As usual, we're looking forward to International Women's Day on 8 March and we're celebrating the UN Women NZ theme of 'March Forward: From Promises to Progress' and the hashtag #MarchForward.

This year we have quite a few resources to help you celebrate! Be sure you're keeping an eye on our social media channels so you don't miss out. 

Kia ora koutou! Bonjour tout le monde!

I'm Amandine, the Board admin's new French intern at NCWNZ, and I'll be there until the end of May! Passionate about international relations and keen to discover the role of an NGO in politics, as well as getting involved in women's rights, I thought your long-established and well-known organization would be the ideal place for me. 

It's been a busy few months in the lead up to, and during the holidays period, with submissions including the Mental Health Bill and Evidence of Family Violence Bill.

The pace has continued with eight submissions completed in 2025 to date:

• Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill - written and oral submissions
• Employment Relations (Employee Remuneration Disclosure) Amendment Bill - written and oral submissions
• Crimes Legislation (Stalking and Harassment) Amendment Bill
• Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) (3 Day Postnatal Stay) Amendment Bill
• Health NZ/Te Whatu Ora Planning, Funding & Outcomes Change Proposal (PFO)
• Proposal to fund the contraceptive pill Desogestrel (Cerazette)

Submissions are one of the ways NCWNZ works to inform and influence law and policy. They represent the views of our members, and require a collective and collaborative effort.

We need to grow our writing team to sustain this important mahi. You may be a subject matter expert or have a broad interest in gender equality. You need an ability to analyse and present complex information in accessible language, to be collaborative and have great time management.

The training will include two 2-hour online workshops and buddying with an experienced writer as needed. Dates are to be confirmed for May.

Two women dancing and menstruating. Rock art by Indigenous Australians from the Upper Yule River, Pilbara, Western Australia. Image from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_and_menstruation

This article was submitted from the Wellington NCWNZ branch:

My name is Giuls (they/them) and I recently joined the Wellington branch of the National Council of Women of New Zealand. Thank you for having me!

I am a period advocate on a mission to educate people about the menstrual cycle. I grew up knowing nothing about periods - specifically how cool they are! But now I know how incredibly empowering it is to understand your cycle.

Recently, I have conducted a survey with two main purposes:

• to get an understanding of how familiar people are with periods and the menstrual cycle
• to find out how people prefer to access information and learn about periods and the menstrual cycle.

I posted the survey on different Facebook pages, and I collected 147 responses by 7 February 2025 (177 responses at the time of writing).

The Auckland Coalition for the Safety of Women and Children - established in 2006 and including the NCWNZ Auckland branch among its members - has been lobbying for many years to amend the Crimes Act legislation. The Coalition has been consulted several times by Ministry staff and MPs have visited them in person. A draft bill, written in most part by Coalition members Alison Towns and Carrie Leonetti, Associate Professor of Law. Many drafts were reviewed by members of the Coalition as well as several NCWNZ Action Hub convenors, before it was submitted to various Ministries prior to this particular bill's development.

With the release of the proposed Crimes Legislation (Stalking and Harassment) Amendment Bill at the end of 2024 and Parliament's Justice Select Committee now receiving submissions on the same, we are hopeful that real progress will be made this year. In its current state, however, the Bill contains a number of flaws that have the potential to make arrests and prosecution for stalking even more difficult than is the case with existing legislation.

This is the second of a series of articles focusing on the NCWNZ Past Presidents Oral History Project with interviews by Carol Dawber in 2016. See the introductory article in The Circular at "NCWNZ Past Presidents oral history interviews from 2016" (August 2024).

Barbara Winifred Glenie née Beckett QSO was the President of the National Council of Women of New Zealand (NCWNZ) from 1998 to 2002. Her work as president included developing NCWNZ's first strategic plan and creating an operations manual for the home office and the executive officer. Glenie remembered in her oral history interview how important it was for the NCWNZ under her leadership to maintain and strengthen the connections with the Māori Women's Welfare League and PACIFICA Inc.

Some key milestones in the history of the National Council of Women of New Zealand: 

1896
A national meeting of representatives of women's organisations in New Zealand was held April 1896 in the Christchurch Provincial Chambers and chaired by Wilhelmina Sherriff Bain, president of the Canterbury Women's Institute. Kate Sheppard representing the Canterbury Women's Institute was elected President of the newly created NCWNZ. The Vice Presidents elected were: Lady Anna Stout representing the Southern Cross Society of Wellington, Annie Jane Schnackenberg representing the Women's Christian Temperance Union of New Zealand, Margaret Sievwright representing the Gisborne Women's Political League, and Marion Hatton representing the Dunedin Women's Franchise League. Ada Wells of the Canterbury Women's Institute was elected secretary; and, Bain elected treasurer.

According to Public Health experts, we are in the middle of a global outbreak of whooping cough. Health services across Aotearoa New Zealand are responding to this nationwide epidemic among mostly our youngest pēpi, with 1,232 cases notified since the onset of the epidemic (from 19 October 2024 to 10 January 2025) and 101 cases hospitalised. Pertussis can last up to three months and is sometimes referred to as the ‘hundred day cough’.  Around 50% of pēpi who catch whooping cough before the age of 12 months need hospitalisation and 1 or 2 in 100 of those hospitalised pēpi die from the infection. "The best protection for infants is for their mother to be vaccinated during pregnancy," says Dr Susan Jack, National Clinical Director, Protection, at Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora. For adults, New Zealand has a combined pertussis and tetanus vaccine. 

The King has issued honours awards in the 2025 New Years list. Men received 52% (100) of the 2025 New Year Honours, with women receiving 47% (90) and intersex 1% (1). Men and women equally received the higher awards (ONZ to MNZM). Men received 54% (37) and women 45% (31) and intersex 1% (1) of KSOs and KSMs. There were more awards for arts related activities 11% (21) than sports related ones 8% (16). The last time there were more than 190 honours awarded was New Year 2019, when there were 196 with women receiving 51%.

Sixteen awards were given for services to survivors of abuse in care: 9 KSOs (6 to men, 1 to intersex, 2 to women) and 7 KSMs (5 to men, 2 to women).