I was very privileged this week to joint with Aleisha Amohia to present NCWNZ’s opposition to the Treaty Principles Bill to the Justice Select Committee – and we were in good company, as you can read about in The Spinoff. Thanks to the whole team who produced the written submission and supported us with the oral. At the same time, I was dismayed that it was necessary for us, and so many other people, having to defend Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The Bill is a betrayal of the people’s trust that our government will act constitutionally, democratically and responsibly. Let us hope that this situation is never repeated.

As we head into March and International Women’s Day (check out our website for a list of events), our support for Te Tiriti and the rights of wāhine Māori is one of our key issues to highlight. As is our call for better regulation and an independent media regulator to better protect women from online harrassment. Other issues are to remind our government to give high priority to women’s reproductive health, eliminating gender-based violence, and teaching health relationships at school. Yet another issue is advocating for women to be at the decision-making tables when talking about the climate crisis. And these are just the more prominent issues our Action Hubs are working on, there is so much more. Thank you to all the Action Hub and other members who contribute to this mahi | work. If you’re not already a member of an Action Hub and you would like to join in with creating impactful social change, email the Hub of your choice – health, climate, education, economics, influence, international – all @ncwnz.org.nz. If you’re an organisational member, remember you can send an organisational representative to any (or all) of these Hubs for no extra membership fee, and it does not have to be the official contact person. We look forward to seeing you all online at the meetings!

This year we will be running the next Gender Attitudes survey with our partners Rangahau Aotearoa | Research NZ, funded by the Ministry for Women. This will be the fifth biennial survey, which means that the time series is increasingly able to show trends and not just single data points. This was always the purpose of the survey, so it is exciting that we are now at this stage. Look out for the launch of this year’s survey results around Suffrage Day in September.

Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou,

Suzanne

To read more articles from The Circular (January-February 2025) issue 650, click on the tag below.