UN commends NZ women’s progress, more to be done

The United Nations Committee on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) has commended New Zealand for having the fundamentals in place for the continuing advancement of women, Women’s Affairs Minister Jo Goodhew says.

Mrs Goodhew presented New Zealand’s progress report at the CEDAW Committee hearing in New York earlier this month. Prepared every four years, this is a ‘report card’ on how well New Zealand women are doing according to international benchmarks.

The CEDAW Committee today issued the draft unedited version of its concluding observations on New Zealand’s progress.

“The Committee has expressed its appreciation for the comprehensive report on women in New Zealand presented by the delegation, and acknowledged New Zealand for implementing a number of positive legislative and policy reforms for the advancement of women,” Mrs Goodhew said.

“For example, the Committee has noted that women now comprise the majority of tertiary students, the gender gap for median hourly earnings has reduced and health outcomes for New Zealand women continue to improve.

“The Committee has acknowledged the legislative changes made in 2009 which enable the courts to issue protection orders on behalf of victims of domestic violence, although it also says that more needs to be done to reduce New Zealand’s rate of family violence.

“The concluding observations include recommendations for improvement in a number of areas, particularly for certain groups of women. I will be discussing these recommendations with my Ministerial colleagues and officials.”