The Circular
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NCWNZ Economic Independence Action Hub on Paid Parental Leave
Paid parental leave is a government payment to help make up for lost income when you, an employee, has a new baby. It is also available to the self-employed. As usual criteria apply, but it is a legitimate right for all. Right? Well, no, actually. Stuff reporter Uma Ahmed articulated this when she published an article "Directors hitting a bump when it comes to parental leave" on 8 February 2022 (reprinted in the Southland Times on February 9, 2022, and then followed up... -
International Women's Day 2023 Activities
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. -
Submission on the New Zealand Women’s Health Strategy
In March the NCWNZ Safety, Health and Wellbeing Action Hub led the development of a NCWNZ submission to Manatū Hauora | Ministry of Health on New Zealand's first ever Women's Health Strategy. The Women's Health Strategy is a part of the Pae Ora (Health Futures) Act 2022 – the legislation for the country's new public health system. NCWNZ branches and individual members made considered and informative responses to the Action Item and there was clear agreement on key points and priorities... -
New e-book tells story of adoption, state care, donor conception and surrogacy in New Zealand
by Dr Anne Else, MNZM Thousands of New Zealanders have had their lives profoundly affected by adoption. I am one of them: I was adopted at birth in 1945. The book I needed to read about adoption did not exist. So, in 1991 I published A Question of Adoption: Closed Stranger Adoption in New Zealand 1944–1974. This has now been completely updated, expanded, and republished online as a new e-book by Bridget Williams Books. -
Milestones: History of the right to vote in New Zealand regarding age
How young, legally, is an adult in New Zealand? In general, the law states that a person does not attain "full age" until reaching the age of 20 years. However, this question has a different answer in the law depending on the context. Here are some examples of different legal ages for adult responsibilities: -
16 or 18 years: When are you old enough to vote?
How old is old enough to vote? It seems that the question will be debated by Parliament some time this year. This responds to a declaration by the Supreme Court [the Court] in November 2022. The Court granted a declaration that the provisions of the Electoral Act 1993 and the Local Electoral Act 2001, both of which provide for a minimum voting age of 18 years, are inconsistent with the right set out in section 19 of the New Zealand... -
Women for the first time in all legislatures in the world
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has reported that, for the first time ever, there are women in national legislatures in every single country on Earth. You can download the report "Women in parliament in 2022: The year in review" from here: https://www.ipu.org/resources/publications/reports/2023-03/women-in-parliament-2022. Women reached new milestones in parliamentary representation around the globe, and the context for women’s political leadership continued to expand. Gender issues and women’s rights shaped voter behaviour and electoral outcomes in countries from Brazil to Hungary and from Australia to... -
NCWNZ reps at Irish Summer School
Ambassador Jane Connolly Three of our members -- Emma Catteau (NCWNZ Board administrator), Amy Rice and Parminder Kaur from Wellington Branch -- participated in the annual Summer School organised by the Embassy of Ireland taking place in Wellington on the 10th and 11th of February 2023. To celebrate both Brigid’s Day, Ireland’s celebration of the creativity and influence of women and girls, and the 130th anniversary of women being granted the right to vote in Aotearoa New Zealand, the Summer School was... -
International Women's Day 2023 in New Zealand
International Women’s Day (IWD) 2023 – officially celebrated on Wednesday 8 March – is fast approaching and NCWNZ has your celebrations covered! Keep an eye out across our NCWNZ social media channels, where we will run our IWD 2023 campaign. Our theme this year is all about supporting women to #AccessEquality in all its forms. -
NCWNZ Manawatu discusses expansion of right to vote
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.