Challenges and achievements since Beijing 1995 – New Zealand
Women’s Watch
In 1995 New Zealand took part in the Fourth World Conference
in Beijing and signed the Beijing Platform of Action achieve to
achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women.
At the Conference Hillary Clinton coined the phrase “Human
rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human
rights”.
Put simply it means that women and girls have the right to be
free from all forms of violence, abuse and discrimination.
Women have the right to enjoy their economic, social and
cultural rights, as well as their civil and political rights.
By that I mean have an adequate standard of living and
housing; just and favourable conditions of work that includes
fair wages and equal remuneration for work of equal value;
access to health and education; participate in decision making
and cultural activities; be a valued member of society and have
self-determination.
Every woman and girl deserves the chance to realize her full
potential.
So what progress has New Zealand made since the fourth
World Conference?
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Public Service Departments
As Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) Commissioner my
legislative mandate is with the state sector organisations
(through the State Sector Act 1988 and the Crown Entities Act
2004) who are required to be “good employers” with special
regard to four target EEO groups: women, ethnic or minority
groups, Māori and people with disabilities.
Part of being a good employer includes a transparent, fair,
gender neutral remuneration system which is regularly
reviewed; ensures equitable job opportunities and conditions;
and recognises employee contributions.
Even though that first piece of legislation that brought in the
concept of EEO and the good employer requirement is over 25
years, just 5 years before the Beijing Conference, huge gains
have not been made.
EEO is about equality in the workplace for everyone and
effective EEO programmes will inevitably result in greater
diversity at all levels in an organisation.
A key indicator for equality at work is pay. The Human Rights
Commission Census of Women’s Participation 2012 reported
that there were twenty two government departments that had
gender pay gaps bigger than the average pay gap in the labour
market. Nine government departments had more than a 20%
gender pay gap including Treasury and the Department of
Prime Minister and Cabinet.
As part of our current work programme we recently analysed all
29 public service departments to measure possible barriers to
progress on EEO so we could identify good practice in the
advancement of the four target groups.
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Another key indicator is representation. We calculated the
representation of the four groups across each department and
in senior management teams along with average (mean) and
median pay gap for each of the groups.
Our public service is predominately female at 60%. The public
service senior management teams need more women, Pacific
people, Māori and people with a disability.
Māori, Pacific people and women are disproportionately
represented in lower paying jobs and this is a major
contribution to ethnic and gender pay gaps. The gender pay
gap was slightly higher at just over 14% compared with the
average pay gender gap of 13.4% across the general labour
market. There was no data on the pay gap for disabled people
or the numbers of Asians in senior management teams.
Our analysis confirms that there hasn’t been a huge
improvement over the last two years. The outliers are still the
outliers.
Pay gender gaps of up to 30% are still significant in many
departments.
There were some stand out departments (Corrections, MSD,
Education, TPK and ERO) who are doing well for one or more
of the target groups, but for the majority progress was very
patchy.
I would however particularly like to acknowledge the work of
Treasury and the Ministry of Defence in addressing their
gender pay gap and representation of women in senior
positions.
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They are both committed to driving greater gender and diversity
outcomes throughout their business which I am confident over
time will reflect positively in their EEO outcomes.
Compliance in this area is monitored annually by the State
Services Commission through the Human Resources Capability
Survey but what is lacking are EEO targets and accountability
for those targets resting with the CEOs and State Service
Commissioner. In addition data collection needs to be
harmonised and disability data collected and reported.
That needs to change if we are to see our public service
departments reflect our changing society and benefit from the
greater opportunities that this brings.
Women in senior decision making roles
Just one year after the1995 Beijing Conference, New Zealand
held its first MMP election
That first MMP election saw the percentage of women MPs
increase from around 20 percent up to 30 percent but this is
where it has pretty much stayed for the last 18 years.
The 2014 election result delivered one fewer female MP
compared with the 2011 result, bringing the number in the
house to 38. The result was a step backwards and a
continuation of the retrograde trend since 2008 when there was
a record 41 women MPs.
We have gone from almost 34% women MPs in 2008 to just
over 31%.
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In other words there has been virtually no progress since that
first MMP election 18 years ago.
Women make up 51 per cent of the population and there
should be that number of women in Parliament. Women should
not settle for anything less.
National has 26 % women MPs, Labour 37.5%, Greens 50%
NZF 18%
There are 30% women inside Cabinet where the decisions are
made.
But women need to want to put themselves forward for
selection.
Politics in New Zealand is a high-stakes game and I worry that
when women see what politicians are subjected to when they
fall from grace from both the media and their fellow politicians,
they would question why they would risk exposing their families
and themselves to a hostile environment.
In my valedictory speech, I said I really hoped that when I left
Parliament I leave with my family, health and reputation intact,”“
Being an MP is a high risk occupation. The fact is that you can
lose all three of the above as have been proven.
I believe there needs to be at least 40 per cent representation
from women in Parliament before there is a change of culture,
as well as a code of conduct that is signed by all MPs.
Ross Robertson, retired Labour MP, had previously submitted
such a code, but it gained very little traction. I hope another MP
will take up the cause.
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We have similarly made little or no progress on women’s
representation on boards both in the public sector and the
private sector.
Successive New Zealand governments since the 1980s have
committed to gender balance or 50% women on public sector
boards. That goal was downsized to 45% to be reached by
2015
But In 2013 there were just 41 % women a tiny increase from
2012 when there were 40.5%.
Somehow I don’t think that the 2015 target of 45% will be
achieved.
At the end of 2012 it became mandatory all companies listed on
the Stock Exchange Main Board have to declare the gender
make up of their boards. The NZX has been collecting this and
the first results were published this year for 2013. There were
just a little over 12 % women directors in the top 109
companies.
The 2013 result cannot be directly compared with the previous
Census of Women’s Participation which has been tracking
women on top 100 publically listed companies since 2006. The
Census found that as of June 2012 there were 14.75 % women
directors but the Census tracked only the top 100 companies
and included dual listed companies that were on both the
Australian and New Zealand Stock exchange.
But really whichever way you look at it, only 12% women
directors in the top 109 companies is pathetic.
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Violence against Women
During the 1980s there was an increasing awareness of both
the social and economic cost of domestic violence.
The dynamics of violence within domestic relationships were
being investigated and there was a developing understanding
of the various forms that abuse can take. As well, the role that
effective legislation can play in providing protection was
recognised
In the year of the Beijing Conference the Domestic Violence Act
1995 was passed. it was considered world leading and ground
breaking.
The object of the Act is to reduce and prevent domestic
violence by recognising that domestic violence in all its forms is
unacceptable behaviour, and by providing victims of domestic
violence with effective legal protection
Unfortunately we have made little impression on family violence
in New Zealand.
New Zealand is a very violent society.
Intimate partner violence and child abuse and neglect makes
up 50% of all violent crime in New Zealand – this includes
kidnapping, abductions, serious and grievous assault.
But we know that what is reported is only the tip of the ice berg.
Only 20% of cases are reported which equates to 95,000 per
year.
If we had 100% reporting we would have upwards of ½ million
cases each year, the size of Christchurch and Dunedin City
combined.
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Not all women may wish to go through the Police, so there
needs to be alternate routes to get help.
We need to get to these women basic messages such as:
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You are not alone
Abuse is not ‘normal’ in relationships
Help is available
The earlier you reach out the better
We need to bust the myths that abuse is caused by both people
in a relationship and both must change for it to stop; the myth
that children need fathers, even violent ones; and the myth that
abuse is caused by drinking, stress and poor impulse-control.
In fact the abuser is in full control choosing when and how to
abuse and it almost always occurs behind doors
We must bust the old chestnuts “She must have asked for it”,
“Some people need the violence, enjoy it or are addicted to it”;
“It only happens to poor, brown women”; “ It’s not in our back
yard “; “It can’t be that bad because she would have left” ; or
women are just as violent as men”
Intimate partner violence or IPV is not just physical abuse. It
covers multiple forms of abuse all of which can have
devastating consequences that impacts on physical health,
personal and social well-being, relationships, mental and
emotional health, employment and substance abuse.
We need to understand that sexual violence is frequently part
of IPV and child abuse and vice versa. Like a three headed
monster, they feed off their victim taking away selfdetermination, rights and resources that are critical to being a
person………… being a human being.
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We know about 20% of the cases. But we need to reach the
other 80%. Through identifying more cases, we would naturally
hope to expect an increase in reporting.
Women and children need to be safer. If we suceeded in this
we would expect to see fewer deaths , protection order
breaches and reduced re-victimisation.
We need to intervene earlier and would expect to see that the
cases going through the Police mulitagency triage system
over time to deal with less serious abuse.
We must hold abusers to account and would hope to expect
prosecutions to increase and an increased self awareness that
their behaviour is abusive, how it impacts on their partener and
children and how to get help
The justice system needs to be more responsive to women and
children. We would expect to see an increase in the number of
applicants granted temporary protection orders and in the
proportion of breaches of protection orders that are prosecuted.
We would want to see an increase in the number of people are
prosecuted and convicted for sexual assault and specialist
human rights and IPV training of public servants and judiciary.
There needs to be greater protection and support for
marginalised women and children There needs to be more HNZ
homes and refuges that are accessible.
Migrant women face many barriers to accessing help such as
isolation and financial dependence on their partner.
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To reduce deaths we must identify high risk cases and tailor
responses.
We must channel resources to those most at risk
A human rights approach must be taken when developing any
national strategy around family violence.
A human rights approach means those affected are involved in
decisions and that the most vulnerable are given priority.
This will mean listening to the stories of the victims of how the
current system failed them and that is why the Glenn Inquiries
‘The Peoples Report” which has detailed the stories of 500
victims, frontline providers and abusers in the area is so
powerful.
A human rights approach will mean consulting with the frontline
providers who hold enormous amounts of information and
experience.
It is not right that sexual violence continues to be treated in a
silo, separate from intimate partner violence and child abuse
and neglect.
There must be a route for complaints so those accessing or
trying to access services have a route to critique the services
so they can be continuously improving.
The most vulnerable and those at high risk of dying must be
prioritised.
I am convinced that tinkering with the current system and
continuing a scattergun approach with a bit here and a bit there
is doomed.
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Eight years ago Dame Sylvia Cartwright called New Zealand’s
record of family violence as our ‘dark secret”.
In the intervening years there have been too many deaths of
women and children through family violence.
Last year there was public outrage over the Roastbuster’s case
but no prosecutions or convictions resulted.
What we need is political will, decent resourcing and above all
a society that demands change.
Thank you.
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