Feminist and writer Sandra Coney is calling for a new Women’s Charter that would spell out an agreed agenda for change for women and girls in New Zealand.
“A bit like a Working Women’s Charter updated to the 21stCentury”. Women everywhere could work on this and it “might just bring us back together as a powerful force for change”, she says.
Sandra made the call at a sell-out International Women’s Day Breakfast at Parliament in Wellington, attended by the Governor General, the Rt Hon Dame Patsy Reddy.
The breakfast is jointly organised by the Wellington Zonta Club and UN Women New Zealand, and is hosted by the Hon. Paula Bennett, Minister for Women and Deputy Prime Minister.
Sandra pointed out that almost a half century after the women’s liberation movement arrived in New Zealand, there is no strong, organized feminist network to spearhead change, and wide and worsening inequality in our society. Women suffer most in this unequal type of society, directly and indirectly, she says.
Sandra argues that women’s progress can be measured not by how women are doing at the top, but how well they are doing at the bottom. She said introducing a living wage and raising benefits were important changes needed to improve conditions for women in New Zealand.
