Did Jackie Blue say the LOBBY word? Could this mean that if National wins next year’s election, the MWA would stop peddling government policy and begin to work for women instead??? Check out this link too: NZ Herald
Tania
Women face sexist backlash
By PATRICK CREWDSON – The Dominion Post | Thursday, 19 July 2007
Women may have claimed some top jobs but worsening domestic violence and a sexist backlash show they still face discrimination, a New Zealand delegation will tell the United Nations.
A report to be presented to an international committee warns of a “marked change for the worse in the social and political climate”, eroding some of the gains made in gender equality.
New Zealanders were increasingly dismissing anti-discrimination work as unnecessary political correctness – often citing the success of prominent women such as Prime Minister Helen Clark and Chief Justice Sian Elias as evidence women had achieved full equality with men.
Though New Zealand women no longer faced prejudice enshrined in law, the “far-reaching effects of social and cultural discrimination” could still be seen.
The report was compiled by the National Council of Women of New Zealand based on submissions from 93 non-governmental organisations.
Council representatives Beryl Anderson and Anne Todd-Lambie will present it to the UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women monitoring committee in New York at the end of the month.
Ms Anderson said the overall tone of the report was optimistic and there had been areas of clear progress – such as paid parental leave and student loan reform – since the previous report in 2002.
But domestic violence rates had increased, many workplace issues such as pay parity remained unresolved, and women were no better represented in the top echelons of companies.
“Sexist attitudes and the `Old Boy network’ still prevail in many areas of public and professional life where men are in positions of power,” the report says.
Lesbian and bisexual women faced particular discrimination in the workplace.
Ms Anderson said that having had women as prime minister, chief justice, governor-general, speaker of Parliament, and chief executive of Telecom had created a misleading impression that gender parity had been achieved.
“There has been a bit of a backlash because so much emphasis was given on having women in those top positions. People thought everything was resolved when in actual fact the pay equity gap is greater now than it was 20 years ago.”
The report expresses concern that sexist jokes are becoming more common as part of a reaction against “political correctness” that included developments such as the National Party appointing a `PC eradicator’, a position that has since been disestablished.
Other concerns included women’s treatment in the male-dominated prison system, where their needs as mothers were not met, and migrant women being subjected to oppressive customs transplanted from their countries of origin.
Women’s sport still received meagre media coverage and advertisers used stereotypes to sell products.
“We’re seeing more and more young women sexualised in television programmes and advertising and it’s happening at an earlier and earlier age,” Ms Anderson said.
The report criticises National’s intention to abolish the Women’s Affairs Ministry if it had won the 2005 election, but newly appointed women’s affairs spokeswoman Jackie Blue said the party had abandoned that policy.
She said Women’s Affairs was a small ministry and she would like to see its funding increased so it could move on from “tick-a-box” policy work to more active work.
“I would like to see it have more teeth and to actually lobby for women’s issues and causes.”
A Government delegation will present its official report three days after the National Council of Women presents its findings.
That report also identifies domestic violence and gender pay parity as areas that need addressing.