Get connected in New Zealand
Country contact:
Click here to email our country contact in New Zealand
Update from New Zealand, September 2020:
The Births Deaths Marriages and Relationships Registration Act (BDMRRA)
The BDMRR Act 1995 has a category of "Nominated sex" which allows the idea in some cases that a person can be born a different sex to what they really are and have their birth certificate changed accordingly.
The Human Rights Act
The Human Rights Commission wants to include gender in the Human Rights Act as a category of discrimination.
The Statistics Survey
The government proposes to change the way statistics are collected under the leadership of James Shaw from the NZ Green Party. The changes they want to make about sex and gender are concerning. They propose to have two categories - sex and gender; and to make gender the default category. They are utterly downplaying the importance of collecting accurate information about sex, stating that gender is much more important. Many women, both from the Women's Liberation Aotearoa (WLA) and Speak Up For Women (SUFW) as well as other individuals, have sent in submissions expressing concern about and opposing this idea.
Women's Economic and Social Rights
Regarding women's economic and social rights, it is worth noting that the Labour led government raised benefits by $25 per week and increased a winter fuel allowance. However, it ignored most of the recommendations of the Welfare Experts Advisory Group, which recommended doubling most benefits, which need at least $100 per week increase. There is extreme poverty in NZ which badly affects women and children.
Prostitution
The government said that "sex workers" would be eligible for the various forms of income support it offered during the COVID crisis. In response Wahine Toa Rising, a group led by survivors of prostitution, wrote to the government, asking for funding for women to exit prostitution. More recently, Kiwibank, a (partially?) state owned bank, first refused to do business with brothel owners; then changed its mind due after pressure from the NZ Prostitutes Collective. Wahine Toa Rising wrote to the bank, congratulating them on their original stance, and asking them to maintain it. They published this on social media.
Abortion Legislation
Legislation making abortion much more freely available and taking it out of the Crimes Act was passed on 23 March 2020.