Better choices throughout women's lives

E ngā mana, e nga reo, e ngā hau e wha.
Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

Warm greetings to you all and thank you for the invitation to talk to you here today.

Particularly I would like to thank Soroptimist International New Zealand president Kathy Glass for her warm invitation and would also like to acknowledge his Worship Mayor Peter Tennent and Mayoress Rosemary, International Soroptimist President Margaret Lobo and the President of the Soroptimist International Federation of the South West Pacific, Leigh Ellwood Brown.

This is the first time I have addressed Soroptimists as Minister of Women's Affairs and it is a privilege to be standing here in front of a passionate group determined to provide a better life for women in this country.

My vision as Minister of Women's Affairs is to see New Zealand women having real choices throughout their lifetimes and for women to be free to use their strengths to maximise social and economic success for themselves, their families and for our country as a whole.

For me, one of the biggest choices I made after coming to New Zealand with my family back in 1974 was deciding to stand for the Canterbury Regional Council in 1989 at a time when Asian New Zealanders seldom stood for public office.

Little did I know at the time, that the decision to run for office would kick-start a career path that would see me enter Parliament as New Zealand's first Asian MP, and lead me to become New Zealand's first Asian Cabinet Minister.

That ability to exercise choice is preconditioned with confidence and the possession of appropriate skills.

For example when choosing subjects at school, the choice is not always up to the individual to make and the reason that women may be shut out of male dominated occupations simply because school timetables made it difficult to take relevant subjects.

But these decisions have a huge impact on the life styles of women and we need to make sure these choices do not unreasonably restrict women's future options.

The Ministry of Women's Affairs commissioned the research Trading Choices, which pointed out the school timetables and the attitudes of parents, teachers and caregivers can also affect the choices and decisions of women.

When I was growing up in Hong Kong, my mother had expected me to grow up to be a teacher or a nurse - but my lack of patience put both of those careers out of reach!

While being a teacher or a nurse are both commendable career paths, nonetheless by confining career choices we cut off options subconsciously and limit dreams for girls.

And, also during my high school days, one of my male math teachers was so frustrated in having to teach a class of mainly girls that he burst out and told us all that we weren't trying in class because we were mucking around until we could get a "meal ticket".

He was partially responsible for my determination to be financially independent.

Sadly, attitudes like this still exist in today's world and it continues to take away the confidence and choice of young women and impacts on their decision making.

As Minister of Women's Affairs I am determined to break down barriers and ensure that women are able to make real choices. I am determined to ensure that women have the confidence to rise above any challenge and succeed.

I grew up in Hong Kong in an environment that was poor in a material sense, but rich in values.

I lived in a shared apartment block, where my mum, two brothers and I lived in one small room and shared the kitchen, toilet and bathroom with 40 tenants all together.

My dad was a seaman and was away from home for most of the year. But despite our situation and our surroundings, my parents were extremely proud and were committed to providing an education and a better life for their children.

I felt safe growing up in that environment because I knew that my parents were there for me, I had the security of knowing that I had a family that cared for me - something that is very important to any child.

The values of hard work, pride and honour given to me by my parents helped me along my path to becoming New Zealand's first MP of Asian descent in 1996.

In 1997, I was invited back to Hong Kong as an official guest and re-visited the area where I had grown up in a chauffeur driven limo and it brought back many long-forgotten and suppressed memories. In particular, I had the image of myself as a hungry, scared eight year old holding onto my fifteen-year-old brother walking down the hill after a failed mission to borrow money.

But surprisingly, that memory was not accompanied by bitterness. It made me realise that I had come a long way, and made me proud to be a New Zealander, because ours is a country where anyone can be rewarded for their commitment and contribution. 

New Zealand is a place that provides space, opportunity and motivation for us to realise our potential but for this to happen it is important that we believe in ourselves. By being confident and exercising real choices any New Zealander, including the 51 percent of us who are women, can fulfil their dreams.

But there is still work to be done in ensuring that barriers are removed to ensure that women have the confidence and the choices to reach for the stars.

We must recognise that women's circumstances change throughout their lives and that things that help or hinder women's abilities to make best use of their skills may be hidden in choices they made years earlier.

So my challenge to the Ministry of Women's Affairs is to balance its work between focusing on the few ‘must solve issues' where they can make a real difference and, more broadly, make sure that Government policy recognises that women's circumstances change throughout their lives.

So what are the ‘must solve issues' that I mentioned?

I want to talk about just two, both of which are very important to me - eliminating violence against women and making better use of women's skills in leadership.

Our country has a terrible record of sexual and family violence, both of which overwhelmingly feature women as victims.

Every 26 days, a woman dies in the hands of someone she knows here in New Zealand. Every 26 days.

I visited Singapore in early January - about six weeks after I became Minister - and talked about the achievement of New Zealand in gender equality but people were amazed that I also talked openly about New Zealand's domestic violence problem.

My response to their amazement was that the openness and ability to talk about it was a strength, not a weakness; that domestic violence used to be hidden and happened behind closed doors and that although we knew it was happening, we didn't talk about it.

During those dark days, our silence failed the victims and allowed the perpetrators to continue the violence, but not any more.

As a nation, we are beginning to clearly say that domestic violence is never okay and we are finding better ways to prevent violence and support the victims. This has all come about by being able to talk openly about the impact domestic violence has in our communities.

On International Women's Day earlier this month I laid down a challenge for New Zealand to commit to becoming the first nation in the world to eliminate domestic violence.

Anything less than striving to totally eliminate domestic violence within our shores would be a total betrayal of those women who live in fear, because there is no acceptable level of family violence other than zero.

Of course we are realistic that achieving this will take time and will involve massive change to attitudes and behaviour, but the National-led Government is leading the way with a range of initiatives.

We have undertaken to provide 600 extra police by 2010 with the expectation that they will work within communities to address the issues affecting all New Zealanders.

We are also making some significant law changes to better support the victims of crime and to help keep hardened criminals off the street.

One piece of legislation is the Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill, which will deny parole to repeat offenders sentenced to five years or more for violent or sexual offences, meaning they will have to serve their full sentences.

We have also introduced the Domestic Violence (Enhancing Safety) Bill, which will give police the power to issue on-the-spot protection orders to alleged offenders of domestic violence.

One of the most powerful aspects of this Bill is that it will allow police to issue the protection order with or without the complainant's consent, meaning greater protection for victims, who are often too scared or unwilling to act against offenders.

This is important because research has shown that many women stay in abusive relationships because they are too scared to leave, which keeps the power firmly in the offenders' hands.

These moves will help provide the safe prospect for women, which is one of your themes as Soroptimists.

And that is why I am so heartened to see you all gathered here today, because domestic violence is not a problem that can be solved by Government alone - it also takes the hard work and dedication of individuals and organisations like yours.

We must all work together to reduce and ultimately eliminate the blight that is domestic violence and we have to start now. The issue of family violence must remain at the top of our agenda, because it will take years to solve.

If eliminating domestic violence is part of building a strong foundation, then increasing the number of women in leadership is closer to the top of the aspirational pyramid - but it is just as important to New Zealand's future.

New Zealand cannot be fully competitive as a nation unless we make full use of the talents of all our people, yet it is clearly evident that we are wasting the skills and experience of the half who are women.

Women are under-represented in many aspects of the economy, particularly in leadership roles and in the boardroom.

While there are currently more women in Parliament than ever before - we still make up little more than a third of the House.

Women are doing better on state sector boards and committees at around 42 percent - partially due to the efforts of the Ministry of Women's Affairs nominations service - but in the private sector the record is much worse, with women making up less than nine percent of directors on our top 100 listed companies.

Unfortunately this is not a problem that can be easily solved.

Simply telling businesses that they should appoint more women won't work, to get more women in the boardroom we need to show them that it is in their own interest to do so.

Businesses will only change when they recognise that they are missing out on competitive advantage and when their shareholders - which may be you - begin to ask them what they are doing about it.

Fortunately, there is pretty compelling evidence that companies with more women on their boards perform much better than those with few or no women on their boards.

A leading study in this area is the Catalyst Report, which reviews the performance of the Fortune 500 - the top 500 listed companies in the United States.

The study shows that corporations with more diverse representation performed better and dominated the top performers' list and the differences were significant.

Men and women need to work together in senior management and on boards because it results in better-run and more profitable businesses.

Government and businesses need to work together to achieve change and build a competitive nation, but it is also important that we have engagement in substance with organisations like Soroptimists and that we recognise the huge contribution organisations like yours make to New Zealand.

So let me close by saying ‘thank you' for all the hard work you have put in as Soroptimists - New Zealand needs organisations that foster women's leadership and help to support the social fabric on which all our future success rests.

Enjoy the rest of your conference, and go back home re-charged - because New Zealand needs you!