Gender Equality in the Pacific region

Grand Hall
ParliamentWellington

It is my honour to represent my parliamentary colleague, Speaker of the House of Representatives and President of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association New Zealand branch, the Hon Margaret Wilson, in opening this workshop on Gender Equality in the Pacific.

It is my privilege as New Zealand's Minister of Women's Affairs to welcome all the delegates who have travelled here from parliaments around the Pacific and to welcome our own New Zealand women parliamentarians.

I would like to especially welcome the Hon Lindiwe Maseko, the Chairperson of Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians, as well as Ms Laisa Tuinamoala of UNIFEM.

The objectives of this workshop are ones that I readily endorse as Minister of Women's Affairs:

• To enhance the capacity of Parliamentarians to ensure that legislative processes and laws and parliamentary processes promote gender equality;
• To promote the participation of women in parliamentary and other political institutions;
• To draw attention to the need to ensure that international treaties and obligations, including CEDAW are adhered to and implemented in domestic law;
• To follow up on country specific CPA/UNIFEM Parliamentary Perspectives of Gender Equality Workshops carried out in Papua New Guinea and Tonga in 2005;
• To follow up on the CPA/UNIFEM/UNDP supported 'Pacific Regional Workshop on Advancing Women's Representation in Parliaments' Workshop held in Cook Islands, April 2006, organised by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.

New Zealand is honoured to be able to host this week's workshop. We are an active member of the international community and seek to promote and protect the rights set out in international agreements. In November 2004 the Minister of Women’s Affairs and the Minister of Foreign Affairs jointly agreed to a set of priorities for New Zealand’s international work in relation to issues concerning the status of women and those priorities have guided the joint work of both Ministries. These priorities relate to:

• defending women’s sexual health and reproductive rights
• reducing violence against women; and
• promoting gender mainstreaming.

These are important priorities and I believe that it is vital that we take a strong stand on them as women, because they are the basis for moving forward as women, as leaders in our communities and as the mainstay of our families. This is why gender analysis is so important.

Gender analysis recognises that women's and men's lives (and therefore their experiences, needs, issues and priorities) are different and that different strategies may be necessary to achieve equitable outcomes for women and men and different groups of women.

If these differences are not identified in the policy-making process then there is a real concern that the policy itself could be based on incorrect assumptions and stereotypes. Nobody should feel that they have to justify this approach to developing policy and implementing service delivery – it is vital to the future of all our nations – and is just as important in New Zealand, which has just celebrated 113 years of women's suffrage and 110 years of our oldest umbrella organisation for women, the National Council of Women.

As part of the global action to eliminate poverty by 2015, and recognising the link between inequality and poverty, many countries and international organisations, such as the OECD Development Assistance Committee and the Asian Development Bank, are revising or developing new gender policies and strategies to accelerate progress towards the promotion of gender equality and empowering women.

New Zealand is no exception. We recognise that inequality and poverty are inextricably linked, which is why NZAID is working actively to enhance gender equality and women's representation in governance at both national and regional levels in the Pacific. NZAID’s Draft Pacific Strategy includes such objectives as enhancing the skills and experience of political and community leaders, particularly women. Likewise, NZAID's Pacific Leadership Development Strategy is committed to focusing on enhancing the role of women in governance at all levels.

For New Zealand, one of the key drivers in working to help Pacific Island countries reach their potential, is to enhance the role women play in governance and decision-making. But we know that the real challenge is for local leaders and communities to build from this commitment and embrace change for themselves.

This week’s workshop is about co-operation and sharing ideas, so that we all gain from each other's knowledge and experiences. An understanding of the gender implications of all policies is a vital element of good governance and that is why opportunities like this are so important.
As host country for this workshop, I’ll touch briefly on where we are at. Earlier this year, New Zealand’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs marked its 20th anniversary, which was an opportunity to reflect on the progress that has been made over those years and to contemplate the work still to be done.

During that time there have been major advances gained for women here in New Zealand. But despite the progress, many of the issues that existed in the early 1980s are still with us in 2006. These include the ongoing work-life balance issues, the gender pay gap, women in leadership and the continuing level of violence against women.

Let me focus on women in leadership. In New Zealand you sometimes hear people say that ‘women are running the country’. That’s because our Prime Minister, the recently retired Governor-General, the Chief Justice and the Chief Executive of our biggest company are women – but these women are remarked upon largely because it is remarkable that women held those positions at a single moment in time. You will note that I included the "recently retired" Governor-General. It seems to have escaped most commentators' notice that this magic moment in history has passed. I am sure that when all of these positions are again held by men, as one day they may, that fact will not make headline news as it will be regarded as a return to the status quo.

The reality is, in politics, in business and in many other areas, women are not to be found in large numbers in leadership roles. And where they are in leadership positions, we need to dig down several layers to find the women coming through.

Let me use the example of directors on private sector company boards. The most recent data shows that only 7 per cent of board members on the top 100 NZX listed companies are women.

With emerging trends in international research indicating a positive correlation between diversity in board membership and strong company performance, that’s a waste of women’s talent that no country can afford.

Currently, women represent around 41 percent of the total Government-appointed membership of state sector boards, so we have shown that it can be done. We did it by setting ourselves a target of 50 per cent participation by 2010, and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs Nominations Service is helping us achieve that by putting forward suitably qualified women who have registered their details on its extensive database.

Despite the number of women in the New Zealand Parliament also increasing at the last election, we still only make up just over 32 per cent of MPs. Even as the country to lead the way in women's suffrage, we have some way to go.

However, we compare well with other countries across the Pacific, where women still remain under-represented. In fact there are six Pacific Island countries with no women members of parliament. It is therefore of little surprise that the 1994 Pacific Platform for Action on the Advancement of Women highlighted the need for shared decision-making as a critical area of concern. It is difficult for any group to progress when they do not have a direct voice in parliament. And that is why workshops like these are an opportunity to reflect on the importance of the women's voice in all areas of decision-making. In our role as members of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, we need to take the opportunity offered by these events to strengthen the consensus that is required to both protect and advance women’s rights as human rights.

In conclusion, for New Zealand, a key driver for us in working with our Pacific neighbours is for us to maximise our potential as a region, and to do this we must realise the full potential of women. It is not possible to achieve a modern, prosperous and peaceful society without the participation of everyone within that society. Thank you for taking up this challenge and for your enthusiasm and energy to take part in what I know will be a productive and enlightening workshop. I am sure you will all gain from the sharing of ideas and experiences from our different nations. I again welcome you to the New Zealand Parliament and wish you well in your discussions.