The Circular
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International Action Hub Strategy Update
What Happened in 2025? 2025 was a busy and impactful year for the International Action Hub - with key highlights including: Organising the third Women at the Table on Climate Change event in May 2025, in partnership with the Council of International Development and UN Women Aotearoa New Zealand. This was a hybrid event chaired by Madison Walker CEO UN Women NZ and Eva Hartshorn-Sanders, convenor of the International Action Hub of NCWNZ (we stepped in at the last minute... -
Pay equity in New Zealand and international treaties
In May 2025 the New Zealand Government chose to overturn our formerly world-leading pay equity legislation. The changes had been in the works for nearly a year, and the People's Select Committee on Pay Equity (PSCPE) formed in February 2024 as an organised voice for the communities affected by the law. Many submitters to the PSCPE reported human rights violations due to both the Equal Pay Amendment Bill’s content and its legislative process. In the report Kei te rapu te... -
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
This article is the third in a series for The Circular by the members of the NCWNZ International Action Hub. The series highlights the many different international treaties to which New Zealand is a signatory and how this impacts women and girls. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is one of the core international human rights treaties adopted by the United Nations in 1966. It sets out fundamental civil and political rights that all people are entitled... -
Update on NCWNZ Health Hub
The Health Action Hub held its bimonthly meeting on 22 April, focusing on housing and homelessness. Jenny Ombler, Research Fellow at the New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities and He Kāinga Oranga/Housing and Health Research Programme, presented her research on ending homelessness in Aotearoa. Her presentation was followed by a discussion with members on the gendered dimensions of homelessness, the factors contributing to women’s housing insecurity, and the challenges of finding effective solutions. The Hub recently made a submission, led... -
Improving Arrangements for Surrogacy Bill
The Health Select Committee has now reported back on the Improving Arrangements for Surrogacy Bill. Overall, the Bill represents a significant improvement, and many of NCWNZ’s concerns, outlined in our submission on 16 September 2024 (.pdf file, S24.15, on the NCWNZ website), have been addressed in some form. In particular, the strengthening of the rights and interests of children born through surrogacy is welcome. However, protections for surrogate mothers have been addressed less comprehensively. Below is a series of topics... -
Milestones: The UN World Conferences on Women
In the midst of the Cold War and the horrific conflicts occurring throughout Asia and Africa coping with the decolonisation efforts of the 1960s and 1970s, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women succeeded in crafting the Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in 1967. In 1972 the United Nations proclaimed 1975 as the International Women's Year - and the CSW began working on the organisational structures to assure the creation of CEDAW, a legally binding... -
International Women's Day with Manukau Branch
To honour International Women's Day, Manukau Branch held an interactive stall at Papakura Community Parkfest Day on 7th March where we asked everyone we spoke with “What is your wish for the future of women in Aotearoa New Zealand? -
President's Kōrero, February 2026
Kia ora, Kia Orana, Talofa, Mālō ni, and warm Pacific greetings to you all! As we move towards International Women’s Day on 8 March, I am reflecting on how ‘international’ for NCWNZ has a good dose of ‘Polynesian region’ focus. While we add our voices to global issues, we can have more impact with a focus closer to home, by being good neighbours and supporting collective endeavours. -
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report shows family violence has reached highest level since 2018
The eye-catching headline in RNZ News on 11 February 2026, “Family violence reaches highest levels since 2018” inspired an examination of the Salvation Army’s annual report, subtitled Foundations of Wellbeing, Poipoia te Kākanao. While all five chapters of the report - Children and Youth, Work and Incomes, Housing, Crime and Punishment, Social Hazards – contain valuable information - the focus for the Safety, Health & Wellbeing Action Hub was on Crime and Punishment, and on family violence in particular. Note,... -
New intern Emma Guerin
Kia ora everyone, I’m Emma, a French political science student, and I am very happy to join NCWNZ as an intern until the end of June. Back home, I’m the president of my university’s feminist association. We organise conferences and debates on all kinds of feminist issues, and we also try, patiently but persistently, to push our school to update its internal charters to make the institution more inclusive and safer for everyone. A lot of my time is spent...