- Issue date
- 14 March 2025
69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women: New Zealand National Statement. Delivered by: Kellie Coombes, Secretary for Women and Chief Executive of Manatū Wāhine Ministry for Women as Head of Delegation.
Tēnā koutou katoa. Good evening.
Chair, Excellencies
New Zealand has a proud history of supporting the rights of women and girls.
The Commission on the Status of Women plays a critical role in advancing gender equality. It provides a stage to renew commitments, including those in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
It’s important that we champion women’s leadership at all levels – community, provincial and national.
In 2022, New Zealand was one of six countries to achieve gender parity in Parliament. Currently, 45.5% of our Parliamentarians are women.
Women have had equal representation on public sector boards since 2020. This number now sits at an all-time high of 53.9%. Momentum is also growing in the private sector and a collective of business leaders have demonstrated that progress is possible through commitment to a target of 40% women, 40% men, and 20% any gender.
Gender equality provides tangible benefits for families and broader society. It boosts trade and economic growth.
New Zealand is striving to drive down our national gender pay gap, which now sits at 8.2%. Our new online Gender Pay Gap Toolkit supports New Zealand businesses to understand, measure, and take meaningful action to address their gender pay gap.
Subsidising early childhood education fees and annual increases to paid parental leave payments are improving labour market outcomes for women.
Health and wellbeing are fundamental to ensuring that all women and girls are able to thrive.
New Zealand is deeply concerned about growing legislative and political attempts to restrict women and girls’ freedoms and undermine fundamental sexual and reproductive health and rights.
New Zealand’s efforts to improve health outcomes for women and girls include extending free breast cancer screening for women aged 70-74 and introducing a world-leading, self-test for the Human Papilloma Virus to our National Cervical Screening Programme to increase uptake.
Between 2020 and 2024, New Zealand’s investments with partners in the Pacific helped deliver sexual and reproductive health services to over five hundred thousand people.
Despite our proud history, New Zealand acknowledges we have challenges.
One in three women in New Zealand experience sexual violence, including at the hands of intimate partners. The overwhelming majority of sexual assault offences go unreported to Police.
New Zealand is committed to breaking cycles of violence. As part of our National Strategy for the Elimination of Family Violence and Sexual Violence progress has been made across a range of areas including strengthening our family violence workforce and continuing to implement digital prevention and support initiatives.
Work is also underway to make stalking a crime under New Zealand law, which will include the use of technology in modern stalking methods.
Chair, New Zealand commits to working with the international community to achieve the commitments set out in 2030 Agenda and Pact for the Future to ensure that no girl or woman is left behind.