Global Women is celebrating its 15-year anniversary with a gala dinner in Auckland tonight – and an increased commitment to helping wāhine Māori succeed.
Chief executive Agnes Naera says the organisation started off as a place of safety for women who were often in the first of their fields, and it evolved into focusing on encouraging corporates and other organisations to not only increase the number of women in governance and management roles but also to ensure wahine Maori come through.
Almost half of the 23 women in this year’s senior women in leadership programme are Maori, from community, education and corporate New Zealand.
It also does advocacy around motherhood penalties and gender pay gaps.
Since 2020 it has had an increased focus on the treaty relationship.
“This year we took our own membership, which is about 400, to Waitangi and that was a transformational experience for us all, even those who had been (before), and we were privileged – it was maybe a step too far for some but it was a wahine-led powhiri but it was really changing for all of us,” Ms Naera says.
Tonight’s gala will include speeches from chair Dame Theresa Gattung, co-founder and former prime minister Jenny Shipley and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
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