Sue Moroney
Spokesperson for Women

12 November 2015

Labour backs gender equal New Zealand

The Government must reverse the trend of women going backwards and immediately implement the National Council of Women’s recommendations for a gender equal New Zealand, Labour’s spokesperson for Women Sue Moroney says.

“National’s disregard for the experiences of women has been outed by its actions and John Key’s extreme behaviour this week.

“The NCW’s report on women’s place in New Zealand released today is a damning indictment on National’s track record. Since 2009 New Zealand has slid from 5th to 13th in the World Economic Forum's annual gender gap index.

“Even more concerning is that the stocktake found 122 years since getting the vote, women in our country are still treated like second class citizens and warns increasing violence against women is one New Zealand’s biggest challenges.

“The NCW’s recommendations were being implemented by the former Labour government but were scrapped by John Key’s Government. These measures are important to monitor progress and drive actions to close the gender gap.

“It is particularly important the National Government responds to this report following the behaviour of John Key in Parliament and the ejection of female MPs from Parliament who called for him to apologise.

“The Government now has a perfect opportunity to right these wrongs and put New Zealand back on the right track,” Sue Moroney says.

ENDS

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