by Catherine Delahunty
Happy International Women’s Day.
Isn’t it exciting that the Minister of Women’s Affairs spoke at the Commission on the Status of Women in New York last week and supported the formation of streamlined UN gender entity in New York last week?
Meanwhile back home at the other end of the world her Government has:
Axed pay equity investigations into the public sector gender pay gap;
Appointed a number of high-level think-tanks with only token numbers of women on them – or worse, none at all;
Held a Jobs Summit with only three women participating on behalf of women’s organisations involved with the entire economy;Is threatening to increase GST on food which will hurt lower-paid women and their children;
Cut ACC-funded counselling for sexual abuse victims;
Might close the Ministry of Women’s Affairs or merge it into another department, and so far has kept the Ministry’s focus away from implementing pay equity.
It would be great if the Government went to New York and other fora and told the truth about the status of women in Aotearoa.
Even better, they could implement a plan of action to close the pay and domestic violence gaps in our own country.
Fortunately, no matter what our Government does, International Women’s Day reminds us that we are not alone in experiencing discrimination, but also that we are lucky enough to know that we are comparatively well off.
However, we musn’t pretend that as women lucky enough to live in Aotearoa we deserve any more than any other women on the planet.
All women need a safe healthy environment, a living wage and ways to support their children, paid parental leave for at least a year, political and cultural right rights, access to family planning, and freedom from violence.
The Minister of Women’s Affairs should start at home when she looks to address these things.
Published in Economy, Work, & Welfare | Society & Culture by Catherine Delahunty on Mon, March 8th, 2010
More posts by Catherine Delahunty | more about Catherine Delahunty
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
“Isn’t it exciting that the Minister of Women’s Affairs spoke at the Commission on the Status of Women in New York last week and supported the formation of streamlined UN gender entity . . ?”
No.
But thanks for asking.
Like or Dislike:
5 
8 (-3)
But thanks for answering.
Like or Dislike:
8 
2 (+6)
The Human Rights Commission also released a report on the status of women’s rights in NZ today: http://www.hrc.co.nz/home/hrc/newsandissues/commissionseekspublicfeedbackonstatusofwomensrights.php
Among its more alarming findings:
“The consultation report states that the median annual income for women of $19,100 falls more than a third (39 percent) behind the $31,500 for men. Three quarters of people with an income over $75,000 are men.”
Seem fair to you!?
Like or Dislike:
5 
4 (+1)
“Seem fair to you!?”
That would depend entirely on knowing the jobs women are being paid to do, why they choose to do them, and whether and to what extent there are any legal impediments on them being paid more–or on working elsewhere.
But as long as the employment (at the terms offered) is freely chosen, and there are no legal impediments to employment elsewhere, then yes, it is “fair.”
Like or Dislike:
3 
8 (-5)
By, the way, what is truly exciting is the prospect that this government “might close the Ministry of Women’s Affairs.”
Not before time.
Like or Dislike:
4 
7 (-3)
If the employment is chosen without coercion, but without a meaningful range of alternatives, it is not fair. If there are no formal legal impediments to employment, but an entire historical legacy of such impediments which has left a hangover of sexism and discrimination in the workplace, it is not fair.
Formal equality is not the same as substantive equality. I want both.
Like or Dislike:
8 
0 (+8)
Give the graduate wearing the trousers a pay rise.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/3419142/Significant-gender-in come-gap-found-in-study
Like or Dislike:
0 
0 (0)
Do lesbians count as women or men?
[frog: That crosses the line by some considerable distance, jh. Consider yourself warned.]
Like or Dislike:
2 
8 (-6)
SPC -
I routinely wore an Ashley Fogal trouser suit to the office when I worked in Internal Affairs. It made no difference at all to my salary….
Cath -
thanks for that!
NZUSA have put out a good PR on the Hon Pansy Wong’s incredible response to the ‘news’ that graduate women are paid less than men, in jobs of similar standing, news item here:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1003/S00128.htm
You can tell how much this disparity is taken for granted when you ask young men how they would respond to being asked to sign an employment contract that paid them 86% of what the women in the building were being paid – most of them cannot conceive of a situation where they would sign the contract, they just assume that a job with adequate remuneration is their right as ‘single, white, educated, middle-class’ males.
In fact, most of them would be affronted if being asked to be employed at the same salary as the young women graduates in the same office.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0 (+1)
Like or Dislike:
6 
1 (+5)
Like or Dislike:
4 
0 (+4)
“In fact, most of them would be affronted if being asked to be employed at the same salary as the young women graduates in the same office.”
really? most men aren’t like that nowadays, are they?
Like or Dislike:
0 
0 (0)
Like or Dislike:
4 
0 (+4)
Women’s Rights, Population and Climate Change: The Debate Continues
by Laurie Mazur and Ian Angus
http://www.energybulletin.net/node/51871
Like or Dislike:
0 
0 (0)
Thanks for that link jh, and thanks for your earlier apology for your 2:35 post on this thread yesterday.
I would normally put someone into automatic moderation for a comment as homophobic as that, but given the frequency of your posting and the fact that you usually do provide some evidence without resorting to bigotry to back your assertions, I gave you the benefit of the doubt.
Go well, and contribute positively.
Like or Dislike:
2 
0 (+2)
White male privilege is such an appealing thing to witness, isn’t it? Thanks for recognising International Women’s Day, New Zealand seemed to have not even noticed it happen. I wish we had the same level of events that we had for the recent Children’s Day.
Like or Dislike:
0 
1 (-1)