Tēnā koutou e hoa mā,

Aotearoa has just celebrated Volunteer Week, so it seems appropriate to give a “Big Shout Out” to all our fabulous volunteers. We rely on our operational volunteers to run our organisation – the Board, administrators, finance and communications teams; and on our volunteers in the Parliamentary Watch Committee, Action Hubs and the Branches to do the advocacy mahi.

It is important that we all invest in our volunteers and be considering how we as an organisation can reward them: is it by providing mentoring, training, or experience? Or is it by providing collegiality and friendship, and/or the satisfaction of having impact in the community through our advocacy?

We should all be making it our mission to ensure that every volunteer who spends time working with us gains something that makes their lives better.

NCWNZ Ōtautahi Christchurch Branch and Students Against Sexual Harm (SASH) at Christchurch Girls’ High School (CGHS) collaborated to hold an action workshop for high school students in Greater Christchurch at Tūranga Library in central Christchurch 4-6 pm on Tuesday 11 May 2023. The workshop was attended by twenty students from five different high schools, as well as two representatives of the Empowerment Trust, two counsellors from one of the schools attending, and NCWNZ Ōtautahi Christchurch Branch members who had worked with students to organise the workshop. The eight male students who attended were from three different high schools (one a high school for boys); the others were female students, overwhelmingly from two large girls’ schools in the city.

After a welcome, and some information about SASH, students were engaged in small group discussion of workshop questions with two breaks for refreshments and informal talk. There was a lively buzz throughout the two hours and a group photo was taken at the end. 

SASH Workshop Attendees at Tūranga Library, 11 May 2023. Image courtesy of NCWNZ Ōtautahi Christchurch Branch.

Kurawaka exhibition launch at the National Library in March with Amy Rice, Suzanne Manning, Aleisha Amohia, Kerri Dupont and me, Emma Catteau.

Kia ora tātou

My name is Emma, and as some of you might know, I have been an intern at NCWNZ for the past five months, working as a Board Administrator, providing support to the Action Hubs, Parliamentary Watch Committee and Diversity Committee. However, this enriching experience comes to an end as I am ready to start the next steps of my studies back in France, starting my Masters in Political Sciences, specializing in Strategy, Intelligence and Risk Management.

Working with Te Kaunihera Wāhine o Aotearoa | National Council of Women of New Zealand has been an incredible opportunity that I am truly grateful for. I did not only learn how to work and execute tasks for an organisation, but I discovered what it is like to be part of it. It has been a pleasure to engage with the different bodies of NCWNZ, whether it is by participating in Wellington Branch’s meetings, organising the Misogyny Webinar with the Influence and Decision-making Action Hub, collaborating with the CEDAW group on the written response to the Draft CEDAW Report, or coordinating the meetings of the Diversity Committee.

On Friday 16th June 2023, the Influence & Decision-Making Action Hub of the NCWNZ organised and hosted a webinar on the topic of "How Do We Counter Misogyny?" The recording is viewable on the NCWNZ YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/H7Z9BRV3iMc. Five hundred and thirty people registered for the webinar, and over two hundred showed up - with several registrants hosting viewing parties in their local organisations. This event was a follow-up to last year's successful webinar, "Countering Misogyny" (available at https://youtu.be/JCHnvPVarkI). 

Life Membership is awarded to women who have rendered significant service at a national and/or international level, over and above the performance of duties of elected office. Currently, NCWNZ National Life Members include:

• Beryl Anderson ONZM, of Porirua
• Elizabeth Bang CNZM, of Hamilton
• Sue Barker, of Wellington
• Rae Duff ONZM, of Wellington
• Christine Knock, of Auckland

Our national life members represent valued members of NCWNZ, providing us with constant support and advice. Congratulations to our newest life members: Christine Low and Jane Prichard have been elected.

Given the statement posted in March 2023 about the NCWNZ's policy of recognising the rights of transgender people, it is useful to provide a quick primer of terms. This primer is borrowed and adapted from an article published in my college alumnae/i magazine (Vassar Quarterly, Summer 2022). The terms and definitions may differ from individual transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive people may use, however this list might be helpful for those not accustomed to what transgender inclusion educators are working on these days.

First, we need to agree on what gender identity means. This is one's internal, deeply held sense of one's gender as male, female, both, neither, or another gender. Gender expression includes external representations of gender - for example, one's name, pronouns, clothing, haircut, behavior, voice, or body characteristics. Many identify these as masculine or feminine, however we need to remember that what is considered masculine and feminine varies by culture and changes over time. All of us have both a gender identity and gender expression, whether or not you are a transgender person.

The 2023 King’s Birthday and Coronation honours were announced on 5 June. The list included women receiving 95 (52%) awards and men 87 (48%) – a total of 182 awards. Over 60% of QSMs were awarded to women. Women also received more MNZMs than men.

Following tradition, Her Majesty The Queen Camilla, the King's consort, was awarded the ONZ. Her Majesty has become Patron or President of more than 90 charities, focusing her charitable work on health and wellbeing, literacy, sustainability, the arts, animal welfare and survivors of rape and sexual assault. Both Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and His Royal Highness Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh have held this honour.

The Queen’s Service Order (QSO) and Queen’s Service Medal (QSM) will be renamed in honour of King Charles III. Transitional matters currently being worked through include the Royal Warrant governing the order needing to be updated and approved by the King, and revised insignia designed and manufactured for presentation at future investiture ceremonies. The first honours using the KSO and KSM titles are likely to be announced as part of the King’s Birthday Honours in 2024.

Anmar Taufeek, Board member of the National Council of Women of New Zealand, was funded through a Lotteries Ministers’ Discretionary Fund grant to attend the Global Women Leaders Summit in Dubai in March 2023.

With the remaining funds, she reported on her experiences and her learnings to the members of the Good Deed Group, Auckland, in an informal gathering on 28 May.

Anmar describes the event below:

NCWNZ Nelson Branch mourns the loss of their Life Member Queenie Ballance who died on 16^th April 2023. She was well known and respected by many in NCWNZ.

Queenie joined NCW Auckland in 1985, representing Federation of University Women. She was the convenor of the NCWNZ Environment Standing Committee from 1992-1998 and, through her leadership, the members of NCWNZ became much more educated and proactive about conservation and environment issues.  She served on the Auckland Branch Executive and was Branch President 1998-2000.

(l-r) Hon Minister Priyanca Radhakrishnan, Lorri Mackness, Betty Ofe-Grant, 24 April 2023

On Monday, April 24th, Lorri Mackness and I met with the Hon Priyanca Radhakrishnan, Minister for Disability Issues. Lorri Mackness is a NCWNZ member and a leader of the Disabled Women’s Forum, and I represented the NCWNZ Board.

We discussed some of the work NCWNZ is doing in the disability space. Only a few days earlier, the Minister had announced $1 million funding boost for the expansion of a regional disability leadership model "Enabling Good Lives" piloted in demonstration sites in Waikato, MidCentral and Christchurch. (Read the press release here: https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/boost-disabled-voice-system-gears-transformation.)