Posts in “Politics” category

Paid Paternal Leave: One simple trick to enhance gender equity

While we celebrate 26 weeks of paid parental leave (PPL) since July 2020, New Zealand is still lagging behind international norms and best practice when it comes to enabling parents to spend time with their babies. This is the case particularly for non-birthing parents (the Dads in most Mum-Dad families) and secondary caregiving parents in ...

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Posted: February 21, 2022Categories: , , ,

Delta lockdown: Worse than the first for women and families in Tāmaki Makaurau

This time around, in spite of huge community efforts, need is greater, stress is higher and support is harder to find. For many, it will take a long time to recover. It didn’t have to be this way. Tania Kingi has worked in the disability sector for almost 40 years yet she told The Spinoff ...

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Posted: October 6, 2021Categories: ,

Minister for Women Jan Tinetti gets to work

Te Wāhi Wāhine o Tāmaki Makaurau/ Auckland Women’s Centre met with Minister for Women Jan Tinetti in May, and came away very impressed. It was clear Jan understands why a gendered analysis of family and sexual violence is important, and during the meeting, she listened to our concerns intently. Jan is Pākehā, a breast cancer ...

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Posted: July 20, 2021Categories: ,

Towards a feminist budget

If we stopped spending on the military, what could we achieve instead? On International Women’s Day this year the Aotearoa section of Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF) challenged government military expenditure. WILPF maintains that “well-resourced civilian agencies are better suited to perform the military’s current roles”, for example, disaster response, search and ...

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Posted: June 8, 2021Categories: ,

Are policy makers paying any attention to women’s needs?

The Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment’s attempt to combat modern slavery in New Zealand without considering forced prostitution is yet more evidence the Government urgently needs to mandate the use of a gender policy tool for all agencies, says Te Wāhi Wāhine o Tāmaki Makaurau manager Leonie Morris. “It’s outrageous that MBIE has messed ...

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Posted: March 21, 2021Categories: ,

What are the political parties saying?

Auckland Women’s Centre is proud to be part of the new, awareness-raising Gender Justice Collective, along with researchers, practitioners and other organisations. This is our paraphrase of an article by The Workshop’s Jess Berentson-Shaw. Read the article here.

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Posted: January 21, 2021Category:

Procurement policy to support gender equity?

Last month, the Government announced a very interesting new rule: when procuring their annual $42 billion worth of goods and services, government departments and agencies would now have to “consider how they can create quality jobs, particularly for displaced workers and traditionally disadvantaged groups such as Māori, Pasifika, people with disabilities and women.” Given the ...

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Posted: October 22, 2020Categories: ,

Add ‘sure to rise’ to ‘shovel ready’ for the best COVID recovery for women and the planet

Disappointingly, “shovel ready” projects fast-tracked by government to provide employment are drawn mostly from sexist and male-dominated industries – and we know employers are often actively hostile to employing women, and/or have family-unfriendly conditions (which are not good for men either). So women are faced with a COVID double whammy: more likely to be fired, ...

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Posted: October 22, 2020Category:

Lawyers and politicans attack proposed protection for sexual violence survivors

A bill that aims to make the court process fairer and less traumatic for victims of sexual violence is currently the target of heavy lobbying by defence lawyers, who wish to see its protections watered down. This has put New Zealand First and National party support of the bill into jeopardy.. Read the article here.

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Posted: September 22, 2020Category:

COVID spending that promotes gender equity

The Government is spending to prevent a severe recession. This spending should promte gender equity as well as prevent hardship and stimulate the economy. Read the article here.

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Posted: May 22, 2020Categories: ,