Alliance Backs 52 Weeks’ Paid Parental Leave in Gender Equality Plan

The Alliance Party has announced a comprehensive women, gender equality, and economic security policy including at least fifty-two weeks’ paid parental leave, a Universal Child Benefit, and stronger enforcement of pay equity.

Alliance Party national secretary and gender equality spokesperson Sionainn Byrnes says formal rights alone cannot overcome the barriers that prevent many women from participating fully in society.

“Legal equality is necessary, but it is not enough. Women need the economic security, public services, and practical support that allow them to exercise their rights and participate fully in society.”

The Alliance policy would provide at least fifty-two weeks’ paid parental leave to eligible workers, including casual, seasonal, and part-time workers. Its parental-leave arrangements would recognise that caring responsibilities are shared by parents and caregivers.

A Universal Child Benefit would be paid directly to the principal caregiver for every child and indexed to movements in average weekly earnings.

Ms Byrnes says care work is economically and socially valuable, and it needs to be treated as such.

“Raising children and caring for whānau should not push people into poverty, reduce their retirement security, or limit their opportunities at work. Properly recognising care work is non-negotiable.”

The policy would also establish a Pay Equity Bureau to monitor and enforce pay equity. It provides for strengthened Employment Equity legislation, collective and class-based claims where discrimination is systemic, greater wage transparency, and comparisons between female-dominated and male-dominated occupations to assess work of equal value.

Ms Byrnes says women remain concentrated in work that has been undervalued and underpaid.

“People working in care and support roles, and other female-dominated occupations, deserve proper recognition and fair pay.”

The Alliance would support accessible, affordable, and high-quality childcare, including non-profit and publicly supported services for parents working shifts, evenings, nights, and weekends.

The policy also affirms bodily autonomy and reproductive healthcare. It supports free, safe, and accessible abortion services throughout Aotearoa, universal access to contraception through the public health system, comprehensive age-appropriate sexuality education, and an informed consent model of gender-affirming care.

Other commitments include secure, long-term funding for women’s refuges and specialist services, safe and affordable housing for women fleeing violence, gender-impact assessments of government decisions, and progressive movement towards a thirty-five-hour working week without loss of income.

Ms Byrnes says the policy recognises the particular rights and circumstances of wāhine Māori under Te Tiriti o Waitangi, as well as the different barriers experienced by Pasifika women, disabled women, older women, migrant women, lesbian and trans women, sole parents, and women facing poverty or insecure housing.

“Women’s equality must mean economic independence, control over our own bodies, freedom from violence, and an equal voice in the decisions that shape our lives.”