Despite near-gender balance in the work force, women paramedics in Aotearoa New Zealand report a cycle of harmful workplace interactions — including bullying, sexual harassment, and misogyny - sustained by inadequate employer responses and a culture that discourages reporting.

These accounts come from my recent Masters study involving 148 women paramedics who shared anonymous survey responses. Their stories revealed a pattern of harmful behaviour, mostly by male colleagues - many in senior clinical or management positions- as well as some senior women colleagues and male patients.

While these behaviours had serious personal consequences for women, the perpetrators often faced no repercussions. Furthermore, inadequate responses from employers and a workplace culture that discouraged reporting allowed this behaviour to continue — pushing some women to take sick leave, reduce their hours, or consider leaving the profession altogether.

One respondent described the difficult choice women often face:

“It has been established that this behaviour is acceptable by men, and the women who don’t play along are isolated and bullied and the men who are the main offenders all hold positions of authority. So we as females have two choices, play along and be harassed, or don’t and be bullied.”

My name is Manon Valls-Hazarian, and I’m excited to introduce myself as the new French intern in the Communications team at NCWNZ. I arrived in mid-July and will be staying until the end of November.

I’m 19 years old and currently in my third year at university in Toulouse, in the south of France. My studies focus on political science and international relations.

Manon is on the left, and on the right is Mathilde, NCWNZ Board Admin intern.

In 2005 I attended the Executive Committee Meeting in Rabat, Morocco with the then NCWNZ President Christine Low and we had a couple of days together for sightseeing in Marrakech. So, it was nice to return to Marrakech to see what progress had been made to the city in the past twenty years.

I have just returned from Morocco after attending the International Council of Women (ICW) General Assembly in Marrakech, Morocco in June 2025.

At this meeting I completed my twenty-three years' service at the International Level and was delighted to be presented with an Acknowledgement Award for my services to ICW by the current ICW / CIF President Martine Marandel. During my twenty-three years I held positions of the ICW Advisor for Youth, Social Issues Co-Ordinator, ICW Board Member for three years and an ICW Vice President for six years. The past six years, I have been the Secretary to the Asia Pacific Regional Council of ICW.

Be sure to register for the online event set for 23 September, 12 p.m. (noon) - 1 p.m. Jan Logie, Strategic Funding Lead for Women at Clare Foundation, will interview Dame Ranjna Patel DNZM QSM JP.

Dame Patel is the founder of the Gandhi Nivas family violence prevention programme in New Zealand, and she was also a co-founder and director of Tāmaki Health, a primary healthcare group -- the largest health provider for high-needs, Pacific Island and Māori audiences. She was recently recognised in the King Birthday Honours for services to ethnic communities, health and family violence prevention. 

Gail Pacheco is currently an adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Business, Economics and Law at the Auckland University of Technology and she is the Kaihautū Ōritenga Mahi Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) Commissioner at the Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission. She was invited by Eva Hartshorn-Sanders of the International Action Hub to provide her perspectives on a series of questions of importance to our members.

What are two significant issues facing women and girls in Aotearoa New Zealand?

The road to gender equality is long and uneven. In Aotearoa New Zealand we have made good progress in some areas, for example the increasingly levels of labour market participation and educational success of women and girls. There, of course, remain many pressing issues. It is worth noting that these challenges may also be magnified when they intersect with other aspects of identity, such as ethnicity, belonging to rainbow communities, or having a disability. Two key issues are briefly described here: pay equity and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

Dava Sobel, the bestselling author of Longitude and Galileo's Daughter, offers a new biography, The Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science. The book chronicles the life and work of the most famous woman in the history of science, and the untold story of the young women who trained in her laboratory.

Marie Curie née Skłodowska is still the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two scientific fields. Her ingenuity extended far beyond the laboratory walls; grieving the death of her husband, Pierre, she took his place as professor of physics at the Sorbonne, devotedly raised two daughters, drove a van she outfitted with x-ray equipment to the front lines of World War I; befriended Albert Einstein and inspired generations of young women to pursue science as a way of life. Many of these women including her daughter Irene, became Nobel Prize winners in their own right.

Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini.
My strength is not mine alone, it comes from the collective.

Kia ora e hoa mā – greetings to all friends and colleagues working together within NCWNZ for the greater good.

Maybe that sounds idealist, but let’s face it, that’s who we are as an organisation. “Practical dreamers” who have a vision for the future and then look at the detail of how we can make it happen. The “we” is very important, because our strength is from our collective action, from belonging to the organisation. (Shameless plug here – have you renewed your membership for this year?)

NCW Southland recently has been privileged to hear speakers from two local agencies.

At the Annual General Meeting in May, Donagh Booth from Age Concern spoke of her role in Elder Abuse Response. Her work in Invercargill has been an eye opener for her. She did not realise the spread of elder abuse within her home town. Examples she gave listed sons who have never left home, sons with issues who returned home, mothers who have become isolated because friends and other family members would not visit while the son was present.

Behaviour of such sons included not assisting with the household chores like mowing lawns or cleaning out spouting; expecting his laundry to be done, his meals to be cooked, not contributing to the household costs. Donagh’s role, when she becomes aware of such issues is to be a listening ear, offering suggestions of mitigating actions. Sometimes such help was not acted upon but in extreme cases, trespassing the son has been initiated.

Media scams are also a growing concern. And not confined to women. Single elderly are targeted by predatory persons, introducing a friendly element then possibly a romantic one leading to the real intention, asking for money. And thousands of dollars have been and are being scammed in this way. Police are not involved because the perpetrator threatens the victim with blackmail.

NCWNZ Ōtautahi Christchurch Branch created NEW (Network of Elected Women), a group that we invite to Kate Sheppard House every year for a get together and we collaborate with on various other events. We asked one of the NEW members to write about being a Community Board member, to encourage women to stand for local government roles. Jackie has five terms under her belt on her community board in North Canterbury, two of them as chair, and is likely to stand for a sixth term. She offers her story to help persuade more women to become elected members.

Why did you join your community board?

It’s a question I am often asked by friends and acquaintances who either know nothing about our local government system (and that is a large number) or cannot understand why I would put myself through countless meetings for very little reward.

I guess there has to be a particular personality type that is attracted to reading copious documents, wading through the sludge of bureaucracy and paperwork that slows everything down. For me, it’s about the bigger picture. It’s about society, history, geography and the desire to make your place and the future better.

I was involved in my home town on a number of committees before I went on the community board and I guess I was shoulder tapped by someone who was running for Mayor because of hat involvement. My first realisation that there was such a thing as a community board came when I wanted to put up some artwork and had to liaise with them. The board of elderly men I encountered certainly wasn’t something I would have considered joining on first sight.

But with retirement from teaching looming, I wanted something to do -- and working for the community seemed an obvious choice. A community I knew I would be known in and so had the potential to get votes. A community I was already involved with in many ways.

I’ve always liked change and unpredictability and the nervous excitement of standing for election sort of appealed to my wild side. It was also incredibly scary and is the worst part of the whole business. But being part of decision making in your own patch certainly appealed to me, as well as working as part of a team and it still does after all this time.