Challen Wilson, NCWNZ member and great- granddaughter of Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia, gave this speech at the Suffrage 130 celebration hosted by NCW Auckland Branch at Te Hā O Hine Place on 19 September 2023. The speech is presented here with many thanks to Challen for sending it to us to publish for all to enjoy.

Beryl Anderson OMNZ presented a biography of Dame Miriam Dell

On the 30th August 2023, The Hutt Valley Branch held a dinner in the honor of Dame Miriam Dell celebrating the contribution she made to gender equality.

The funds raised from the evening went to support a Lower Hutt Suffrage Centennial Charitable Trust (SHE Trust) Scholarship.

Get on out there! Whether you are a member of a local NCWNZ branch or of an NCWNZ Action Hub, we rely on you to help with collaborations across organisations with a similar mission to get things done at the local, regional and national levels. As stated in the NCWNZ 2020 report A Sustainable Future - Free from Gender Discrimination: "Our strength comes from our membership, which includes individuals, branches, and organisations from unions and NGOs to community organisations." 

Currently, we have 13 local branches and more than 200 member organisations, as well as individual members. In addition, we have members and non-member volunteers who serve on six Action Hubs. The Parliamentary Watch Committee, an evolution from one of the original components of the NCWNZ since its founding in 1896, coordinates the writing of official submissions and our combined input into consultations with Parliament or with international organisations such as the United Nations' international treaty, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

In July I was asked by Family Harm Prevention to attend a meeting with the Family Harm Practitioners to explain to them the role that National Council of Women play in preventing family violence.

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.

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.

NCWNZ Tauranga has initiated a collaborative project to provide a platform for the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing Tauranga community activities. The work of the United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021–2030) aims to improve the lives of older people, their families, and the communities in which they live.

International Women’s Day 2023 was a real success throughout the Branches of the National Council of Women of New Zealand. Thanks to the generous support of the Te Korowai Whetū Social Cohesion community fund, we gathered communities around meaningful events celebrating diversity on one hand, and empowering women through financial wellbeing on the other. 

The NCWNZ Manawatu branch ended their February meeting with a discussion: ‘Should 16-year olds have the right to vote?’ It was led by a local Year 13 prefect Sjaan Toomey Jakobs, who skilfully managed the interactions.

Thirty students from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management together with two academic staff and two administrators visited New Zealand early in January.

The students were enrolled in a course entitled "IBUS 3019: Striving for Equity in International Business" which examines equality, leadership and global differences using business history as well as current case studies. The students seek to answer why the United States still ranks poorly in gender equality and leadership in business, and why countries like New Zealand, Iceland and Rwanda are achieving much better results.