Speech to Altrusa Club of Manukau

  • Pansy Wong
Women's Affairs

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

Good evening and thank you for the invitation to speak at your monthly meeting.

This is the first time that I have met with the Manukau branch of Altrusa and it is a privilege to be here to talk to a group of women who are so passionate about helping fellow Kiwi women.

I understand that your club works closely with the local Women's Refuge, providing supplies and support, making the transition easier for women who are trying to escape violence.

I would like to thank you for this, because as we all know, one of the most harrowing experiences a woman will ever have to go through is escaping an abusive environment.

It is important that there are organisations like Altrusa International that provide women with a network of help and assistance during their times of need.

One in three women will experience physical or sexual abuse at the hands of their partner - a figure that I am committed to reducing as Minister of Women's Affairs.

That is why one of the priorities I have given my Ministry is reducing and eventually eliminating violence against women.

Nestled among New Zealand's proud history of being the first country in the world to give women the vote is the overwhelming black mark of domestic violence.

A woman is killed at the hands of someone she knows every 26 days in this country - and that is something that should make us all stop and think.

I laid down a very public challenge on International Women's Day in March for us to work together as a nation of men, women and children to put an end to domestic violence within our shores.

Because only when the message, "It's not okay" rings true in the ears of every New Zealander will we be able to say that women are able to exercise real choices in our society.

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.

That is why I find it important to engage with groups like this, because it is through organisations like yours that women can build networks to realise their potential and their dreams.

A strong network can help us out of difficult situations and can also optimise our chances of success.

When talking about networking, I like to use the analogy of a spider web.

Like a web, networking takes hard work, diligence and patience and brings together individual strands to create a strong and powerful environment.

The benefit of spinning a strong network is that we have the opportunity to utilise your skills and talents and have them seen and recognised by others.

We should all be able to utilise our networks to showcase our leadership skills and to get ahead.

To understand why I'm so passionate about the power of networks it may be useful to know a little about my background.

I grew up in a small room in a shared apartment block in Hong Kong. My mum, two brothers and I lived in the one small room and shared the kitchen, toilet and bathroom with seven other families.

We didn't have much money - by New Zealand standards we were poor - but my parents were extremely proud and were committed to providing an education and a better life for their children.

My dad was a seaman, which meant he was away from home for most of the year, but it also meant that he was able to see many other countries and was able to imagine living somewhere else. That ‘somewhere else' turned out to be New Zealand.

We didn't come with a lot of assets, but my parents had made sure that I did arrive with a good secondary education, a strong system of values, and the determination to succeed.

I completed my tertiary education in Christchurch, graduating with a Master of Commerce with honours, and then set about starting my career.

I was able to get a good job as an accountant, but as a migrant I found I lacked strong local networks that would help me get ahead. Instead I had to create or join those networks - something which often took me outside of my ‘comfort zone'.

But, I was determined to not let my status as a woman or as a migrant hold me back so I decided to start saying ‘Yes' to every invitation I received.

The first thing I said ‘Yes' to was after-work drinks on Friday nights and it was at those Friday night work gatherings that I learned about a few things I wasn't taught at school in Hong Kong, but were important to my colleagues - like the rules of rugby and cricket.

We also talked about work, including office politics, and it wasn't long before the Partners at the firm encouraged me to join the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

In the Institute I continued to say ‘Yes', first to working on committees, then to joining the executive, and later to being Chair of the Canterbury Westland region.

I also said ‘Yes' to the Canterbury Chinese Association, Girl Guides, the National Council of Women, and many other organisations.

In 1989 I said ‘Yes' to standing for the Canterbury Regional Council in the local body elections and started forming my political networks.

It was these networks that supported me and ensured my success in becoming New Zealand's first MP of Asian descent in 1996.

Throughout my political career I have called on my networks to help me overcome any new challenges, including my decision to stand for the seat of Botany in the last election.

However, when I started the campaign in Botany, I realised that my established networks would need to be expanded to include local people and businesses.

During my campaign, I knocked on more than 10,000 doors and held 36 street corner meetings to meet the people in the area.

I had a pair of worn out shoes to show for it, but it was all worth the hard work when we won the seat with a more-than 10,000 vote majority.

The election win made me the first MP of ethnic descent to win a constituent seat and showed that women who are willing to work hard and display true leadership skills are able to overcome any barrier.

My journey has been a result of utilising the attributes that come naturally to women such as yourselves, like networking, compassion and inspiration.

The fact that women possess these attributes is backed up by research which shows that there are nine recognised behaviours displayed by people in roles of leadership; people development, expectations and rewards, role modelling, inspiration, participative decision making, intellectual stimulation, control and corrective actions, individualistic decision making and efficient communication.

Of these, women are more likely to apply five of them (including people development and participative decision making), while men will typically apply four (including individualistic decision making and control and corrective actions).

Therefore, you would think that there would be more women in leadership roles and that we would be well-represented in the boardrooms of New Zealand's top companies.

However, this is not the case.

That is why the Ministry of Women's Affairs recently teamed up with Business New Zealand and the Institute of Directors to launch the Women on Boards business case.

The publication brings together all the leading domestic and international research to put forward a compelling case to have more women representation in the boardroom of our private businesses.

Currently, 45 women hold just 54 directorships out of 624 positions within our top 100 companies and that is why I am pleased the Ministry is working with the business sector to address this.

In this day and age, it is appalling that just 8.6 percent of the directors of our top 100 companies are women and I am determined to put this abysmal record behind us so New Zealand can move forward with confidence.

There are plenty of board-ready women in New Zealand, many of whom are registered with the Ministry's Nominations Service database, including some of you who are here today.

However, many women are not putting themselves forward or are not presented with the opportunities to sit on a board.

We must all have the confidence to back ourselves, the passion and drive to overcome hurdles and the leadership skills to know that we are able to conquer anything that comes our way.

I encourage you all to continue to expand your networks and to keep up the good work, because by forming a strong web of support - we can ensure that the women of New Zealand have real choices about the ways in which we live our lives.

Thank You.