For International Women’s Day 2025, NCWNZ Wellington Branch organised a climate-focused panel and workshop event "How to talk about climate action" with support from Council for International Development and UN Women Aotearoa New Zealand, and generous support from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The event was an opportunity for fellow climate and gender activists to come together and discuss how to have positive grassroots conversations about climate action.

Kia Orana!

The Cook Islands National Council of Women (CINCW) held their biennial meeting in Rarotonga on 3-5 March 2025: Uikaraurau: Konitara Vainetini o Te Kuki Airani, with funding support from the New Zealand High Commission in the Cook Islands.

Following on from the Pacific National Councils of Women Forum (see Youtube recording) jointly organised by NCW Australia and New Zealand in 2024, there has been contact between NCWNZ and CINCW resulting in an invitation for NCWNZ representatives to attend the biennial meeting and support the preparation of a CEDAW NGO report. See the Cook Islands News (16 April 2025) article. Suzanne Manning, NCWNZ President, and Beryl Anderson, NCWNZ Life Member and CEDAW Committee convenor, accepted the invite to travel to the beautiful – and warm – Cook Islands.

Cook Islands National Council of Women (CINCW) group photo, March 2025.Bottom row: Beryl Anderson (2nd left) and Suzanne Manning (4th left), and Vaine Wichman, CINCW president (centre).

In an historic first for the region, nineteen of the twenty-three members of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) held the first Technical Cooperation Session in Fiji, on 7 – 11 April 2025. Fourteen countries in the region have ratified CEDAW, with Tonga, Niue, and Palau yet to do so.

The three countries that were examined by the CEDAW Committee were Fiji, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu. The meeting also held open Talanoa – or thematic discussions – that brought together civil society, youth, government representatives and community leaders. These included Talanoa on gender through the lens of culture and religion, children and youth, gender stereotypes, women’s political participation, women with disabilities, gender-based violence, and climate change. Representatives from fifteen countries, including the Cook Islands, attended the meeting which provided an important platform for Pacific countries to reflect on progress, challenges, and priorities in eliminating discrimination against women and girls in the region.

In February the NCW Manawatu decided to concentrate 2025 on these questions:

• What are the problems for new immigrants to our area?
• Are there ways in which we can contribute to assisting their needs?

For the March meeting, two new members -- Lana Daichman and Beth Weir -- spoke of their journeys.

Lana Daichman was born in Russia, then moved to Poland then Israel where she lived for many years. She studied Hebrew, gained a doctorate and had rewarding employment as a researcher. She moved to New Zealand in the last four months with her family so that her husband could accept a position at the Palmerston North hospital. Presently, as a full-time housewife, she has found the lifestyle change and isolation to be very difficult and has also had difficulty with job opportunities locally. She enjoyed practising her English at the meeting.

This is the third 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).

This month, we look back on the leadership of Beryl Anderson ONZM, President of the National Council of Women of New Zealand (NCWNZ) from 2002 to 2004.

Beryl shares stories of her journey from librarian to president, the balancing act of full-time work and volunteer leadership, and her unwavering commitment to equity and inclusion. Her presidency came at a time of digital transformation and shifting demographics—but her focus on thoughtful advocacy, practical action, and genuine connection continues to resonate today.

At the sixty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), women’s civil society representatives voiced deep concerns over the persistent barriers to achieving gender equality and lack of government action on the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action. More than fifty New Zealand civil society delegates were in New York for the first week of the CSW session 10 to 14 March.

From left to right: Alexandra Cooper (student award winner), Jenny Brittain (President) & Desley Simpson (Deputy Mayor of Auckland)

NCW Hibiscus Coast recently held, for the first time ever, a Tertiary Student Award Presentation and Luncheon.

This award was for $2,000, and part of the criteria was that you had to be or have been a Rodney resident who had completed one year of a two-or-more-year course.

I was very privileged this week to joint with Aleisha Amohia to present NCWNZ’s opposition to the Treaty Principles Bill to the Justice Select Committee – and we were in good company, as you can read about in The Spinoff. Thanks to the whole team who produced the written submission and supported us with the oral. At the same time, I was dismayed that it was necessary for us, and so many other people, having to defend Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The Bill is a betrayal of the people’s trust that our government will act constitutionally, democratically and responsibly. Let us hope that this situation is never repeated.

For 10 years, Women Wage Peace (Israeli) and Women of the Sun (Palestinian) have been working towards peace between Israel and Palestine, both separately and in partnership – see the Mothers' Call which sets out their joint desire for a peaceful resolution. They have been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize because of their efforts, which – even if they do not win – will highlight their efforts to end conflict. This is a great example of women working together across borders for peace.

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.