Rau rangatira mā, tēnei te mihi ki a koutou i runga i te kaupapa o te rā – mana wahine. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā rā tātou katoa.

 

Taku ingoa ko Steve Chadwick.

Ko Te Mata taku maunga,

ko Tukituki taku awa,

ko Tau iwi,

ko ngati pakeha ahau!

  

Thank you for inviting me here today.

 

It is a privilege and a responsibility to be talking to you in my role as Minister of Women’s Affairs.

 

You have asked me talk about what I see as the important challenges for women over the next ten years.

There are many challenges we must all face.

To me the words that describe them all are “Full Participation”.

 

To participate fully we must be free from family and sexual violence.

To participate fully we must earn pay that is equitable with men.

To participate fully we and our whanau must be healthy.

To participate fully we must be accepted for who we are; in our diversity.

 

Where do we start?

 

I look back and acknowledge the strong, stoic, brave, loving, stubborn and caring women who have paved the way for us.

 

The women who fought for our right to vote.

The women who chose the hard paths to freedom and independence in order for us to enjoy freedom and independence.

The women who nurtured our great-grandmothers, grandmothers and mothers.

I acknowledge our mothers, who have influenced us in a thousand ways, and who have given us this gift of being alive now and being here to make a difference.

 

I look to you now and I feel a strong connection.

All of us here today aspire to a New Zealand that is fair and equal and just.

All of us here today have gifts and talents that will contribute to reaching that goal.

 

I look to the future; I take stock of what we have achieved so far and begin to map the changes we need to make.

 

Family and sexual violence

This evening I will start by talking about the challenges we face with eliminating family and sexual violence. Most of you will be familiar with the ‘It’s not OK’ campaign – it is the Taskforce for Action on Violence within Families’ highest profile initiative. It has already had a huge impact on people’s awareness of family violence, and on their willingness to talk about it to their friends and whanau. Being willing to report family violence – to call it the crime that it is – is also the beginning of behaviour change. But the main change we need to see is the end to the violence itself.

 

The ‘It’s not OK’ ads have been the main reason why reported rates of family violence have risen by 24 per cent in the last year – and these increases are good news, because it shows that more and more people are recognising family violence as a crime, and feel able to talk about it.

 

We have reached a tipping point.  We should be prepared, mentally and practically, for the rate of family violence reporting to increase further before it falls. That means a lot more women and families seeking new violence-free lives, and more pressure on the social service and NGOs.

 

Some of that pressure will be relieved by the government’s new Pathways to Partnership which will provide $446 million over the next four years to fund essential social services delivered by community organisations.

 

Occupational segregation and the gender pay gap

Occupational segregation, the tendency for men and women to do different types of jobs, is another major challenge.  And research has discovered that between 20 and 40 per cent of the gender pay gap, which sits stubbornly at 12 per cent, is due to occupational segregation. Women cannot attain economic independence unless we address this pay disparity.

 

The career decisions made early in life typically have a huge impact on future earning potential, and therefore on the options available later in life.

 

Recent research found that:

·           Training costs in male-dominated occupations are largely paid for by employers, but in female-dominated occupations women pay for their own training.

·           Starting wages are generally the same in male and female-dominated trade-related occupations, however, a few years down the track the pay rates diverge – with wages winding up around 50 per cent higher on average in male-dominated trades.

 

That is a massive inequality and one we need to change!

 

We need to change both boys’ and girls’ expectations about what is possible, so that neither are limited by stereotypes about what jobs they should, or could, do, or who has good ideas, or who should be given the opportunity to lead. Occupational segregation will only end when people change their attitude to what is, and what is not, men’s or women’s work.

 

Recently I had the privilege of helping to launch the Human Rights Commission’s 2008 Census of Women’s Participation.

 

The census is a very valuable tool; it monitors how well different sectors of the economy are doing at giving women equal opportunities, and will help women achieve greater participation in leadership roles. Everyone still has work to do – government are at 42 per cent women’s participation on state sector boards.  

 

But, it’s much bleaker in the private sector. Fewer than 9 percent of the directors of the top 100 companies listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange are women

 

Work-life balance

Having talked about women in the workforce and in leadership roles, I think it’s also important to touch on work-life balance. It is a key issue that effects how fully women participate in society.

 

As a society, we do not value highly enough the roles of women as mothers and caregivers. Not every mother wants to be in the paid workforce while bringing up children, but many do seek paid work through interest or through necessity. Over the past few years we have taken action to help women achieve a better balance between work and family life. This includes the introduction and extension of paid parental leave, free early childhood education, the Working For Families package, and encouraging employers to adopt more flexible working arrangements though the Department of Labour’s work-life balance project.

 

A bill has recently been introduced to parliament that will ensure that every worker is entitled to breaks and that breastfeeding mothers have their right to nourish their infants enshrined in law.

 

Health services

So far tonight I have been speaking to you in my role as Minister of Women’s Affairs, but as Associate Minister of Health, many of the issues I deal with span both portfolios – and one of these issues is health.

 

My long career as a midwife confirms for me the absolute importance of good maternity services to support women at this momentous time in their lives.

 

Despite what you may hear and read from time to time, New Zealand’s maternity system provides a high quality service. While we do face pressures occasionally it is a service that is provided by a dedicated and hard-working network of health professionals and our Lead Maternity Carer model is world-leading.

 

A recently established Maternity Services Strategic Advisory Group is due to report back to me in about six months with a strategic plan for maternity services. The government increased funding for midwives by around $11.4 million from July last year; and a one-year mentoring pilot support programme for new graduate midwives is showing signs of success. In addition, the Tertiary Education Commission is looking at how they can train more midwives.

 

So in conclusion, we can see there is much happening, and we know there is still so much hard work to do. Legally we are equal, so clearly the remaining barriers are ones of attitude. Government is determined to see women in New Zealand free from violence and able to achieve their full potential, whether that is in the workplace, in leadership roles in business or as mothers and caregivers. But we can’t do this on our own. We need organisations like BPW that can use their strong networks to press for change when they see it is needed.

 

You can drive change by supporting women and organisations in your communities who, like you, are working to build strong women.

 

You can do it by talking in your families and in your wider networks about issues such as family violence, so that those who have been voiceless know that they are understood and will be supported.

 

You can support women’s leadership by asking the awkward questions; going to the AGMs of companies in which you have shares and asking why they predominantly nominate men as directors, and whether they are aware of the international research that shows companies with diversity on their boards are more profitable.

 

You can ask similar questions of parliament, keeping the pressure on government to close the pay gap and meet its target of 50 per cent women on state sector boards and committees.

 

And you can lead by example, by putting yourselves up for leadership positions in the workplace, in your kids’ schools, in your own organisation or, if you already have good governance experience, by signing up to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs’ nominations database for those government boards and committees we need to fill.

 

And when you have done all that, you should think of your families and friends and try to get some of that very necessary work-life balance!  I know you can do it because you are talented women who are used to doing several things at once.

 

I look forward to working with you towards a future in which all New Zealanders are able to achieve their best.

 

 

Thank you