resilience of all New Zealanders are reflected in the progress by and for women in Aotearoa New Zealand since the first International Women’s Day in 1911.

We are well respected internationally for promoting women’s rights and our expertise in gender issues is sought by other countries.

Women now form 47 percent of the total labour force and, over the last 30 years, a significant contribution to New Zealand’s productivity has come from an increase in women’s labour market participation. 

In 2009, almost two-thirds of New Zealand’s university graduates were women, and the gap in educational achievement at secondary level between young Pakeha women and young Māori and Pacific women is narrowing. 

And there are signs that attitudes towards family violence are beginning to change with the recognition that It’s not OK in any form or circumstance.

A number of challenges remain both in ensuring that New Zealand women can fully contribute their skills and talents, and in the recognition and reward of these contributions.

Women’s potential is far from fully realised in senior management roles and in governance on boards particularly in the private sector.

Gender pay disparity remains, regardless of which indicator is used.

Women continue to have disproportionately high levels of part-time work indicating the uneven nature of caring responsibilities between men and women.

And, despite improvement in attitudes, family violence and sexual violence take a terrible toll on women.

We need to do more. Further and faster change in these areas is the approach I am taking as Minister. I will continue the work to increase the participation of women in leadership roles across the economy; to reduce the damaging impact of violence against women, particularly sexual violence; and to ensure that all women can be fully engaged in the economy and contribute to the country’s economic growth. 

I am committed to helping build stronger foundations to our economy; building better value and responsiveness out of public services; and ensuring our homes and communities are safe for all of us. The success of New Zealand women is explicitly linked with the success of Aotearoa New Zealand as a nation. I look forward to working towards both.

Ngā mihi
Hon Hekia Parata
Minister of Women’s Affairs

 

About Hon Hekia Parata, Minister of Women’s Affairs

Hon Hekia Parata is Minister of Women’s Affairs and Ethnic Affairs, Acting Minister for Energy and Resources, and Associate Minister for ACC and the Community and Voluntary Sector.

Hon Hekia Parata, Ngāti Porou and Ngāi Tahu, was born and raised in Ruatoria in a family of eight. She is married to Sir Wira Gardner and they have two daughters.

The Minister has held positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Prime Minister’s Advisory Group, Ministry for the Environment, Housing Corporation of New Zealand, Te Puni Kokiri and the State Services Commission. She has consulted to many other central and local government agencies.

She has represented New Zealand at the New Zealand Embassy in Washington, DC, and at a number of multinational forums including the United Nations, the World Bank, and the South Pacific Forum.

The Minister has served on a number of boards and has an MA from Waikato University.

What do you think of Pānui?

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Celebrating 100 years

International Women’s Day is 100 years old. On 19 March,1911, it was honoured for the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. More than one million women and men attended IWD rallies campaigning for women’s rights to work, vote, be trained, hold public office, and to end discrimination.

The world now celebrates International Women’s Day every year on 8 March and thousands of events take place. In 15 countries, it is a national holiday. On the day, many thousands of people came together on bridges all over the world, including the Millennium Bridge in London, the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and the Grand Barriere Bridge joining Rwanda and Congo.

More than 60 events were held around New Zealand. In Wellington, over 200 guests attended the traditional Zonta and UN Women (formerly UNIFEM) International Women’s Day breakfast at Parliament. The breakfast was hosted by Hon Hekia Parata, Minister of Women’s Affairs and the keynote speaker was Wellington Mayor, Celia Wade-Brown.

Tribute was paid to Wellingtonian Lynn McKenzie who is the first ever New Zealander to be appointed President of Zonta International. She will begin her two-year presidency in July 2012.

Zonta International is a global organisation of executives and professionals working together to advance the status of women worldwide through service and advocacy. It was founded in the United States in 1919. Zonta International envisions a world in which women’s rights are recognised as human rights and every woman is able to achieve her full potential.

UN Women is the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.  It is unique in that it is the only funding body within the UN that exists with the sole purpose of involving women in the development process. Its mission is to promote the economic and political empowerment of women in developing countries.
        

CREATING CHANGE WORKSHOPS

The ‘It’s not OK’ Campaign has recently completed a toolkit that summarises what they have learned from community action around the country. They now wish to share this through ‘Creating Change’ workshops which will provide ideas and tools for strengthening family violence prevention work.

The workshops will focus on: developing partnerships with sports organisations, businesses, and local government; sharing examples of effective community action projects; and building the social movement to prevent violence. The toolkit also provides case studies, and information on social marketing and evaluation.

Each workshop will include presentations from local projects and time for focused discussion in small groups. Participants will receive the Creating Change toolkit.

LOCATION	DATE	TIME	VENUE
Blenheim	6 April	9.00am-12.30pm	Nativity Anglican Church 76 Alfred St, Blenheim
West Coast	7 April	1.00pm-4.30pm	Punakaiki Resort State Highway 6, Punakaiki
Wellington	11 April	9.00am-12.30pm	Ministry of Social Development Level 3, Bowen State Building, Bowen St, Wellington (behind Beehive)
Dunedin	13 April	10.30am-4.00pm	Araiteuru Marae 24 Shetland St, Wakari, Dunedin
Whangarei	11 May	1.00pm-4.30pm	Thirty3 Conference Centre 33 Porowini Ave, Whangarei
Auckland	12 May	1.00pm-4.30pm	Nathan Homestead 70 Hill Road, Manurewa, Manukau
Taupo	18 May	10.00am-2.30pm	St Andrew’s Anglican Church 89-91 Titiraupenga Street, Taupo

There is no charge for the workshops, but numbers are limited so please reply to Ilona Rozner ilona.rozner001@msd.govt.nz if you want to attend and be sure to include which location you will be attending.

For more information contact:

• Sheryl Hann sheryl.hann005@msd.govt.nz or 04 916 3452
• Cristy Trewartha cristy.trewartha001@msd.govt.nz or 09 917 7763
• Website: www.areyouok.org.nz  or Facebook: www.facebook.com/ItsNotOK.

Ministry welcomes new policy directors

MWA has two new policy directors, Deb Moran and Joanna Gordon.

Deb is leading the Ministry’s strategy, international, and justice policy team and says she appreciates how much has changed for women over the years, ‘but in some areas such as violence, where more than one in four women will experience sexual violence in their lifetime – it is just not good enough’.

‘I am looking forward to meeting women from NGOs who are working on the ground to improve the lives of women in Aotearoa New Zealand.’

Deb worked at MWA during 1998-1999 as acting policy manager and as private secretary to former Women’s Affairs Ministers Jenny Shipley and Georgina te Heuheu. Deb has also worked as a senior advisor in Parliament.


Arriving at MWA presents opportunities and challenges that new member of the Ministry’s Leadership Team, policy director Joanna Gordon, says she is looking forward to.

Joanna is leading the ministry’s economic and social policy team. The team is involved in advising on best using women’s skills and knowledge to contribute to their own and New Zealand’s success.

‘We are applying our efforts to focus on those areas where MWA’s advice can result in making a difference for women. This can include making the most of our ability to look at the interactions between sectors and identify those things that better enable women to fully contribute to New Zealand as an economy and as a society.’

Joanna’s background includes policy management and senior policy roles at the Treasury and Department of Labour, and senior advisor to the executive director in the New Zealand constituency office at the World Bank.

Women on the move

Business consultant Alison Gerry has been appointed to the board of Television New Zealand (TVNZ).

Denise Bowen has been appointed to the Governing Board of the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ). 

Anne Leijnen has been appointed as an Environment Commissioner and Carron Blom as a Deputy Environment Commissioner.

Kate Davenport has been appointed to the Film and Literature Board of Review.

Susan Paterson has been appointed to the Housing New Zealand Corporation Board.

The new chair of the Mental Health Commission is Dr Lynne Lane.

A new Advisory Group on Green Growth has been established by the government with Melissa Clark-Reynolds as a member.

Yvonne Simpson from Soroptimist International Westland Club is the South-West Pacific Federation President for 2010-2012.

Seventeen year-old Jamie Fenton is Young New Zealander of the Year 2011 and Allison O’Neill is Senior New Zealander of the Year 2011.

Diane Morcom is a new member of the Remuneration Authority, the body that sets the rates of pay and allowances for MPs, Ministers, the Judiciary, and local authority members.

Kerry Prendergast is to head the establishment board of the new Environmental Protection Authority, scheduled to be up and running by July.

UN Women launched

The head of UN Women called the official launch of her new agency last month ‘the first of many important milestones in the global pursuit of gender equality’.

The new United Nations agency held its first session in late January but was officially launched at the 55th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York on 25 February.

Led by Under Secretary General Michelle Bachelet, a former Chilean President, the areas on which UN women will focus include ending violence against women; expanding women’s voice, leadership, and participation; and enhancing their economic empowerment.  In her statement at CSW, she announced she would present UN women’s first strategic plan to the agency’s executive board in June.

MWA chief executive Rowena Phair and policy analyst Nicole Benkert were part of the official New Zealand delegation to CSW. The other members were Pauline Winter, chair of the National Advisory Council on the Employment of Women, and Catherine Neil who leads the Employment Relations Policy Unit at the Department of Labour.

Rowena said New Zealand strongly supported the UN Women priorities.

‘By world standards, New Zealand women do well, but most women in the world are poor – and most of the world’s poor are women. There is good evidence that when women are empowered educationally, legally, and financially, they become drivers of economic activity. GDP rises, agricultural practices improve, and children are more likely to be healthy and educated.’

The priority theme at CSW this year was access and participation of women and girls in education, training, science and technology, including for the promotion of women’s equal access to full employment and decent work.

The 55th session ran from 22 February to 4 March. There is more information at www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/55sess.htm.

What is CSW?

The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women. Every year, representatives of Member States gather at United Nations Headquarters in New York to evaluate progress on gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards, and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide.

‘Feminism means equality’

Caitlin Dunham calls herself a feminist which simply means, she says, that she believes women should have the same rights and opportunities as men.

While she acknowledges that in many cases women have formal equality with men, this hasn’t always translated into equality in reality, and a focus on addressing this, and on promoting equity, is very important to her.

Twenty-one-year-old Caitlin is the National Women’s Rights Officer for the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations. NZUSA is the national body for tertiary students and has been advocating, lobbying and campaigning on the issues and concerns of students since 1929. Caitlin believes that ‘women should not be blamed for rape, should not be paid less than men, and should not have barriers to re-entering the workforce after having a family’.
 
‘A lot of people see women as being equal. They don’t see the evidence to the contrary, for example, the ratio of female lecturers to male, female vice-chancellors to male, the disparities in numbers of young women in arts courses versus those in non-traditional courses like engineering, and the low number of women on boards.

‘I had a friend with a computer engineering degree. She spent a whole year being asked out by the rest of the class (who were male). No-one took her seriously, and treated her like she was only in the class because she wanted to pick up men.’

Caitlin’s job consists of advocacy work on a range of tertiary issues such as these affecting women. She co-ordinates the Tertiary Women’s Focus Group – the women’s caucus of NZUSA which consists of all women in students’ associations – and she works directly and most closely with women’s representatives on the student executives. She provides training, support, and information and runs national campaigns, does research and policy on gender issues; and creates resources and networking opportunities for campus-based women’s representatives.

Some of the main issues Caitlin is presently dealing with are access to tertiary study for part-time, distance, and mature students, the majority of whom are women; access to child care for student parents; and sexual harassment. This year, in conjunction with the It’s Not OK campaign, Caitlin is running a survey about students’ ideas on relationship abuse and how it may be stopped at an early age. There is, she says, a high amount of sexual harassment on and off campus.

‘One in four women under 25 has experienced some sort of sexual abuse.  The majority of women in tertiary study are 18-25. We are also doing a campus safety audit, and gathering information from all the tertiary institutions on their harassment policies in an effort to learn more about what’s currently going on and improve safety on campus and to shift relationship attitudes and behaviour in a positive way.’

Caitlin says a proud moment for NZUSA was when, in 2003, the Tertiary Women’s Focus Group lodged a claim with the Human Rights Commission against the Student Loan Scheme, saying it was discriminatory towards women borrowers. 

Using a woman graduate’s law degree as a case study, the claim was based on the premise that women borrowers would take much longer to pay off their student loans than their male classmates due to the interest charged on loans, the prevailing gender pay gap and taking time out for children. Low pay and time out of the workforce meant women’s debt continued to grow, resulting in a significantly greater cost for the same education. TWFG believed this was unfair and discriminatory, and an unintended consequence of an apparently gender neutral policy. The Commission agreed and accepted the claim, and mediation ensued. In 2005 the student loan interest-free policy was announced, and TWFG later withdrew the claim due to the primary issue of the claim being addressed.
 

Disasters and women

New Zealand has no precedent for a disaster on the scale of the Christchurch earthquake. Based on research and lessons from international disasters (for example, Hurricane Katrina), MWA has considered some of the likely implications for women. These include:

• Increased cases of domestic violence, which can last up to two years. Research suggests incidents of domestic violence can triple following a civil defence emergency.
• An increase in caring commitments. Most paid and unpaid caring in New Zealand is done by women. Following a disaster, women tend to become the primary carers for those affected – including children, the injured and sick, and the elderly – significantly increasing their emotional and material workload.
• Changes in school hours and damaged early childhood education services may affect the work arrangements of parents – probably mothers.

 

MWA is working with lead agencies on these issues.

In brief

 

NZ Childcare Survey 2009

Grandparents are the most common providers of informal care for both pre-schoolers and school-aged children in New Zealand, according to survey results released recently by Statistics New Zealand. The ‘snapshot’ of child care arrangements showed that over half of pre-schoolers attend formal early childhood education (ECE) and care. Informal care options were also common for pre-schoolers, but school-aged children were more likely to be receiving informal care than attending a formal care arrangement.

The results also found that: 80.9 percent of pre-schoolers aged 3-5 years attending formal ECE and care used ‘20 hours ECE’, a government initiative that provides up to 20 hours of free formal care per week, and the most common work-related arrangement used by employed parents to help care for a child was to have their child at work with them.  For more information go to www.stats.govt.nz

Benefit rates increase

Main benefits, Superannuation and Student Allowance rates will all increase from April 1 to reflect increases to the Consumer Price Index.

Main benefits will increase by 3.75 percent from 1 April 2010 to 1 April 2011. This includes the GST compensation component of 2.02 percent added in 1 October 2010. The percentage increase will be slightly higher for married couples receiving NZ Superannuation which will increase by 6.85 percent.

For more information about the increases, including a full list of new rates and thresholds for all affected assistance, visit www.msd.govt.nz

Supporting teen fathers

A new booklet produced by the Ministry of Social Development aims to help organisations working directly with teen fathers. Supporting Teen Fathers: A resource for service providers has three parts. Part 1 outlines what is known about teen fathers in New Zealand, including their characteristics and needs. It discusses the roles fathers play, and the cultural context of being a father in New Zealand. Part 2 covers things to consider when developing services for teen fathers, and Part 3 contains profiles of five providers currently delivering services to teen fathers in New Zealand.  Copies can be downloaded at www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/planning-strategy/teen-fathers/index.html or email information@msd.govt.nz.

Domestic violence and disabled people

A new booklet aimed at disabled people and their carers, Domestic Violence and Disabled People, was launched by Hon Hekia Parata, Minister of Women’s Affairs on International Women’s Day, 8 March. The Auckland Domestic Violence and Disability Group (DVD) developed the resource in collaboration with the national network Disability Coalition Against Violence and other agencies. The booklet is available from the It’s not OK campaign website www.areyouok.org.nz/files/disability-booklet-newest.pdf.

Welfare Working Group reports back

The Welfare Working Group report to government was released on 22 February.  The Working Group was set up by Cabinet to undertake a review of New Zealand’s welfare system and made 43 recommendations to government on changes it thought were needed. The report can be read at http://ips.ac.nz/WelfareWorkingGroup/Index.html

Te Matatini o Te Ra 2011

Te Arawa kapa haka group Te Mataarae i o Rehu were named the supreme champions at Te Matatini o Te Ra in February. The Rotorua-based group, one of 42 performing, won the majority of the awards at the Festival held in Gisborne, including best male and female leaders. The next festival will be held in Rotorua in 2013 www.tematatini.co.nz.

Race relations report

The Human Rights Commission’s annual Review of Race Relations in New Zealand – Tūi Tūi Tuituiā was released on 10 March.

The race relations report documents what happened in race relations in 2010.  It records some of the many contributions made by community organisations and individuals; the significant progress achieved in treaty settlements; the state of racial inequalities and government initiatives to address them;and developments in immigration and settlement, language, religious diversity, media and diversity research.

It notes that positives in New Zealand’s race relations include the growth of te reo Māori and the Māori economy; Parliament reflecting the cultural diversity of the country; and the settling of historical claims for breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi.

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Editor: Jayne McCullum
Designer: Gusto

 

The viewpoints expressed in Pānui do not necessarily reflect the views of the Ministry of Women's Affairs.