Women's action plan will recognise Maori women's role

A new action plan being developed by the government will recognise the role of Maori women within whanau, hapu and iwi, Women’s Affairs Minister Ruth Dyson said today.

Launching the discussion document, Towards an Action Plan for New Zealand Women, at a function at Parliament attended by more than 300 people, Ms Dyson said the action plan would identify a clear vision, set of goals and framework for action to improve women’s lives, including those of Maori women.

“The well-being of Maori women is closely related to the well-being of their whanau, hapu and iwi. Maori women are responsible for looking after around half of Maori whanau by themselves. They were the driving force behind the kohanga reo movement, have the highest participation in Maori arts and cultural activities, and are most likely to be speakers of te reo Maori at younger ages.”

Ruth Dyson said the discussion document had three key themes for women: economic sustainability; balancing work, family and community responsibilities; and general well-being.

“The action plan will recognise the special place and role of Maori women, as tangata whenua and as the heart and soul of their whanau, hapu and iwi.

“It will also come up with ways to address the key priorities identified by Maori women: racial discrimination, housing, domestic violence, employment, health and education.

“Underlying all of these issues is the need for sustainable Maori development – both to ensure that Maori women have the economic independence to support themselves and their whanau, and to ensure that hapu and iwi have sufficient resources to promote the well-being and aspirations of Maori communities.”

Ruth Dyson said the Ministry of Women’s Affairs was working with the National Council of Women and Maori Women’s Welfare League to develop and run consultation meetings on the action plan around the country in February and March 2003.

At the same function, Ruth Dyson also launched The Status of Women in New Zealand 2002, the government’s 5th report to the United Nations committee on the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

Ms Dyson will present the report to the CEDAW committee in New York in July 2003. She said the government’s achievements for women since the last report in 1998 included:
·introducing paid parental leave, following serious concern from CEDAW about the government’s lack of action throughout the 1990s;
·consulting widely on pay equity and the best way to reduce the gender pay gap;
·amending human rights legislation to provide a non-discrimination standard for the government;
·developing a Maori Health Strategy and Maori Education Strategy;
·strengthening Te Puni Kokiri’s role in auditing the effectiveness of policies for Maori;
·producing a 10-year plan to increase the participation of Maori, Pacific, low income and rural children in early childhood education;
·publishing the Time Use Survey, providing robust information on the paid and unpaid work of women and men; and
·implementing Te Rito: New Zealand Family Violence Prevention Strategy.

Copies of The Status of Women in New Zealand 2002 and Towards an Action Plan for New Zealand Women (full version and summary), are available from:
the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, PO Box 10 049 Wellington, email:mwa@mwa.govt.nz. The documents will be available on the website: www.mwa.govt.nz from 6.00pm, Wednesday, 4 December.

Maori Women’s Welfare League president Kitty Bennett will also speak at tonight’s launch.