Work of rural women should be recognised

As celebrations get underway for today’s UN International Day of Rural Women it is timely to recognise the contribution made by rural women in New Zealand, Labour’s Women’s Affairs spokesperson Carol Beaumont says.

“The work of rural women is vital in an economy so dependent on primary industries.

“Managing work and family responsibilities is often made more difficult for them because of limited access to opportunities and to services in the communities they live in.

“Those difficulties have been exacerbated by the Government’s hands-off approach to the regions and a subsequent flood of people to cities and to Australia.

“Rural Women NZ has led advocacy for farming families and rural communities since 1925. They identify issues such as improving access to health and education services, valuing caring work and achieving pay equity and advancing women’s involvement in decision making.

“However it seems those issues are  not on National’s radar. It has failed to act on a significant number of recommendations made by the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), shrugging them off as not important.

“Labour has a proud record of progress for women. We will continue that in Government by working with regional New Zealand to get the best out of our provinces, and the best for the women living in them.”

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