We asked major political parties about their position on gender equity and women's issues. The Greens, Labour, New Zealand First, and Te Pāti Māori provided answers to our survey, while ACT, National and the Opportunity Party did not.
Find answers to each of our questions below, or download the full list of responses here.
Does your Party support the continuation of the Ministry for Women as a stand-alone ministry? Will your Party include the Minister for Women in Cabinet?
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Yes, the Green Party supports the continuation of the Ministry for Women as a stand-alone ministry and would resource and enact recommendations made by the Ministry for Women and Mana Wāhine Kaupapa Inquiry. Our party would support the Minister for Women being in Cabinet.
Labour will retain both the Ministry for Women and the role of Minister for Women which play an important role advocating for women within government and ensuring that a women’s perspective is at the heart
of government decision making.
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New Zealand First advocates for lean, accountable government focusing on core public needs rather than bureaucratic expansion. Ministerial portfolio assignments depend on executive efficiency, while
ensuring women's issues receive practical, non-ideological support grounded in equal citizenship for all New Zealanders.
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Te Pāti Māori supports the continuation of the Ministry for Women as a stand-alone ministry, and we will push for the Minister for Women to be included in cabinet.
Will your Party commit to explicitly excluding the use of urgency provisions on matters that affect fundamental human rights (e.g. the right to democratic participation and NZ’s UN obligations, including CEDAW) except in genuine cases of emergency (natural disaster, war, pandemic)?
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Yes. The Green Party has been firmly against the current Government’s use of urgency to undermine time for public input and proper scrutiny and would not continue this usage of urgency.
The National-led Government has set new records for the use of parliamentary urgency – Labour is concerned that in many cases this has been used to avoid public scrutiny – most egregiously with the National-led Government’s decision to push through pay equity changes under urgency, and without a select committee process.
Labour is committed to judicious use of parliamentary urgency in a way that does not bypass or inhibit select committee scrutiny other than in cases of genuine emergency.
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Under Principle 15, New Zealand First commits that major policy changes not outlined in the party manifesto must be referred to the public for a mandate. The party strongly opposes unnecessary legislative urgency, advocating for binding referenda and open, transparent democratic processes.
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Te Pāti Māori will not use urgency to reduce fundamental human rights.
Does your Party commit to supporting Wai 2700 - the Mana Wāhine Kaupapa Inquiry and engaging in good faith with the Inquiry’s recommendations when they are provided?
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Yes.
Labour is committed to engaging with all Waitangi Tribunal inquiries, including Wai 2700, in good faith.
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New Zealand First recognises the importance of fair and accessible processes for addressing historical and contemporary grievances. The party may consider the findings and recommendations of the Mana Wāhine Kaupapa Inquiry on their merits.
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Te Pāti Māori will support Wai 2700, and we will go further by making all Waitangi Tribunal recommendations binding on the Crown.
What is your Party’s position on the following:
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New Zealand First supports equal pay for equal work and equal citizenship. However, the party prioritizes streamlined, cost-effective pay equity processes that minimize bureaucratic legal delays and consultancies, ensuring taxpayer funding directly supports frontline workers and genuine workforce equity.
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What is your Party’s position on a pay transparency mechanism including mandatory public reporting of gender, ethnicity and disability pay gaps?
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We would implement pay transparency requirements with mandatory public reporting of gender, ethnicity and disability pay gaps.
Labour has introduced the Pay Transparency Bill to the members ballot in the name of Carmel Sepuloni which will require large employers to report pay differences and include pay ranges in job advertisements, shining a light on pay gaps and helping to close them.
This follows Labour introducing, and passing the Employment Relations (Employee Remuneration Disclosure) Amendment Members Bill in the name of Camilla Belich which makes pay secrecy clauses unenforceable and protects workers who discuss their pay from disciplinary action by an employer.
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New Zealand First supports transparency, accountability and fair employment practices. We would consider pay transparency measures that are proportionate, practical and protect individual privacy while enabling meaningful identification of unjustified pay gaps. Any mandatory reporting of gender, ethnicity and disability pay gaps should be assessed for its costs, data quality, effectiveness and impact on employers, particularly smaller businesses.
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Te Pāti Māori supports expanding pay transparency mechanisms. We recognise that it is difficult to fix any problem if the problem itself is obscured.
How will your Party reduce cost-of-living pressures, including housing, that disproportionately affect women, especially single parents and older women?
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The Green Party are focussed on credible solutions to combat high cost-of-living pressures on New Zealanders, acknowledging that women, single parents, and senior women face particularly acute cost-of-living pressures.
Labour's number one priority is making New Zealand affordable. We’ve already released policies that will:
We will be making further announcements that will help New Zealand women with the cost of living over coming months.
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New Zealand First will focus on reducing the costs of essential goods and services, supporting employment and improving housing affordability. Measures include stronger competition in banking and supermarkets, economic growth and practical support for households facing financial pressure. We committed to protect Superannuation at age 65 without means testing, funds a 50% SuperGold rates rebate, and commits to 2,000 new residential aged-care beds. The party also champions pay parity for eldercare nurses and a dedicated Seniors Employment Plan.
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Te Pāti Māori will transform the income tax system to ensure that all people earning less than $180,000 take home more pūtea every week. We will tax wealth, vacant housing, and land banking to encourage the homes to be sold or rented out, easing the housing crisis and making housing cheaper and more accessible to all.
What actions will your Party take to ensure older women are empowered and have access to the support and services they require, including in the workforce, retirement, and aged care?
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We’ll implement a dedicated long-term strategy for the needs of an ageing population. This would include ensuring income equitably and the establishment of a state owned, not for profit retirement village scheme. This is alongside an increase in funding for community spaces and establishment of facilities, programmes, education and volunteering opportunities that are accessible to seniors.
Labour is committed to keeping the age of Superannuation at 65. Beyond that, we have always been open to constructive, bipartisan work to better secure New Zealanders’ retirement incomes.
Additionally, Labour has a a member’s bill in the ballot in the name of Ingrid Leary that will ensure a fairer repayment time for residents when they leave a village. It proposes 10 per cent repayment in five working days and the balance within three months.
Retirement villages offer a valuable service, but seniors deserve the fair, timely return of money that is rightfully theirs. Under the current system, residents carry the financial risk for operators.
Labour’s proposal ensures seniors and their families aren’t left waiting indefinitely for funds needed for care costs or settling estates.
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New Zealand First supports the dignity, independence and security of older New Zealanders. We will focus on accessible health services, retirement security, employment opportunities and practical support for those requiring aged care. Assistance should be based on genuine need, protect the dignity of older people and support older women to participate in the workforce and community where they wish to do so.
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Te Pāti Māori will ensure that older women continue have access to superannuation by maintaining the current eligibility age for all and lowering the superannuation age for Māori. We will ensure that older women have access to the appropriate support and service they require if they choose to work, and we will implement the recommendations of the Ministerial Advisory Group’s report on Aged Care in New Zealand.
What is your Party’s position on implementing and funding the Women’s Health Strategy as a national priority?
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The Green Party supports implementing and funding the Women’s Health Strategy.
In July 2023, the Labour Government published the first Women’s Health Strategy, which set the direction for improving the health and wellbeing of women over the next 10 years.
The strategy sets long-term priorities to guide the health system's progress towards equity and healthy futures for women.
We will announce further health policy closer to the election. Labour’s vision is pae ora, healthy futures, for women. All women will live longer in good health, have improved wellbeing and quality of life, and be part of healthy, and resilient whānau and communities, within healthy environments that sustain their health and wellbeing.
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New Zealand First prioritizes healthcare based on clinical need over administrative duplication. Our past policies have included extending free breast cancer screening to women aged 40–74, funding new rapid diagnostic technologies, and doubling the Pharmac budget ($1.3 billion) for life-saving medicines.
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We support the implementation and funding of the Women’s Health Strategy as a national priority.
How will your Party address the epidemic of mental health issues amongst young people, especially young women, who are disproportionally affected?
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We would expand free mental health services to all communities, including Piki, Mana Ake and Youth One Stop Shops throughout Aotearoa, Asian Family Services and dedicated support for postnatal mental health. We would also implement the recommendations of the Every Life Matters – He Tapu te Oranga o ia Tangata Suicide Prevention Strategy with a particular focus on people under 24.
Mental health and addiction issues touch everyone in New Zealand at some stage. Labour wants to see better access to mental health and addiction services with properly funded teams, culturally grounded responses, and timely access. Labour will release its mental health policy closer to the election campaign.
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New Zealand First advocates for expanding school counselling access. We also secured funds of $6m for Gumboot Friday free youth counselling. We propose establishing Mental Health Response Units. The party focuses on face-to-face suicide prevention, tackling cyber-bullying, and resourcing youth mental health services directly in communities.
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Te Pāti Māori will invest in kaupapa Māori mental health services and provide free community-based mental health services for all. We will also treat addiction as a health issue instead of a criminal justice issue by decriminalising drug use and implementing health-based addiction responses.
How will your Party ensure there is adequate funding for research, investment and monitoring of women’s health issues, such as endometriosis and maternity care?
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Our policy would develop a funding strategy that treats investment into RST as long-term essential infrastructure and ensures reliable funding. We would improve equity, diversity, and participation in the research environment and develop formal clinical guidelines for diagnosing and treating endometriosis specifically, along with the provision of specialised clinics across Aoteroa for endometriosis and pelvic pain.
Under Labour, every New Zealander will get three free doctor's visits a year through the new Medicard, paid for by a simple, targeted tax on profit from the sale of investment property. Labour will introduce a simple, targeted 28% tax on the profit made after 1 July 2027 when a commercial property or residential property (excluding the family home) is sold. Every dollar raised will go directly to our health system.
The health system is struggling because too many people aren’t getting early care for conditions through their family doctor: fees are too high and 600,000 Kiwis can't afford to see their doctor. Every dollar invested in primary care saves money in the rest of the health system. Unless we fix access to primary care, all other efforts to fix our health system will fail. This is Labour’s priority.
Labour will make cervical screening free for everyone aged 25-69 from 1 October 2027 and will make maternity scans free by funding every scan a doctor, midwife or specialist refers a pregnant woman for, alongside three free doctor's visits every year for every New Zealander.
In Government, Labour supported the establishment of the New Zealand Female Pelvic Mesh Service in April 2023. It’s been vitally important to resolve the pain and distress some women experience after pelvic mesh surgery.
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New Zealand First proposes doubling Pharmac’s budget by $1.3 billion for life saving medicines and creating a $100m rapid access scheme for innovative medicines. The party supports expanding ACC coverage to include birthing injuries and upgrading monitoring for maternity and women’s health.
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Te Pāti Māori will invest more into the health system and ensure that Aotearoa improves its data collection processes in a way that upholds data sovereignty and provides a more accurate picture of the health issues our communities face. More funding and more accurate data will allow funding to be allocated in an equitable way, closing the women’s health gap.
What will your Party do to further protections for women and gender diverse people from online harassment, misogynistic and racist abuse?
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We would protect women and girls from digital harm, including women in public positions, by regulating social media and other online content providers, resource online harm prevention, and resource programmes for all genders that improve empathy, emotional intelligence, and communication. This would include transgender women, immigrants, disabled women, and women of all races.
Labour wants to see social media and online spaces that are safer for women gender diverse, LGBTQI+ peoples, and young people.
These include more education and research, safety features built into the algorithms, and a way to make sure the platforms are compliant.
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New Zealand First supports strong law and order, tougher penalties, and enhanced cyber-safety oversight to combat online abuse. The party rejects identity-based division, guaranteeing equal protection under the law for all citizens against harassment, violence, and intimidation.
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Te Pāti Māori has called for a joint taskforce to investigate hate speech by right-wing extremist groups, and we have called for legislative reform of our hate speech laws.
How will your Party ensure all school-aged children receive adequate information about health and physical education, including consent and gender issues?
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We will invest in education that builds understanding and appreciation for diverse cultures, including ethnic, religious, rainbow, and disabled communities, which would also explicitly cover education on consent.
We would also reset the Government’s rushed and ideological curriculum and assessment reforms, reverting to the original direction of Te Mātaiaho and ensuring qualification reform follows curriculum reform.
It was the previous Labour government that brought in the Relationship and Sexuality Education guidelines meant to ensure children had access to inclusive and expert-led education, including on consent and gender issues. The government’s changes have taken us backwards, and we will consider how to best set our children up with adequate health and physical education when in government.
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New Zealand First focuses education on academic achievement, health, and physical fitness while removing unmandated gender ideology from schools. The party supports age-appropriate consent and healthy relationship education (such as Hestia 'Stand Up') delivered by qualified teachers in consultation with parents. The party successfully reviewed and changed RSE guidelines in schools to remove woke ideological material and early exposure of children to relationships and sexual education. The party believes these things should be led by the parents and not schools.
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Te Pāti Māori will ensure that the school curriculum reflects and respects the realities of all tamariki, and we will provide age-appropriate sex education that emphasises the importance of consent. We will also ensure that all whānau are respected, safe and free from discrimination throughout the education system. Te Pāti Māori will restrict healthy food and drink marketing targeted at children, and we will make healthy kai more affordable for whānau.
What will your Party do to ensure safe, good quality education centres, and a stable, well-remunerated workforce in all Early Childhood Education centres?
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The Greens will make Early Childhood Education free, quality, and publicly provided, just like schools. This would include supporting the workforce so that all teachers and educators have fair wages and staAing levels are appropriate.
Labour will ensure that our youngest learners are getting the best start to life possible.
We need an affordable, accessible ECE sector that delivers a high-quality education and prepares young people to learn.
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New Zealand First supports reviewing adult-to-infant staffing ratios as an urgent health and safety matter, funding parent-led Playcentres and Kohanga Reo, restoring 100% registered teacher targets, and expanding early learning support delivery to stabilize the workforce.
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Te Pāti Māori will reverse the ECE changes passed under the current government which aimed to lower pay for our kaiako and place the profits of ECE centres over the wellbeing of our tamariki and teaches.
Climate change disproportionately affects women, children, wāhine Māori, disabled women, the rainbow community and those from ethnic, refugee, and migrant backgrounds. What will your Party do to deliver support to those most affected?
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Our policy would ensure that marginalised groups are proactively protected from climate change by identifying the most disproportionately affected and supporting the development of inclusive plans to avoid physical, social and economic harm.
The National-led Government has failed to take the serious action we need to reduce emissions, move the economy away from fossil fuels and ensure lower costs for households and businesses.
Reducing emissions now will not only enable us to meet our 2050 net zero goal, it makes good economic sense.
That’s why Labour Government will make it easier for more Kiwis to go solar and save on their power bills through Solar Saver, a package that includes:
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New Zealand First advocates a pragmatic, evidence-based approach to environmental policy. The party prioritizes funding practical regional infrastructure, water storage, and flood protection while ensuring government social support is allocated strictly on the basis of genuine, objective need rather than identity classifications.
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Te Pāti Māori recognises that climate justice is inseparable from social justice, Māori authority is critical to effective climate action, and mokopuna futures must guide present-day decisions. We are committed to limiting Aotearoa’s impact on climate change by taking immediate action to ban seabed mining, repeal the Fast-Track Approvals Act, and transitioning to renewable energy. At the same time, we recognise that our communities are already feeling the impacts of climate change. We are committed to funding equitable adaptation and emergency response efforts.