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	<title>Posts in &ldquo;Health&rdquo; category - Auckland Women&#039;s Centre</title>
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	<link>https://awc.org.nz</link>
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		<title>Auckland Women’s Centre calls for government to fully invest in RespectEd and work to stop dangerous campaigns of misogyny</title>
		<link>https://awc.org.nz/auckland-womens-centre-calls-for-government-to-fully-invest-in-respected-and-work-to-stop-dangerous-campaigns-of-misogyny/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[kaitlin]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 17 May 2026 21:59:06 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Auckland Women's Centre]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Feminism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Relationships & Sexuality Education]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://awc.org.nz/?p=7291</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Auckland Women’s Centre strongly supports RespectEd, a service working to prevent sexual violence, in its call for government to reverse sector funding cuts as otherwise RespectEd will have to shut in a matter of weeks. “When it comes to addressing sexual violence, primary prevention is absolutely vital, to prevent all trauma and potential long-term harm,” ... ]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Auckland Women’s Centre strongly supports RespectEd, a service working to prevent sexual violence, in its call for government to reverse sector funding cuts as otherwise RespectEd will have to shut in a matter of weeks.</p>
<p>“When it comes to addressing sexual violence, primary prevention is absolutely vital, to prevent all trauma and potential long-term harm,” said Centre spokesperson Leonie Morris. “In an overlooked field at a dangerous time, RespectEd is doing important, necessary work with schools, workplaces, prisons, and other communities. We need to be increasing investment in such work exponentially.”</p>
<p>But this term, the government has defunded women’s self-defence organisation Kia Haumaru; it has removed a key tool of violence prevention from schools – the Tiriti-based relationships and sexuality education guidelines; and it has removed promised ACC funding for community-based sexual violence prevention programmes elsewhere, affecting RespectEd and other organisations.</p>
<p>“Right now, women, girls and their whānau face destructive campaigns of sexism and disrespect linked to sexual violence – and the government is assisting that misogyny,” said Leonie Morris, Auckland Women’s Centre spokesperson. “What, exactly, is the government prioritising over our safety and freedom?”</p>
<p>“The state should be fighting gender-based abuse – rapidly becoming the number one threat to our democracy – with all it’s got. Aotearoa New Zealand could and should enable women’s freedom with world-leading investment in prevention of all disrespect and violence.</p>
<p>“We were once world leaders in gender equity – and we can be so again.”</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>Comedian shines light on government attacks on violence prevention in schools</title>
		<link>https://awc.org.nz/comedian-shines-light-on-government-attacks-on-violence-prevention-in-schools/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Womenz]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 29 Mar 2026 18:44:04 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Children]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Family Violence]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Relationships & Sexuality Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Safety Not Stalking]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://awc.org.nz/?p=7064</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[AWC Media release 25 March 2026 A comedian with a history of supporting expert-led relationships education is supporting calls from Auckland Women’s Centre and others for the government to stop attacking a key tool for the prevention of bullying and violence credited as life-saving. Comedian Michèle A&#8217;Court has joined with experts in education, health and ... ]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>AWC Media release 25 March 2026</strong></p>
<p>A comedian with a history of supporting expert-led relationships education is supporting calls from Auckland Women’s Centre and others for the government to stop attacking a key tool for the prevention of bullying and violence credited as life-saving.</p>
<p>Comedian Michèle A&#8217;Court has joined with experts in education, health and violence prevention in raising concerns the government wants to replace expert-led, inclusive relationships and sexuality education (RSE) in schools with a curriculum that removes all mentions of te Tiriti o Waitangi and LGBTQI+ identities, as well as almost all overt mentions of Mātauranga Māori.</p>
<p>“Experts tell us these attacks on RSE will likely lead to increase family violence and sexual violence,” said A’Court. “This government is breathtakingly contemptuous of the safety of women and LGBTQI+ people, in a world of increased online and offline hate and misogyny.”</p>
<p>The attacks on RSE come after the government last year halted ACC sexual-violence prevention programme Hikitia! For Our Future, stopped funding women’s self-defence organisation Kia Haumaru and dismantled a key Māori expert group in violence prevention. “And after dismantling pay equity agreements, this government yet again shows disrespect for women, among other targeted groups,” said A’Court.</p>
<p>Auckland Women’s Centre spokesperson Leonie Morris said: “Young people have a right to enjoy safe, supportive social connections free from violence. Culturally-relevant and inclusive RSE is the nation’s key tool for preventing stalking, bullying, and violence.”</p>
<p>One young person who has signed the <a href="https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/bring-back-tiriti-based-inclusive-relationships-sexuality-education-in-schools" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/bring-back-tiriti-based-inclusive-relationships-sexuality-education-in-schools&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1774895997014000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3YcvWzysCR1QH10uGfbbGk">Auckland Women’s Centre’s current petition to bring back Tiriti-based, inclusive RSE</a> noted RSE had helped enormously in “real world situations”: “a friend recognized abusive behavior purely because we spoke about it in health under the RSE stuff and I feel like it saved her life.”</p>
<p>Sexual violence is widespread and increasing among New Zealand teenagers, with one fifth of girls, just over one fifth of young people attracted to the same sex, and nearly one third of transgender young people being victimised <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1326020025000743" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1326020025000743&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1774895997014000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0SnMJ5hC_6bOnyAjuxyw4N">in most recent data available</a>.</p>
<p>“We need to be strengthening and updating RSE to better protect our rangatahi from norms that make violence against women and other targeted groups acceptable,” said Morris. “Instead, the government are disrespecting Te Tiriti o Waitangi and also literally erasing acknowledgement of lesbian, bi, gay, trans and non-binary identities. It’s like 1986 homosexual law reform never happened.</p>
<p>“For ideological reasons of racism, transphobia and homophobia, the government wants to replace RSE with a narrow, regressive, exclusionary, monocultural curriculum which will reduce teaching respect for differences, placing our rangatahi at higher risk of experiencing abusive behaviour.”</p>
<p>A&#8217;Court hosted one of the first government-funded sexual education videos in 1990, &#8220;Choice Not Chance&#8221;, about contraception. &#8220;So I’ve been passionate about this subject for a long time,” she says. “School is the right place for rangatahi to get expert information on all the things to do with sex and sexuality.&#8221;</p>
<p>The government’s “relationships and sex education” proposal (with “sex” replacing “sexuality” in the title) for Years 1-10 is out for <a href="https://newzealandcurriculum.tahurangi.education.govt.nz/new-zealand-curriculum-online/new-zealand-curriculum/learning-areas/health-and-physical-education-curriculum/5637165585.c" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://newzealandcurriculum.tahurangi.education.govt.nz/new-zealand-curriculum-online/new-zealand-curriculum/learning-areas/health-and-physical-education-curriculum/5637165585.c&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1774895997014000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0ym-E66IV4zrl2PLUKlfho">consultation</a> until 24 April.  Auckland Women’s Centre is running <a href="https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/bring-back-tiriti-based-inclusive-relationships-sexuality-education-in-schools" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/bring-back-tiriti-based-inclusive-relationships-sexuality-education-in-schools&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1774895997014000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3YcvWzysCR1QH10uGfbbGk">a petition on Action Station</a> calling for the government to bring back Tiriti-based, inclusive Relationships and Sexuality Education in Schools.</p>
<p>Others such as medical specialists, and the Mental Health Foundation, Rape Prevention Education and Post Primary Teachers’ Association have <a href="https://sexualwellbeing.org.nz/media/derd4sky/rse-letter-to-minister-stanford-09052025.pdf" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://sexualwellbeing.org.nz/media/derd4sky/rse-letter-to-minister-stanford-09052025.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1774895997014000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0rY2agkem38IBWNpcx6whr">previously raised</a> concerns with the government’s plans. Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa <a href="https://sexualwellbeing.org.nz/new-curriculum-regressive-and-fractured/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://sexualwellbeing.org.nz/new-curriculum-regressive-and-fractured/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1774895997014000&amp;usg=AOvVaw04NZQp1nF4GghtEbwmaCX0">has called</a> the government’s proposal “regressive” and “fractured” and says it will “put young people’s safety at risk.”</p>
<p>Most recently, a consortium of 34 education organisations led by the primary teachers’ association, NZEI Te Riu Roa, have also criticised the government’s entire school curriculum overhaul in a <a href="https://www.nzeiteriuroa.org.nz/about-us/media-releases/education-sector-unites-against-governments-wholesale-curriculum-changes" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nzeiteriuroa.org.nz/about-us/media-releases/education-sector-unites-against-governments-wholesale-curriculum-changes&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1774895997014000&amp;usg=AOvVaw268-kyiS5tBzxspeo97OE7">joint statement</a>.</p>
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		<title>2026 Relationships &#038; Sex/Sexuality Education Submission Guide</title>
		<link>https://awc.org.nz/2026-relationships-sex-sexuality-education-submission-guide/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Womenz]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 Mar 2026 21:34:48 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Children]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Family Violence]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Parenting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Queer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Relationships & Sexuality Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Safety Not Stalking]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://awc.org.nz/?p=6920</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Have you signed and shared our petition? Please do so now! The National-led government’s proposed replacement for Relationships &#38; Sexuality Education (RSE) for Years 0-9 is currently out for consultation (as part of the proposed Health &#38; PE Curriculum) until Fri 24 April 2026 &#8211; and quite frankly, it’s terrible. The government’s proposal for Relationships ... ]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Have you signed and shared our petition? </strong><a href="https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/bring-back-tiriti-based-inclusive-relationships-sexuality-education-in-schools"><strong>Please do so now!</strong></a></p>
<p>The National-led government’s proposed replacement for Relationships &amp; Sexuality Education (RSE) for Years 0-9 is currently out for consultation (as part of the <a href="https://newzealandcurriculum.tahurangi.education.govt.nz/new-zealand-curriculum-online/new-zealand-curriculum/learning-areas/health-and-physical-education-curriculum/5637165585.c">proposed Health &amp; PE Curriculum</a>) until Fri 24 April 2026 &#8211; and quite frankly, it’s terrible.</p>
<p>The government’s proposal for Relationships &amp; &#8220;Sex&#8221; (not Sexuality) Education is regressive, colonial, heteronormative, cis-normative, and monocultural. Their racist, transphobic and homophobic changes from the approach of <a href="https://insideout.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/RSE_1_to_8_2.pdf">the fit-for-purpose 2020 RSE guidelines</a> will put <em>everybody </em>at higher risk of bullying, abuse and violence than they would be with good RSE. The proposal does not support children and rangatahi as much as it could or should, to be understanding of themselves and respectful of each other.</p>
<p>The good news: our young people and most of our communities are far more progressive than the current government is, and we have a chance of putting good RSE on the agenda in the medium term. We are keen for as many people as possible to let the politicians know that unnecessarily reducing RSE’s effectiveness as a tool for violence prevention is unacceptable and, that instead, we need to increase its strength as a tool for respect, health relationship norms, safe online behaviour, and self-esteem for all our young people. As with the government’s pay equity cancellations, halting of ACC sexual violence prevention intiatives and de-funding of women’s self-defence, the government’s dismantling of our key, world-leading violence prevention tool is harmful for women and their communities (ie, everyone).</p>
<p><em>(This guide will be updated as new details and resources come to hand. Last updated: 16 March 2026</em>)</p>
<p>Key points:</p>
<p><strong>Who is the audience?</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Send your submission directly to the Minister of Education, <a href="mailto:Erica.Stanford@parliament.govt.nz">Erica Stanford</a> and – importantly – cc in opposition spokespeople for education </strong>(and others who may be able to respond to the request in future), as well as your local MP (<a href="https://www3.parliament.nz/en/mps-and-electorates/members-of-parliament/">list here</a>). You can also cc in spokespeople for prevention of family violence and sexual violence (FV/SV).<br />
The base list to copy and paste: <a href="mailto:erica.stanford@parliament.govt.nz">erica.stanford@parliament.govt.nz</a>, <a href="mailto:ginny.andersen@parliament.govt.nz">ginny.andersen@parliament.govt.nz</a>, <a href="mailto:Lawrence.xu-nan@parliament.govt.nz">lawrence.xu-nan@parliament.govt.nz</a>, <a href="mailto:Debbie.ngarewa-packer@parliament.govt.nz">debbie.ngarewa-packer@parliament.govt.nz, </a><a href="mailto:L.Upston@ministers.govt.nz">L.Upston@ministers.govt.nz, </a><a href="mailto:helen.white@parliament.govt.nz">helen.white@parliament.govt.nz, </a><a href="mailto:marama.davidson@parliament.govt.nz">marama.davidson@parliament.govt.nz</a></p>
<ul>
<li>Labour Education spokesperson: <a href="mailto:ginny.andersen@parliament.govt.nz">Ginny Andersen</a></li>
<li>Greens Education spokesperson: <a href="mailto:lawrence.xu-nan@parliament.govt.nz">Lawrence Xu-Nan</a></li>
<li>Te Pāti Māori Co-leader: <a href="mailto:Debbie.Ngarewa-Packer@parliament.govt.nz">Debbie Ngarewa-Packer</a></li>
<li>National party Prevention of FV/SV spokesperson: <a href="mailto:L.Upston@ministers.govt.nz">Louise Upston</a></li>
<li>Labour party Prevention of FV/SV spokesperson: <a href="mailto:Helen.white@parliament.govt.nz">Helen White</a></li>
<li>Greens Co-leader &amp; Prevention of FV/SV spokesperson: <a href="mailto:marama.davidson@parliament.govt.nz">Marama Davidson</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Also submit to the Ministry of Education using their <a href="https://education.surveymonkey.com/r/NWCBTPH">online questionnaire</a> by Fri 24 April 2026.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>What do we/I say?</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>You want the decision-makers to know that you care</strong>, and that education regarding relationship norms (including consent), sexual self-identity, and online behaviour affects you and/or your loved ones and/or your community as a whole.</li>
<li><strong>Say who you are</strong>
<ul>
<li>in relation to children and rangatahi: student, parent, teacher, aunty, community member etc.</li>
<li>if you feel comfortable and safe to do so, you might also state your ethnic, gender and sexuality identities, however you would express them. It may be useful for the reader to know of the lived experience insights and/or solidarity/ allyship that you bring with you – including if you are not part of any group usually targeted by family violence and sexual violence. (“eg, I am a straight Pākehā cis man and I am appalled that the RSE proposal will deny my sons and other people like me access to the tools to understand and respect diverse identities, while understanding and navigating our own privilege.”)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Say RSE is important, and why you think so</strong>. For example, the Auckland Women’s Centre sees RSE as the country’s key opportunity for widespread violence prevention because it is taught to so many children and rangatahi, and it can create health and respectful relationship norms, and support personal and social wellbeing and confidence. Violence prevention is keenly important given a third of women (for example) have experienced sexual violence in Aotearoa NZ. We need a cultural shift.</li>
<li><strong>List the features RSE needs to include to meet the aims you see for it</strong>: For example, in order to be effective violence prevention, supporting healthy relationship norms, mutual respect and wellbeing online and face-to-face, RSE in Aotearoa NZ needs to:
<ul>
<li>Honour te Tiriti o Waitangi</li>
<li>Be inclusive of Mātauranga Māori</li>
<li>Be inclusive of all genders and sexualities</li>
<li>Be taught consistently across schools (while ensuring parents always have the right to remove their children if they wish)</li>
<li>Be evidence-based for violence prevention (eg ensure consent education is best practice, and it includes information on how to engage in healthy <span class="il">romantic</span> relationships and identify those that are unhealthy or abusive)</li>
<li>Be updated regularly in a process led by experts, including Māori experts</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Write from the heart – from your experience</strong>: <u>What can you tell the reader that they cannot see or hear from anybody else</u>? Many of our submissions will say similar things – useful to reinforce shared messages – but it is the story or the phrase which is real experience that will help drive that message home. Eg have you seen positive behaviour which has been influenced by community norms? Have you seen negative or unsafe behaviour which you would want RSE to address and/or aim to prevent in future? What is your vision of the future – for your whānau, your friends – that RSE would help to support?</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Further information</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Auckland Women’s Centre also supports the views of other aligned organisations whose information and expertise differ from ours. For example:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://sexualwellbeing.org.nz/new-curriculum-regressive-and-fractured/">Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa</a> has concerns about huge gaps in the curriculum regarding puberty and the body. 16 March: their new comprehensive &#8220;<a href="https://sexualwellbeing.org.nz/lets-talk-sex-ed/">Let&#8217;s talk about sex ed</a>&#8221; page is now live. (Note the govt want to replace &#8220;sexuality education&#8221; with &#8220;sex education&#8221;)</li>
<li><a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/57d898ef8419c2ef50f63405/t/685874c7e0c5475c87cbe718/1750627527977/RSE+draft+framework+questionnaire+and+letter+to+Minister+of+Education+Erica+Stanford+9+May+Backbone+Collective+%281%29.pdf">Backbone Collective’s</a> <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/57d898ef8419c2ef50f63405/t/685874c7e0c5475c87cbe718/1750627527977/RSE+draft+framework+questionnaire+and+letter+to+Minister+of+Education+Erica+Stanford+9+May+Backbone+Collective+%281%29.pdf">submission</a> on an earlier draft of the government’s proposal looked at whether RSE would assist children who have already been the victim of sexual abuse or other family violence.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Look out for our more detailed submission here in mid-April – but in the meantime, the information (including in the updates at the bottom of the page) in  <a href="https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/bring-back-tiriti-based-inclusive-relationships-sexuality-education-in-schools"><u>our RSE petition </u></a>might also be useful. But it&#8217;s best to write in your own words &#8211; and from your own insights and experience.</li>
</ul>
<p>Thank you for your care and effort in joining us on advocating for what&#8217;s best for the next generation of women and everyone!  Kia kaha, kia māia, kia manawanui!</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>Confused about equity, ethnicity and healthcare? The experts got you covered</title>
		<link>https://awc.org.nz/healthexplainer/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Womenz]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Apr 2025 05:26:22 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Decolonisation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forum]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://awc.org.nz/?p=5167</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[These descriptions are drawn from our community kōrero about the health system with Lady Tureiti Moxon and Dr Elana Curtis in March 2025.  Healthcare for Māori should not just be needs-based but also rights-based Whereas “equitable outcomes” can refer to any two or more groups – not just ethnic groups, and not just Māori – ... ]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>These descriptions are drawn from our <a href="https://awc.org.nz/healthkoreroreport/">community kōrero about the health system</a> with Lady Tureiti Moxon and Dr Elana Curtis in March 2025. </strong></p>
<p><iframe title="Health Kōrero with Lady Tureiti Moxon and Dr Elana Curtis (PART 1/3)" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OGyeO9YDMwI?list=PLzJuZTNB4ZBXwEBg0F6lz9PtqO36VzDHT" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><strong>Healthcare for Māori should not just be needs-based but also <em>rights</em>-based</strong></p>
<p>Whereas “equitable outcomes” can refer to any two or more groups – not just ethnic groups, and not just Māori – it was Māori who signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi with the Crown – and te Tiriti guarantees tino rangatiratanga to iwi. That is “the right to look after ourselves,” as Lady Moxon puts it – and this includes healthcare.</p>
<p>For Elana, “a Treaty-compliant healthcare system really would put Māori at the centre of everything it does.” Right now, it&#8217;s not compliant. “Not surprisingly, it gets really good outcomes for Pākehā. Because it&#8217;s designed for them. It&#8217;s in their language, it matches their social number profile, it matches their health literacy, it has a workforce that looks like them, it&#8217;s focused on what are the big issues in terms of their total population level, therefore it reflects Pākehā reality.</p>
<p>“A treaty-compliant health system would acknowledge Māori indigenous rights, which are here because of us being tangata whenua, and that is reaffirmed by Te Tiriti o Waitangi and He Whakaputanga, and it&#8217;s reaffirmed by and expressed through international law, you know, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.</p>
<p>“Right now, we have a health system which is centred around Pākehātanga … We already know that Māori can&#8217;t get access to it. And then if you do get access to it, it&#8217;s of a lower quality. … Every step of the way is not truly compliant for Māori. So every step everywhere needs rethinking, reorientation with Māori needs and rights at the centre.” (See the <a href="https://awc.org.nz/healthkoreroreport"><u>kōrero report</u></a> for discussion on Te Aka Whai Ora’s and Whānau Ora’s holistic approaches to health.)</p>
<p><strong>Why “needs-based” must include ethnicity in Aotearoa NZ healthcare</strong></p>
<p>“Equity of outcomes” means the same <em>outcomes</em> for everybody – rather than a “one size fits all” <em>treatment</em>. “Equity for me is about saying that that gap [in outcomes] is unfair and unjust and that that&#8217;s wrong,” says Elana. And ethnicity “is a marker of need because of racism, because of patriarchy, because of colonisation, all those things,” says Elana. In other words, it is <em>not</em> primarily about genetics. Instead ethnicity “is the most precise marker of need because of the way in which <em>society</em> is set up to make our needs so much worse.” It is society that “makes ethnicity matter” as a marker of need: ethnicity is “the best precise marker that we have. It&#8217;s better than geography, it&#8217;s better than socioeconomic status, it&#8217;s better than all these other variables.” So “ethnicity-based vs need-based” is a false dichotomy (the life expectancy gap for Māori and non-Māori is seven years).</p>
<p>Side note: Elana side-eyes the use of the phrase “race-based” as “interesting”, given race is “a biological concept which has been debunked and put in there to think that we can divide everyone up into different species of human beings &#8211; and there&#8217;s no scientific evidence for that.” It’s not a term officially used anymore, even by Crown agencies, and should be rejected.</p>
<p><strong>Privilege: you don’t know what you’ve got, if you’ve always had it</strong></p>
<p>If you go to the shop and the shopkeeper smiles at you, you think this is normal behaviour if you&#8217;ve never experienced anything different. You don’t necessarily know that the shopkeeper follows some people around the store to work out what they’re trying to steal.</p>
<p>That’s privilege. And it’s “really really hard” to see your own privilege helping you through life when you have had it all the time. It’s invisible, says Elana. So “one of the first steps to understand privilege is to stop, sit down, have a look at yourself” – and what society might be discriminating about in your <em>favour</em>. “You really have to think about your own identities and what privilege and disadvantages they confer,” says Elana. Elana’s own multiple identities include being Māori, a woman, a doctor. “All these things, they confer either advantage or disadvantage… and you&#8217;ve probably got both….. I didn&#8217;t earn either the advantage or the disadvantage. ….  I&#8217;ve got disadvantage as a Māori, I&#8217;ve got disadvantage as a woman, but I&#8217;ve got major advantage being a doctor and having a socioeconomic profile that changes that trajectory for me and my whānau.”</p>
<p>And the privilege/advantage and disadvantage is not something that just happened on its own. Lady Moxon: Society “always favours certain groups within itself” and in the main, those who make the rules and make the laws – they write those rules and laws to favour themselves.</p>
<p>At the same time – as if it were a zero-sum game (which it isn’t) – those in power set up environments which make other people unwell – and then blames them for their own unwellness with a “deficit” explanation. Government, says Elana, “puts people in poverty, it doesn&#8217;t pay them a living wage, it makes solo mothers jump through hoops to have enough access to money to feed their children. Those are all decisions made at a societal level and that&#8217;s where the interventions need to be. It&#8217;s not in educating ourselves to behave better so that we don&#8217;t [die early]. The top killers are there because society has created an environment for them to be there and to be distributed along the lines of ethnicity in this country.”</p>
<p>So the next step is not just about looking at our own privilege – it’s about assisting others who share our identities to think about their privilege also. Which leads us to…</p>
<p><strong>Cultural safety and cultural competency: not an either/or</strong></p>
<p>Elana is a world-leading expert on cultural safety. “Cultural safety is not actually about you learning about the culture of everyone else around you; [instead it is] learning about yourself, your own culture and what your own identity might mean to a clinical encounter with somebody of a different culture than you. But also [about] the way in which you set up the health care system for people that are of a different culture than you.</p>
<p>“Cultural safety is not learning a waiata, doing a karakia, having a trip to the marae, going on country. Culture safety is the hard work of [identifying] racism and bias and checking yourself and working out what your gaps are and fixing yourself and not allowing yourself to carry on with discrimination and oppression towards people of different identities.</p>
<p>“Notice I&#8217;m using the word ‘culture’; I&#8217;m not saying it&#8217;s just ethnicity or indigeneity, we have different cultural identities so your sexual orientation, your socioeconomic profile, where you&#8217;re from, your country of birth, all your identities should really fall under cultural safety. Unfortunately we tend to just put Māori health or indigenous health with cultural safety, but actually the intersectionality of all of those things is really important.</p>
<p>“ &#8216;Cultural competency’ is another term that&#8217;s often used interchangeably with ‘cultural safety’, and cultural competency <em>is</em> about understanding what [things] might mean for somebody who identifies themselves as belonging to a certain cultural group: what their norms are, what their ways of being are – and you would want to have some knowledge of that. You want both cultural safety and cultural competency but it&#8217;s for all identities now.</p>
<p>“In our 2019 article … which was like, ‘don&#8217;t do cultural competency, do cultural safety,’ I accidentally encouraged everyone to not do any cultural competency, just to do cultural safety, and it was all about Māori health. We&#8217;ve just submitted another article because I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s helped us. We need to be doing cultural safety <em>for all</em>, cultural competency <em>for all.</em> And [then] Hauora Māori (Māori health) would take on what you do that&#8217;s culturally safe for Māori, what&#8217;s culturally competent for Māori, and it must be there on its own pou, in its own sort of commitment alongside cultural safety.”</p>
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		<title>“Shame on your undies!” – health experts on racist governments</title>
		<link>https://awc.org.nz/healthkoreroreport/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Womenz]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Apr 2025 05:26:16 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Decolonisation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forum]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://awc.org.nz/?p=5163</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[From the current “evil layer” of emboldened racism here and around the world, to a vision of aroha and equity at the centre of healthcare, health system experts Lady Tureiti Moxon (Ngāti Pāhauwera, Ngāti Kahungunu, Kāi Tahu) and Dr Elana Curtis (Ngāti Rongomai, Ngāti Pikiao, Te Arawa) covered sooo many topics that you really need ... ]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>From the current “evil layer” of emboldened racism here and around the world, to a vision of aroha and equity at the centre of healthcare, health system experts Lady Tureiti Moxon (Ngāti Pāhauwera, Ngāti Kahungunu, Kāi Tahu) and Dr Elana Curtis (Ngāti Rongomai, Ngāti Pikiao, Te Arawa) covered sooo many topics that you really need to listen to this one – maybe more than once! – rather than just reading this brief report (and the related <a href="https://awc.org.nz/healthexplainer/">concepts explainer</a>). Happily, they communicated their deep knowledge beautifully, ably assisted by chair Stacey Morrison whose own insights and stories added to the richness of the kōrero.</p>
<p><iframe title="Health Kōrero with Lady Tureiti Moxon and Dr Elana Curtis (PART 1/3)" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OGyeO9YDMwI?list=PLzJuZTNB4ZBXwEBg0F6lz9PtqO36VzDHT" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><strong>What the heck are they up to?</strong></p>
<p>The context for the evening was a National-led government which has disestablished Te Aka Whai Ora (the Māori health authority); has now appointed a Health Minister (Simeon Brown) who was president of an anti-abortion club at university; has removed the key funding source for social sciences and cultural research (Marsden); and significantly, has prohibited health services from using the evidence-based and efficient method of identifying need by ethnicity to increase equity.</p>
<p>Yet, as Stacey reminded us, the life expectancy gap between Māori and non-Māori is currently seven years.</p>
<p>Lady Tureiti Moxon – Chair of the National Urban Māori Authority whose long years of Waitangi Tribunal advocacy were instrumental in achieving the establishment of all-too-short-lived Te Aka Whai Ora, and who owns and runs a large health provider in Kirikiriroa – reminded us there is a cyclical rhythm to government attitudes to Māori. Dr Elana Curtis – whose University of Auckland research into healthcare cultures is world-leading, and who now assists health teams with cultural safety via Taikura and Oro Nuku – didn’t disagree&#8230; but she does feel “what&#8217;s happening right now is another layer, a really evil layer… that I haven’t quite experienced [until now]”. Lady Moxon identified that layer as (emboldened) racism. Elana described it as “weird” and “ugly”: You&#8217;re seeing it around the world […] every day I’m like, ‘what the heck are they up to? Shame on your undies, why are you doing that?’ You know, like, you can&#8217;t just say ‘we don&#8217;t care about equity’. That means you don&#8217;t care about humanity.”</p>
<p><strong>Te Aka Whai Ora: the disestablished potential life changer </strong></p>
<p>But as well as equity of outcomes, the government has a responsibility to uphold te Tiriti o Waitangi – to ensure Māori have <em>rights</em>-based healthcare. Yet this government destroyed Te Aka Whai Ora &#8211; both kōrero guests had been involved in its establishment. Lady Moxon explained what she loves about the “outcomes driven” holistic approaches shared by both Te Aka Whai Ora and Whānau Ora: it’s not just about counting widgets – or immunisations. It’s about asking “ &#8216;how is that baby? How is that māmā? How are they progressing? Are they in a warm whare? … Have they been seeing their doctor regularly? … Do they have enough kai in the cupboard?’ You know, all of those things have a huge impact on our health.” Te Aka Whai Ora was important because “we could create plans that actually met the needs of the communities we were working in.” With the new authority, “we finally thought we’d made it”. (Stacey later quoted Sir Mason Durie: “we don&#8217;t ask what&#8217;s the matter with that whānau, we ask what matters <em>to</em> that whānau.”)</p>
<p>Elana too talked about the “promise and hope” of Te Aka Whai Ora – its opening “was a bit of an emotional day. You knew, ‘wow, this could actually be a huge change!’.” But by gutting the initiative and “dumping” its staff back into Te Whatu Ora (mainstream Health NZ) “you&#8217;ve lost something, the wairua behind those staff….morale is dropping off…. The wairua of people that actually saw some hope and then you take it away should never be underestimated. … It&#8217;s quite hard for me to watch this gutting out, gutting out, gutting out rather than purposely building up and enhancing our Māori staff. … That&#8217;s going to take years of recovery.”</p>
<p>Stacey suggested the current approach is “aroha kore” – devoid of aroha, and Lady Moxon agreed – for all people: “our hospitals have lost the plot.. there’s no caring anymore. So a lot of people are feeling like they can&#8217;t trust their loved ones to be there on their own. And they&#8217;ve got to be there so they can take care of their ordinary needs on a daily basis…. Our healthcare system… should be a place of caring, of loving, of feeling like you are the most important person who is there in that place at that time.”</p>
<p><strong>Everything they do favours Pākehā domination</strong></p>
<p>An audience member asked a question about the idea that “we have to get it right for Māori before we get it right for others”. It’s about equity and rights – and also about privilege (<a href="https://awc.org.nz/healthexplainer/"><u>see Elana and Lady Moxon’s explanations here</u></a>). “I would say that to get it right for Māori is to have a deep understanding about &#8230;  the language of oppression and marginalisation,” said Elana. “And so if we understand that language, we will therefore, should, get it right for Māori and therefore get it right for all people who are marginalised and oppressed. And that&#8217;s actually not about anything Māori per se, that&#8217;s about those that are doing the oppressing and those that are doing the marginalisation. So if they can get it right, they have to change themselves in that practice, therefore that will have an impact on all of us, not just Maori.”</p>
<p>Lady Moxon also talked about the success of the Whānau Ora commissioning agencies, including during COVID – and about the fact the current commissioning agencies have been told they’ve been unsuccessful in their bid to continue, despite ten years of success and established networks. “It&#8217;s about power and control,” she said. “And it&#8217;s basically saying to us, ‘get back in your little box and stay there’. And we&#8217;ve been here too long… we&#8217;re not going to get back into no box and stay there. [But] that&#8217;s the destructiveness of this government. … And they still haven&#8217;t finished yet because they&#8217;re taking away every reference to Te Tiriti o Waitangi everywhere. So I am very very disheartened and disappointed in this government, in the Minister and in the government of today that they think that we are just pawns in a game.” Later she continued: the government’s ethos in healthcare has been “basically get rid of anything Māori” – which aligns to their overall approach. “Everything they&#8217;re doing favours Pākehā domination.”</p>
<p>No wonder Elana feels  “a deep sense of the ground moving and it&#8217;s been moved and it&#8217;s unsafe.” She describes the reneging of the free bowel cancer screening (which was going to drop to age 52 for Māori and Pasifika, but is now going to start at age 58 for everybody), as “abhorrent , probably one of the most shocking things, given the evidence that we have [about current ethnic inequity of bowel cancer outcomes].” The change in policy will kill Māori and improve things for Pākehā – so it will make health outcomes more inequitable – “we have deliberately chosen to do that … against what should be our ethic, moral, responsibility. And so that was institutional racism right there in our face,” says Elana. “Because you&#8217;re putting efficiency above equity. [You’re saying:] A good Māori is a dead Māori. A cheap Maori is a dead Māori. So it&#8217;s everything that I can&#8217;t stand.”</p>
<p><strong>The end game is aroha</strong></p>
<p>So resistance is important: Both Stacey and Lady Moxon expressed the encouragement they felt when they saw non-Māori overtly supporting Māori aspirations – by displaying “Together for Te Tiriti” stickers for example. And &#8211; “don&#8217;t let anybody colonise your headspace,” says Elana. “That&#8217;s my biggest message: stay sovereign. Stay tino rangatiratanga in your head. Understand what&#8217;s happening, rise above it…. ‘I know what they&#8217;re doing &#8211; I can see what it&#8217;s up to &#8211; but it&#8217;s not gonna break me’…. There&#8217;s always hope. … Yeah, there is cray crayness right now, but I&#8217;m going to stay fighting. I know what the end game is, and it&#8217;s aroha.  … We&#8217;ve got the future, we can hope and dream, because that&#8217;s what our ancestors did, and that&#8217;s what we&#8217;re gonna do in their memory.”</p>
<p><strong>Need to help some ignorant rellies, or that guy at the gym? <a href="https://awc.org.nz/healthexplainer/">Read explanations of Elana and Lady Moxon&#8217;s big concepts &#8211; cultural safety, equity &#8211; here.</a></strong></p>
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		<title>Letter to Minister Stanford &#8211; RSE Guidelines</title>
		<link>https://awc.org.nz/letter-to-minister-stanford/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[kaitlin]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 17 Mar 2025 03:01:26 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Family Violence]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Feminism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Queer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Relationships & Sexuality Education]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://awc.org.nz/?p=5079</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Update 9 May 2025: We received a reply from the Minister &#8211; note it is dated 9 May, while mentioning an opportunity to give feedback on the draft RSE framework which closed on&#8230; 9 May. The Minister&#8217;s response is here (in non-accessible form, with non-live links, as it was sent to us). We already knew ... ]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Update 9 May 2025:</strong> We received a reply from the Minister &#8211; note it is dated 9 May, while mentioning an opportunity to give feedback on the draft RSE framework which closed on&#8230; 9 May. <a href="https://awc.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/ESC7240-Maia-Hall.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Minister&#8217;s response is here (in non-accessible form, with non-live links, as it was sent to us)</a>.</p>
<p>We already knew about the opportunity to give feedback &#8211; <a href="https://awc.org.nz/rseguidelines/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">you can find more information here</a>.</p>
<p><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-5081" src="https://awc.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/AWC-Logo-Transparent-Background-300x200.png" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://awc.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/AWC-Logo-Transparent-Background-300x200.png 300w, https://awc.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/AWC-Logo-Transparent-Background-1024x682.png 1024w, https://awc.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/AWC-Logo-Transparent-Background-685x457.png 685w, https://awc.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/AWC-Logo-Transparent-Background-1536x1024.png 1536w, https://awc.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/AWC-Logo-Transparent-Background.png 1772w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></p>
<p>Hon. Erica Stanford<br />
Minister of Education<br />
<a href="mailto:E.Stanford@ministers.govt.nz">E.Stanford@ministers.govt.nz</a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>17 March 2025</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Tēnā koe Minister Stanford,</p>
<p>I write on behalf of Auckland Women’s Centre to join our concerns to those of Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa and the Mental Health Foundation regarding the removal of the Relationships and Sexuality Education Guidelines from the Ministry of Education website.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the current guidelines help to prevent gender violence, and we are highly concerned they are no longer accessible.</p>
<p>Gender violence is endemic in this country – for example, the NZ Crimes &amp; Victims Survey shows around a third of women in Aotearoa New Zealand have experienced sexual violence (<a href="https://www.justice.govt.nz/assets/NZCVS-findings-core-report-2018-fin-v1.3-for-release.pdf">Ministry of Justice, 2019, p.82</a>), and more will have experienced other forms of intimate partner violence. The guidelines assist in a generational approach to reduce this horrific burden.</p>
<p>We urge you to reinstate access to the current guidelines, while their review and refresh is underway.</p>
<p>Education and violence prevention experts over the years have told us the guidelines are generally useful and positive; that they help schools understand how to promote healthy relationships among rangatahi and young people, and how to increase respect for difference, which makes gender violence less likely.</p>
<p>In your maiden speech you included a perceptive and positive assessment of where we were in 2017: “I love seeing the world through my children&#8217;s eyes. I love seeing how ‘normal’ can change so much from one generation to the next. It will be normal for my children to have a young female Prime Minister. It&#8217;ll be normal for them to have their marriages defined by love and not by gender.”</p>
<p>We urge you not to consign those ideas to the past.</p>
<p>Removing the guidelines &#8211; a violence prevention tool &#8211; without replacement is a move against all women, trans and cis. We urge you to immediately reinstate access to the Relationships and Sexuality Education Guidelines to promote respect for women and people of all genders and sexualities.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Ngā mihi nui</p>
<p>Maia Hall<br />
Centre Manager<br />
<a href="mailto:programmes@womenz.org.nz">programmes@womenz.org.nz</a></p>
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		<title>Keeping summer festivals safe</title>
		<link>https://awc.org.nz/keeping-summer-festivals-safe/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[kaitlin]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 22 Feb 2020 04:01:57 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Family Violence]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Feminism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Justice]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://awc.byjon.nz/?p=894</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Our youth coordinator Gabriella Brayne reports on her Consent Club leadership work. The Consent Club is a restorative-oriented, peer support system that works at festivals to promote a culture of consent. Our mahi has three focuses: education through kōrero and wānanga for festival goers; training volunteers to practice survivor-focussed, non-confrontational bystander intervention; and dealing with ... ]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span style="color: #bf6986;"><em>Our youth coordinator Gabriella Brayne reports on her Consent Club leadership work.</em></span></p>
<p>The Consent Club is a restorative-oriented, peer support system that works at festivals to promote a culture of consent. Our mahi has three focuses:</p>
<ol>
<li>education through kōrero and wānanga for festival goers;</li>
<li>training volunteers to practice survivor-focussed, non-confrontational bystander intervention;</li>
<li>and dealing with disclosures at festivals.</li>
</ol>
<p>This year, we went to Soundsplash in Raglan, and Kiwiburn, a six-day participatory art festival, in Hunterville &#8211; two very different yet rewarding environments. At Soundsplash music festival, our team of fifteen awesome Consent Guardian volunteers each brought loads of positivity, compassion and personal insight to our kaupapa. It was awesome engaging with a relatively young crowd about the importance of practicing consent, not only in a festival environment but in all aspects of daily life. Festival-goers reported feeling safer by simply knowing we were available to help.</p>
<p>Our experience at Kiwiburn was equally positive because of the energy of our Guardian team, whom I was honoured to lead. One of our volunteers ran a workshop on practicing consent through theatre art &#8211; encouraging attendees to emotionally embrace the kaupapa of consent culture.</p>
<p>This year, we are looking to expand our work even further and encourage more volunteers to join our whānau. If you’re interested in joining or are keen to learn more, please reach out to us on our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/consentclub/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook page ‘Consent Club’</a> or Instagram<a href="https://www.instagram.com/consentclubnz/?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> @consentclubnz</a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-896 aligncenter" src="https://awc.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Capture-4-300x267.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="267" srcset="https://awc.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Capture-4-300x267.jpg 300w, https://awc.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Capture-4.jpg 596w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></p>
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