Manatū Wāhine Ministry for Women selected Aleisha Amohia, President of the Wellington Branch of the National Council of Women New Zealand, as the non-governmental delegate to join the official New Zealand Government delegation to the sixty-eight session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68) from 11 – 22 March 2024. Applications were assessed by a selection panel comprising representatives from the International Women’s Caucus.

Aleisha earned two degrees from Victoria University of Wellington: a Bachelor of Science (Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence) and a Bachelor of Commerce (Management and Information Systems). She is a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion in the STEM (Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) sector. Much of her volunteer work is to ensure more women, Māori, and other marginalised groups, look for and stay in STEM careers.

Women and girls are a key to climate action. There is an urgency at every level to effectively mitigate the devastations of the Climate Crisis. Collectively women must be at the decision-making table to help find strategic solutions through influencing climate change policy and legislation and to engage at grass roots. Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) and te ao Māori (the Māori world) values need to be centralised in our relationship with whenua.

It is with great sadness that I write to inform you that Elizabeth Jane Prichard MA, CNZM, QSO, died on 2 December 2023. I knew Jane from the 1980s, and when I came back from Qatar in 2012 Jane asked me to join her in Pacific Women's Watch New Zealand (PWW-NZ). She gave me the role of PWW-NZ representative to the National Council of Women of New Zealand (NCWNZ) Auckland branch, and she also made sure I went to New York to the United Nations (UN) meetings. It has been my honour and privilege to work with Jane for the last ten years and previously. Jane was a woman of vision and ambition. Her ambition was for all women and especially that the most marginalised could live fulfilled and safe lives.

Jane’s vision grows out of her early involvement with the Federation of University Women (now Graduate Women) at the time when the UN Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) was being discussed around the world. Jane saw CEDAW as a key treaty and was part of discussion and education groups through the 1980 and 90s.

Former Whanganui Member of Parliament Steph Lewis spoke on Tuesday 13 February 2024 at a regular meeting of the Whanganui NCWNZ branch. After a general summary of the history and goals of the National Council of Women as well as an overview on women in parliament today, we introduced Lewis. Carla Donson Manager of the Women's Network then put questions to Steph and it felt more like a conversation about her experiences and reflections being an MP.

Lewis focused on coping with public abuse that MPs, especially women MPs, endure. The abuse came from men and women. People threatened to protest at her home, and some would even follow her home from meetings. 

In February 2022, Lewis was harassed by anti-COVID vaccine mandate protestors outside Parliament. Some protestors came around the building banging on windows, and she heard them threatening to kidnap and lynch her. When Parliament adjourned at 10 p.m. protesters waited at the exit for MPs to leave, and security had to escort them from the building.

Archives New Zealand has documented as much as we know so far about some of the wāhine who signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 1840. This was unusual because so many indigenous leaders signed alongside representatives of the British Crown, making New Zealand significant in women's history. Despite the images circulating today about the historic Waitangi treaty depicting crowds of men, women were present in leadership roles. Even the beach at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds was traditionally named after a woman of high rank: Te Ana o Maikuku.

And, while there is still much controversy about these extraordinary events, the Waitangi Tribunal’s report (.pdf file) from the Stage 1 Te Paparahi o Te Raki (Northland) inquiry offers a comprehensive narrative (including debates by analysts) of the initial signings at Waitangi, Waimate, and Mangungu. What we are learning is that out of the over 500 names of Māori leaders around the country who signed the nine copies of the treaty during approximately 50 hui, at least 18 might have been women. Because many names have not yet been fully researched, there may be even more than have found. (See the map and signatures of 13 of these women at the Te Ara encyclopedia website.) We also know that when British agents took te Tiriti documents around the country, a number of rangatira -- wāhine who exercised mana in traditional Māori society -- were refused the opportunity to sign because of their gender.

Photo from Wikipedia of Soviet Union Red Army soldiers talking to the children just liberated from the Auschwitz concentration camp in January 1945. The boy on the left was telling the soldiers how to identify the surviving Nazi guards hiding in prisoner clothes. Nazis had swastikas tattooed under their left armpits.

In 2005 the United Nations designated January 27th the anniversary of the 1945 liberation of the Auschwitz II-Birkenau concentration camp and crematoria as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Since then, the U.N. calls each year for the world to honour and remember the victims and survivors of the Holocaust, and all the victims of the German Nazi regime and its collaborators.

As a representative of NCWNZ, I joined many members of the Government, Diplomatic Corps, NGOs and representatives of the Jewish community -- all who stand against antisemitism, discrimination and apathy in the face of genocide. We met on 28 January 2024 in the Banquet Hall, Parliament Buildings, Wellington. We were encouraged to work to prevent future acts of genocide through education, documentation and commemoration.

On 1 February 2024, Bernice Williams of the NCWNZ Health, Safety & Wellbeing Action Hub presented an oral submission to the Parliament's Justice Committee | Komiti Take Ture who are working on expanding the courts' power to better protect the victims of family violence in Legislation Bill 285-1. The members of the Justice Committee who heard the submission were: James Meager (Chair, National); Todd Stephenson (ACT); Marama Davidson (Green); Ginny Anderson (Labour); Dr Duncan Webb (Labour); and, Tracey McLellan (Labour). The recording with Williams' presentation can be found on the Justice Committee, New Zealand Parliament website at the minute mark 32.34 and runs about 10 minutes: https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/scl/justice/news-archive/watch-public-meetings-of-the-justice-committee/.

Photo of Audrey Jarvis submitted by Anne McCarthy with the permission of the Jarvis family.

The Manawatu Branch of the National Council of Women of New Zealand (NCWNZ) mourns the death on 22 January 2024 of a loved and valued long-term member, Audrey Jarvis. 

In 2004, Audrey became the Methodist Church’s delegate to the Manawatu Branch NCWNZ which she, like all of us, referred to as NCW.

She was soon elected to the Branch executive, then to the vice presidency and in 2009 she was elected Branch President. She served in that role for the maximum time of four years.

One of the actions that Audrey was most proud of took place in 2009. Cotton On, the clothing firm, had started selling tee shirts for children with slogans that were inappropriate for them. Led by Audrey, Branch members sat outside Cotton On, cutting up some of the offending tee shirts, all the while explaining to the passers by what they were doing, why they were doing it and encouraging them to boycott the store. Subsequently, Cotton On stopped selling the tee shirts.

In 2016 Audrey was awarded a Distinguished Service Award by NCW New Zealand. Her nomination mentions that, more than once, she represented the Branch on the panels for Palmerston North City Council Civic Awards and TrustPower Community awards. She also represented the Branch at meetings about Pharmac funding and about alcohol legislation.

The nomination also refers to the Branch activities Audrey was involved in. As well as the Cotton On campaign, these included making submissions to both the MidCentral and Whanganui District Health Boards on maternity services. She also presented copies of Megan Hutching's Leading the Way – How New Zealand Women Won the Vote to five local secondary schools with female pupils. The books had been donated by NCW Manawatu.

There were 151 honours award in the 2024 New Years list. Men received 50% with 76, women received 49% (74) and transgender 1% (1). Of the higher awards (ONZ to MNZM) women received 52% (56), men 47% (50) and transgender 1% (1). This was because women received 61% (30) of the ONZMs compared with men receiving 37% (18) and transgender 2% (1).

Tēnā tātou katoa,

Every time I have sat down to write this kōrero for you, NCWNZ members, I have been pulled away by something else that arrives in my email! Often it is an invitation to be involved with a group or event that aligns with our kaupapa, which is a positive sign. An example is our recent invitation to meet with the Commission of Inquiry for COVID-19: lessons learnt. I attended this meeting with VP Betty Ofe-Grant, Raewyn Stone, and Rayane Al Faraj, and we shared the 2020 position paper that had input from members across NCWNZ. the organisation. It shows the worth of us collecting our stories at the time. The Inquiry members asked thoughtful questions and listened well to what we had to say. I personally was very proud of the input that we were able to give, representing a wide range of women in Aotearoa. This is our organisation’s purpose, so it felt good to be able to fulfil that purpose.