Our Work

Our work consists of:

Policy advice

We provide policy advice to government. To do this we work closely with public sector colleagues, Māori women, iwi, hapū and whānau, women's groups, non-government organisations and international agencies.

Nominations

We provide suitable women nominees for state sector boards and committees.

International

The Ministry of Women’s Affairs is the lead agency for managing New Zealand’s international obligations on the status of women.

In particular, we manage New Zealand’s process for reporting on its obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

We achieve our work by:

progress and stepping in to refocus effort upon outcomes for women

policy processes when mainstream agencies are not active in a critical area or where additional complementary leadership is needed

through assisting with policy processes led by mainstream agencies

by providing suitable nominees for state sector governance boards.

Background:

From 2004-2009 the Ministry’s policy programme was guided by the Action Plan for New Zealand. The five-year Action Plan was a whole-of government plan to improve the circumstances of New Zealand women.  The major goals were to:

• Improve the economic independence of women (economic sustainability)
• Achieve greater work-life balance for families (work-life balance)
• Improve the quality of life of New Zealand women (well-being).

Women make up just over half of our population, and a wide variety of factors impact on how well women are doing. As a result, no one government agency is responsible for women’s outcomes. The Action Plan provided a means of co-ordinating the efforts of a range of agencies in relation to different areas, such as health, education, employment, and safety.

A report published by the Ministry in 2008 Indicators for Change: Tracking the progress of New Zealand women used indicators to track progress towards achieving the Action Plan’s goals. This report was updated in 2009 Indicators for Change: Tracking the progress of New Zealand women 2009 and, as the report continues to be udpated, it will offer time-series data that can track how New Zealand women are doing and identify areas where more work may be needed.

Last updated 4 August 2010