Kia orana, Ni sa bula vinaka, Taloha ni, Fakaalofa lahi atu, Malo e lelei, Halo olaketa, Ia orana, Talofa lava, Tena koutou and warm Pacific greetings to you all from. Both the Associate Minister of Pacific Island Affairs Luamanuvao Winnie Laban and I welcome you to Parliament for this important occasion.

We are here tonight to celebrate all Pacific women, young and old, from all the Pacific nations – whether you are a mother, daughter, aunt, grandmother, teacher, business woman, community worker or all of the above.

It’s great to see such a wonderful turnout of Pacific leaders to celebrate Pacific Women.

I wanted tonight to be an opportunity to let you know about key work areas that the Ministry of Women’s Affairs have led and which I see as critical to improving Pacific Women’s Economic Well-being.

Tonight we are releasing two reports. The first is a research report commissioned by the Ministry, which provides a unique opportunity to hear the stories and voices of a group of Pacific women and to gain some valuable insights into their issues and priorities.

The second builds on the findings from this research and is designed to assist policy makers in government to be better informed when they make decisions that have an impact on Pacific women, their families and their communities.

The Improving Pacific Women’s Economic Well-being project had its genesis in a meeting between the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Pacific Women in 2001, which highlighted that economic issues were a major concern for women in Pacific Island communities within New Zealand.

The Ministry wanted to inform policy development by government departments on issues and priorities that would contribute to Pacific women’s economic development. But, first it realised that it needed to understand more about the lives of Pacific women in New Zealand, and factors that make it difficult - or easy - for Pacific women to earn enough to help support themselves and their families.

In the first stage of the Project, the Ministry gathered all the relevant existing information they could find about Pacific women to gain an understanding of the overall trends for Pacific women. This confirmed some of the things that I’m sure many in this room know well:

• that Pacific women in New Zealand are more likely than other women to be unemployed, or to be lower-skilled workers in lower paid jobs

• that Pacific families tend to be larger, which often means Pacific women have greater family responsibilities, and that those lower incomes have to go around more people
• and that Pacific women often have more health problems than other New Zealand women, which can impact on their paid work as well as on other parts of their lives.

These are big issues for Pacific women and Pacific communities, but they are also things that should concern the whole of New Zealand.

If anyone thinks that this is not about them, they should consider population trends. These show an aging population, an increasing proportion of Pacific people in working population and a current skills shortage, which will only grow worse if we don’t provide Pacific people with better opportunities.

Improving outcomes for Pacific women, therefore, is an important policy issue for the future of our nation.

That’s what the existing data told the Ministry. But, it did not say very much about the reasons why Pacific women’s economic well-being is not as good as that of other New Zealanders.

To get good evidence that could be used to develop good policy, the Ministry needed to talk directly to Pacific women.

That’s where the second part of the research came in. The Ministry commissioned Koloto and Associates to undertake some qualitative research. This wasn’t a public opinion poll where you can say 62 per cent of the people think this, or that.

Rather, it was an in-depth study involving 230 women from across the country - and from each of the six largest Pacific populations in New Zealand - who came together to talk to the researchers.

It aimed to find out what Pacific women thought about their current economic well-being and what they wanted for the future.

The study used well-tested research techniques such as focus groups and structured interviews with individuals, but it also drew strongly on Pacific ways of discussion and feedback.

Right at the outset the Ministry also set up a Pacific Women’s Economic Well-being Reference Group to provide guidance, leadership and advice to the project team. Many members of the Group are here tonight and I would like to thank them for their significant contribution.

The project was also a good example of a whole-of-government approach. While the Ministry of Women’s Affairs led the project, there was significant support and assistance from the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs, the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Economic Development among others.

So what did Pacific women say about their economic well-being? Much of it will not surprise you, but it is no less valuable because it says things you may already know to be true.

Among the most prominent themes to come out of the research was how the roles of family, the church and community were central in the lives of Pacific women and how these significantly influence decisions made in relation to work and other activities.

In fact, the majority of the participants in the research considered their role as members of families and extended families as being paramount, recognising that they are often mother, daughter, wife, sister, cousin, aunt, grandmother, niece, granddaughter and family elder all at the same time, each role having different obligations and responsibilities.

Any policy developed has to take this reality into account.

Participants in the project also identified barriers to finding well-paid work.

• Lack of qualifications, experience and skills were identified as a major barrier. In some cases, the participants reported having little or no formal school qualifications, leaving them with little choice but to take unskilled or low skilled jobs. Other participants, particularly new migrants, reported a lack of New Zealand experience as the reason they had difficulty obtaining suitable employment, despite having formal tertiary qualifications and experience in similar jobs in the Pacific.

• A lack of motivation, confidence and self-determination were also seen as barriers to employment. Some of the women reported that they lacked bargaining skills, assertiveness or were "too shy or nice". Others reported lacking confidence in their abilities to make the right career choices, preferring to take no action at all.
• Care giving obligations, particularly caring for children and elderly family members, also posed problems for many and a small number of the Pasifika women cited inadequate childcare as a major barrier.
• And finally, language and communication problems were significant barriers to employment, particularly for new migrants and those who have English as a second language.

Some participants felt that employers equate a lack of English language skills as meaning someone is "simple" and some of the women experienced discrimination – as one women put it "Our ethnicity is like an unseen barrier because of our education level, they look at us as not up to par with them, so we have to bridge the gap towards New Zealand registration because we are treated differently and possibly regarded as not measuring up in the eyes of the New Zealand society."

Based on these findings, the Pacific Women’s Economic Well-being summary report identifies the three particular areas that policy should focus on to improve Pacific women’s economic well-being. These are:

• First, access to quality work – that is access to work that is skilled, satisfying and that pays enough to help Pacific women achieve what they want for themselves, their families and their communities.

• Second, the availability of high quality and affordable childcare. Recent government initiatives in this area will improve access to quality, affordable childcare and enable parents to better balance work and family life. Little is known, however, about the childcare preferences of Pacific families, particularly in relation to the impact on parents’ work choices. This is possibly an area where we need to do some more research, to ensure we get it right for Pacific families.
• And the third area we need to focus on is leadership. The experiences and knowledge Pacific women gain from their roles in their families, churches, communities and work can and should be used elsewhere.

On this last point I would like to make a plug for the Ministry of Women’s Affairs’ Nominations Service, which puts suitable women forward to serve on state sector boards and committees.

Not everyone will have the skills to sit on a board, but there are plenty of Pacific women with appropriate skills who could. If you think you might have the skills, look at the "Women on Boards" section on the Ministry’s website or phone the Ministry and talk to the Nominations Service. They are as keen as I am to see more Pacific women on state sector boards and a stronger Pacific perspective across government. This is not about tokenism either. All of the international research is telling us that diversity in governance and management is good for business.

In this context I would like to acknowledge the recent appointment of Pauline Winter as the Chair of the National Advisory Council on the Employment of Women – otherwise known as NACEW.

The Ministry has a close working relationship with NACEW. Pauline is the first Pacific women to be appointed to the position of Chair and I am sure her skills as a leader and her wealth of experience in employment, further education and business will be an asset to the Council.

There really are too many distinguished people here at this event for me to acknowledge everyone, but I do need to mention a few people and organisations that have been central to this work. In particular, I would like to thank:

• Ana Koloto and her team who undertook a significant part of Pacific Women’s Economic Well-being research. Ana will be talking about the research a little later.

• The members of the Pasifika Women’s Economic Well-Being Reference Group who helped guide the research.
• The government agencies that got together to make the project work - especially the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology (which provided funding for the research) and the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs, which provided support and advice throughout.
• And special thanks go to the 230 Pasifika women who took part in the individual interviews and the focus groups for this study - and to the dozens of other Pasifika women who contributed in other ways.

I also want to thank all Pacific women for work that they are employed to do and all the unpaid work that they do for their families, churches, communities that we as a nation benefit from. Tonight is a celebration; let us celebrate the successes and aspirations for Pacific women of today and the future.