The Dunedin Branch of National Council of Women held its sixth annual “Inspiring Young Women Breakfast” recently, at which six women, successful in their chosen careers, spoke to Years 12 and 13 girls from 9 local secondary schools, about their journey to where they are, the obstacles they met and how they overcame them. Sixty-five students came at 6.45am to hear the speakers, who were from a range of occupations and whose journeys were very different.

Panelists (l-r): Megan Gibbons (CEO Otago Polytech); Julia Imo (post-graduate studying bioengineering and founder of Wayfinder); Elisabeth Cunningham (Convenor of Breakfast); Emma Burke (Lawyer); Alison Lambert (Chef); Jay Phillips (Programme Manager of YES -Youth Employment Success); Abbey Brice (Auto Electrician).

Back (l-r): Emma Buckle, Dr Shalome Bassett; Front (l-r): Margaret Sinclair-Jones (Chair), Dr Audrey Jarvis. Image courtesy of Geraldine Anne McCarthy.

The NCWNZ Manawatu branch meeting in October 2022 featured Dr Shalome Bassett, Principal Scientist at Fonterra’s Research and Development Centre in Palmerston North.

Dr Bassett introduced a recently developed genome sequencing device which was designed to reduce methane production by cattle. The device could lead to the reduction of burps and methane emissions in dairy herds. In discussing this, Dr Bassett thanked former Principal Scientist Dr Audrey Jarvis for her early research into lactic acid bacteria.

Nearly a hundred people gathered at the Kate Sheppard National Memorial on 19 September 2022 to celebrate Suffrage Day in Ōtautahi Christchurch. Pointing toward the women portrayed in the monument, the keynote speaker, Mayor Lianne Dalziel, urged everyone to honour the historic activists by getting out and voting at midterm elections. (See the Otago Daily Times video of the event here.)

National Council of Women Ōtautahi Christchurch Branch was approached by four Year 8 students (12-13 year olds) from Mt Pleasant School in Ōtautahi Christchurch for support in running some sessions with young children at their school, around gender equity issues.

The girls had chosen gender equity as a year-long topic for a programme of study that is a primary school version of the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme. The four girls had already painted the toilets at the school (which had been blue for boys and pink for girls) green, and had discarded a raft of picture books in the school library that were too obviously gender specific and had set new rules with the Board of Trustees for future book buying.

National Council of Women Ōtautahi Christchurch Branch is working with Christchurch Girls High School (CGHS) around the idea of setting up an affiliated youth branch at the school. CGHS senior students have already been active in supporting issues that affect young women, in particular, around issues of sexual harassment. This call to action came about as a result of the 2021 survey that was carried out at the school by researcher, Dr Liz Gordon of Pūkeko Research Ltd (download the .pdf file of the report here). The responses to the survey showed that there was significant, ongoing sexual harassment being experienced by the majority of students of all ages at the school.

Senior students at CGHS have since set up a group called SASH (Students Against Sexual Harm) which operates both in their school and in some other Canterbury schools. 

Hutt Valley NCWNZ Beryl Anderson (left) with Suffrage Cup 2022 winner James Mason, and Ri Comer of Wellington Speaking Union (right). Image courtesy of Wellington Speaking Union.

The Wellington Speaking Union organises the Senior Premier A Grade, the top debating grade within the Intercollegiate debating competition. The winning school receives the John F Henning Cup, donated in 1961 by the then United States Ambassador to New Zealand. The best speaker in the Grand Final is presented with the Suffrage Cup, donated by the Hutt Valley branch of the National Council of Women.

It is of cause for concern that at present there are so few women nominations for the upcoming Council elections in Palmerston North. At present there are seven women and eight men on the Council, but three women are not standing again for election this year. To highlight this issue, the National Council of Women (NCW) Manawatu Branch held a meeting on 3 July in the Palmerston North City Council library to encourage participation in the elections. 

Event panel members (l-r) Aleisha Rutherford, Lorna Johnson, Leone Hapeta, and Janine Rankin. Image from Anne McCarthy.

On July 4 2022, Betty Ofe-Grant (NCWNZ Board member), Joy Williams (President of Auckland NCW branch) and a few other Auckland NCW members attended the "Keep Earth Green with Love" event hosted by the Taiwanese Women’s Association of New Zealand (TWANZ), a national member organisation of the NCWNZ. TWANZ President Huang Mamei led the event which included Director Chen Yongshao and Founding President Chen Ziying.

The Public Service Association (PSA) is the largest and oldest union in New Zealand currently with 80,000 members, over 70% of whom are female. At its founding in 1913, the PSA adopted the principle: “Women members shall enjoy the same rights and privileges as male members.” The union has a long history of supporting women’s rights and fighting for equal pay. The role of the union was invaluable for winning the fight for equal pay for health administrators this fall.

On Saturday, 7 May 2022, the Manukau Branch of National Council of Women of New Zealand (NCWNZ) held an event at the Auckland Botanic Gardens in Manurewa to celebrate the 125th anniversary of NCWNZ and also to acknowledge and celebrate the suffragists. A special area had been created there in 1993 to mark the centenary of women's suffrage by the NCW - a plaque marks the spot.