March 08, 2017
Status of wahine slipping behind
It’s International Women’s Day, and the Maori Women’s Welfare League, Maori midwives’ organisation Nga Maia, New Zealand College of Midwives, National Council of Women and other organisations have released a joint declaration that the welfare of New Zealand women is at risk because of gender discrimination.
They say while New Zealand has prided itself on its record with women’s rights, it is now falling behind.
Women are conspicuously under-represented in positions of power and under-valued in their work.
New Zealand women earn 12 per cent less than men when median hourly pay rates are compared, partly because professions largely peopled by women are not valued as highly as men’s. Midwifery and aged care are prime examples.
Far too many women are unsafe in their own homes because they are subject to attack by their partners.
Mothering is not well supported, and insufficient paid parental leave and impossibly high housing costs force women to work when they might prefer to be caring for their children.
Examples of sexist, demeaning and verbally, if not also physically violent behaviour towards women reach the news media with a frequency that is disturbing in a country that purports to be a leader in recognising the rights of women.
The organisations say all this betrays a deep-seated and often unconscious bias in New Zealand towards women.
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