Government cut highlights the need for a Women’s Fund

Following a Government cut in funding which has forced Auckland Women’s Centre to close its Parenting Project for Single Mums and their Families, the Centre is calling on all political parties to pledge to establish a Women’s Fund.

The Fund would be administered by the Ministry for Women and designed to both support women and promote gender equality. A similar fund existed when the Ministry was first established.

Auckland Women’s Centre Manager, Leonie Morris, says the recent cut has put the Centre in a critical situation as it now receives no Government funding despite supporting over 4,000 women and their families every year. The Parenting Project supported more than 600 single mum families in low income suburbs, almost half of whom were Māori and Pasifika.

“At the heart of this problem is that the Government does not provide any funding for projects specifically for women – despite our high domestic and sexual violence rates, the fact that most women are low paid and that most mums still bear the lion's share of childcare.”

The closure of the Single Mums Parenting Project is a significant blow to the Centre and the community. The project worked to reduce child maltreatment across Auckland by enabling single mums to build a support network, gain parenting strategies, learn from each other, and access community support.

Centre Manager Leonie Morris said “Parenting is the hardest job in the world and single mums are doing it on their own with few resources. The child poverty rate for children in single parent households is 47%.”

Women’s Centres throughout NZ are struggling financially while still providing essential support to single mums, domestic and sexual violence survivors, beneficiaries and women in low paid jobs, says Ms Morris.

The Auckland Women’s Centre envisions the Women’s Fund would not only fund projects to empower and support women, but would also support gender equality. Little progress has been made on gender equality in the last 25 years. Projects are needed which promote women accessing non-traditional work, support pay equity claims, mentor women leaders and challenge harmful gender stereotypes.

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